ArchShowcase Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. Exercise with the arches n˚1 in Avetrana (Taranto), Italy by NAUTA architecture & researchAugust 23rd, 2013 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: NAUTA architecture & research This two family house presents a traditional local row house scheme, introvert on the street and open on the back garden. The central rooms, living and dining areas, suffered great lack of light, due to their distance from the two facades. The ground floor rooms presented existing vaulted ceilings, very valuable for their architecture and space effect. This scheme imposed the preservation of the enfilade of vaulted spaces, yet needing a strategy to avoid the box in box effect and extend multiple internal flows and views.
In order to achieve this effect of openness and space interconnection, we used the ‘arch’ archetype and applied it in a playful unconventional way. We opened several arches, different in size, either as external or ‘internal windows’, in order to merge entire rooms. The final effect contributes to lighten the masonry, offering many interconnected perspectives that ultimately make the spaces breath, lightened by lots of natural light. The masonry becomes light like paper, cut by generous voids. The palette of materials is reduced to the essential: masonry and stucco for the walls; ‘coccio pesto’, a local mix of hydraulic mortar and terracotta grit, used for the floors and poured on site; travertine for the other surfaces. This stone is applied either in its natural state or treated with a transparent resin, capable to preserve its visual irregularity. The final effect wills to recreate a rustic, thrifty, somehow austere atmosphere, achieved by using innovative applications for traditional materials. NAUTA produces responsible design It is unquestionable that recently the most discussed matter in our discipline is ‘sustainability’. However, this term is often used to mean generic actions with the intention to rescue our environment and reduce the negative effects of urbanization. Sustainability for NAUTA starts from the simple action of abandoning the dogmas of design and develop a new open minded way of thinking, based on objective facts and needs, real engines of the final creative process. Our obsessive observation of the world moves us toward strategic actions for our clients, capable to guarantee successful investment, yet respect our built environment. NAUTA has developed through research applied projects and by the constant interaction with clients, new sustainable models for tourism, architecture and planning. From small architectural interventions to urban master‐plans and regional strategies, NAUTA’s projects adapt smart thinking to the different clients’ wishes and budgets and to the local resources. NAUTA’s engagement in sustainable development has generated additional debate and actions in the work of municipalities, private and public bodies, solicited to move toward a new responsible way of planning our cities and future. Maurizio G. Scarciglia Next to the architectural practice, he’s a teacher and researcher in urbanism and landscape at the TU Delft, where he developed a research on the evolution of ‘leisure’ architecture from Hadrian ‘s Villa in Tivoli (Italy) to the contemporary resort. Previous to founding NAUTA, Scarciglia worked at OMA Rem Koolhaas as project architect‐manager for several projects. He has been guest critic at the Rotterdam and Amsterdam Academies of Architecture and lectures regularly in several cultural institutions, such as AIR foundation in Rotterdam, the SUPSI Lugano (Switzerland), The Shenzhen Urban Design Institute and the South East University Architecture & Design Institute Nanjing (China). He is currently cooperating with the University of Quito, Ecuador, for a research about sustainable forms of tourism in the Galapagos islands. Scarciglia worked as editor for several architecture magazines, among which Metamorfosi (Rome) and C3 (South Korea). Contact NAUTA architecture & research
Tags: Avetrana (Taranto), Italy Category: House |