Set in the hills just outside Turin in northwest Italy, this family home is an exercise in combining elegance with rationality, architectural refinement of materials and amenities, and certified energy efficiency. Tucked into the hillside, this discreet volume is regularly marked out by narrow external stairs connecting the two levels. At basement level, a central distribution passage leads off to a garage, study, library, sauna and children’s playroom. On the upper floor, the programme creates a deliberate contrast between the living area - a large environment whose ample loggia projects outwards from the rest of the building nestled into the sloping terrain - and a night zone overlooking the pool and the valley on the south side. A long narrow corridor forms the distribution circuit, its fair-faced concrete walls lit by shafts of light from a skylight running the full length of the passage way. Tall narrow windows at the end of the corridors of both east and west wings are a natural continuation of the skylight, giving vistas onto the landscape outside. Slanting shafts of light also offset the smooth white concrete walls of an internal staircase whose graduated coloured steps and central position - hung from the ceiling slab - turn it into a striking interior décor feature. The bedrooms on the southeast side give onto the only piece of flat grassy ground.
A boardwalk made from recycled formwork forms a patio area in front of each room. Sunscreens of horizontal Cor-ten slats shielding the full-height glazed façades open out 90° to create a secluded area in front of each room. Slat inclination has been calculated on the basis of the sun’s summer and winter angles for optimum shielding.
Deceptively simple, the building’s geometry is posited on refinement and elegance. This is evidenced by the juxtaposition of materials like fair-faced concrete and steel, and the contrasting textures and finish of the unrendered...
Digital
Printed
Scale: a relationship between geometries and space
Steven Holl Architects
Scale, our comprehension of the measure of geometry and space, remains essential to experience. Beyond the length, width, or mass of a structure, ther...MOCA - Museum of Contemporary Art
Farshid Moussavi
The origins of architecture have been located by theorists in the archetypal cave and tent. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland has few obvious ...Some place between organic and digital architecture
Plasma Studio
Plasma Studio was founded in London by Eva Castro and Holger Kehne in 1999. In 2002, they were joined by Ulla Hell. These turn-of-the-century years we...