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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. Renovation and enlargement of a private house in Faenza, Italy by Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e designJuly 23rd, 2015 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design The building was originally a farmhouse, built before 1938. It is now subjected to a design-based zoning constraint, with the obligation to keep all its architectural hallmarks unchanged: the simple roof cornice, tiny and without boxed eave; the narrow window frames, which allow the interior to receive as much natural lightning as possible; the spare red brick columns. There must not be any TV antenna, no decorum of any kind, no more than a few undecorated fireplaces and only subtle colors should be used for the plaster coating.  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design
 Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design The goal of our intervention was to maintain unchanged the appearance of the building using modern technologies and construction methods. A good example of our design philosophy is the intervention we did on the roof. We managed to create a ventilated roof keeping unaltered the levity and thinness typical of a traditional construction by simply reversing the elements. The wooden beams that look like structural elements from the outside are actually a secondary frame that allows the ventilation, while the main structure is hidden underneath.  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design A completely different approach was used in the new building and in the interiors, where the modern intervention was deliberately shown, using simple shapes, clean lines and transparency.  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design We tried to make these two opposite views coexist and communicate, believing that they could create a harmonious whole, emphasizing the relationship with the environment: the garden – conceived and designed to look natural – and the outline of the surrounding hills.  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design All the materials we used are natural: the stone for the outside paths, the wood for the interior, the lime plasters, and the wooden fiber insulation panels within the walls. It is our custom to select materials for what they are. For example, we choose to use porcelain gres tiles not to imitate stone or wood, but for the specific beauty of the material itself. We used monolithic concrete pavements for some floors and asked the manufacturer to reproduce the original profile of the window frames in painted wood and steel.  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design We tried to reproduce some old working techniques, using oxidized materials and coatings, in order to make our additions look perfectly integrated in the building structure, as if they had always been there.  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design We used rust in the great solar shading structure, unprocessed wood panels – so as to make them susceptible to oxidation –, a black-bluish iron for the window gratings, old-looking, bronzed brass for some interior elements, scraped and torn looking plaster in most of the inner walls.  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design For us, working on a building mean to design with simplicity and sense of balance, to subtract rather than add, to clean up the signs of the time gently integrating every element through a modern way of planning but all the same respectful of the building’s own history. We design through subtraction, adding what is needed without being disrespectful or invasive.  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design  Image Courtesy © Bartoletti Cicognani architettura e design
Categories: Private House, Renovation |
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