Two in One: indipendent and crossed housing boxes in Ponteranica

The project involved in the creation of two residential units, independent and never superimposed to never have common views in innovative architectural forms in their ability to adapt to the needs of the site and the climate.

The design is inspired by the relationship with the landscape. It is above all the relationship with the surrounding nature indeed that guides the formal and functional choices. The natural course of the land has strongly contributed to the morphological and compositional choice. Aimed at preserving their authenticity, the “housing boxes”, characterized by modularity designed to accommodate the morphology and topography of the site, find the best way to rest on the ground at different heights thanks to the cantilevered structure and the precise aid of slender metal pilotis. The two residential units are part of a project for the re-naturalization of the green area on which they rest.

The apartments share the common service areas on the basement floor (garage, technical rooms, cellars) to then develop freely and separately on the ground floor as an open space for the living area, adapting to the flexibility of the different ways of living inside both houses thanks to the structural choices. More classic division instead for the sleeping area on the first floor where, the two houses, develop like the crown of a tree, integrating into the foliage of this hypothetical tree.

The orientation determined most of the design choices, trying to shade the two houses as little as possible, thus obtaining different and disconnected views. The elevations, diversified from each other by material and structural choices, are always in close relationship with the landscape and with the solar orientation. Different types of openings have been created on each of these materials, capable of marking the different material composition. All the glazed parts are suitably set back and shielded to avoid glare and reflections of any kind in the landscape.

The building is divided on the ground floor into two blocks characterized by cladding materials: the walls of the left block are in continuity with the opaque and pre-oxidized zinc-titanium roofing mantle mounted on a metal structure, while those of the element on the right are padded with wooden slats left to natural oxidation.
The first floor, suspended and slightly broken down in the floors below, lets the load-bearing concrete structure read, leaving only the infill panels on the two north and south fronts in larch wood.

The construction takes in high regard quality and ecological commitment. A low energy building made with natural and recyclable materials: reinforced concrete for the load-bearing structure, and a "dry" type construction for the roofs, for the curtain walls and for the internal partitions, in line with the eco-sustainable design and to respond to the desire to live in a house harmoniously integrated into the surrounding landscape without wasting the natural space.