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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. House Along Sardinia’s Southern Coast in Cagliari, Italy by Pierluigi PiuMarch 18th, 2021 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: Pierluigi Piu When designing this villa to be built along Sardinia’s coastline it was my intention to link it to its geographical and cultural environment using a contemporary and sober language, yet unmistakably Mediterranean and referring to the traditional arts and crafts of this Italian island. Far from wishing to evoke Sardinia through trite conventional images, inspiration was found in reproducing some textures of traditional weaving (typical ancient and contemporary fabrics and carpets), jewellery (gold filigree), embroidery and basket weaving, transposing them into stone and ceramic finishes and coverings.  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu
 Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu This house was designed and built for a married couple living in London, but wishing to spend in Sardinia (the Italian island where the husband was born and spent his youth) at least one week per month, hosting here many of their international friends. The house is built in a high position on the side of the hills and has a superb view on the facing Mediterranean sea and the green pinewood below. It is a two storey building laying on a sloping 4.622sqm wide property. The rear part of the lower floor is therefore built against the hill’s slope, but is well-insulated from it by the interposition of a drained and ventilated hollow space, used as storage and boiler room only. Both levels (lower floor: 163,6sqm – upper floor: 112sqm) have wide panoramic terraces (lower floor: 400sqm + swimming pool: 80sqm – upper floor: 91,6sqm) and the house is complemented by an 80sqm wide swimming pool and a small surrounding rocky park. One of the terraces at the ground floor (located opposite to the entrance side) is at the same level and directly connected to the kitchen, so that dinners under the sky can be enjoyed there while overlooking the illuminated swimming pool, to which one can directly access through a stone stairway. The pool is surrounded by a rocky garden and a green meadow and wide terraces/solarium connected by white bushammered stone steps to the terraces surrounding the ground floor. All terraces are paved with white washed out concrete and have white bushammered stone edges.  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu The architecture of the house consists of pure and squared volumes finished with an extra white plaster featuring a thick texture of lime and sand mixed together and skilfully laid on the walls, washed in the evening by linear lights recessed in the terraces floor. A textured dado in red basalt stone surrounds the whole elevation of the lower floor; such dado lies on the same surface of the thick white lime plaster laid above, from which is separated by a deep shadow gap. The dado’s texture is meant to evoke the wattled vegetal fibres of typical Sardinian baskets. The access doors open on the right hand side elevation of the house and are both Cor-Ten made, featuring flush horizontal panels. The double leaf main one introduces to the entrance lobby from where, through a full height double leaf internal door (which is perfectly integrated in an 8×2,70mt wood cladding covering the opposite face of the wall one may step into the wide open space of the living room. This includes the dining area fitted with a wide table model “Howard”, with chairs ”Ventura”, designed by J.M. Massaud, all produced by Poliform and complemented by a bespoke sideboard cabinet, suspended in the facing alcove and a small, yet well proportioned toilet serving the lower floor, the access to which is hidden behind the walls defining a second alcove where all Hi-Fi appliances are contained in a bespoke suspended cabinet which integrates and hides all necessary wiring.  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu The main feature of the living room is the background wall behind the 340x400cm wide sofa (model is “PARK”, by Poliform) covered with a textured white lime stone meant to evoke the typical Sardinian ancient weaving technique called “a pibiones”, a work by artist Pinuccio Sciola. Such wall, as well as almost all other perimetric ones in the house, is light washed by a linear luminous source recessed into a slot opened for this purpose in the fake ceiling on top. In the facing perimetric wall open the wide windows sliding in a hollow space within the masonry. They are single glazed and have bespoke Cor-Ten made frames and handles. Through them one can enjoy the superb view of the facing Mediterranean sea and the pinewood below, and have access to the huge panoramic terraces surrounding the ground floor of the house. The copious and intense permeating daylight is screened by a continuous double layer white linen curtain dropping down from a slot of the fake ceiling and sliding along the inner face of the wall. At one end of the living room is the mentioned oak wood cladding integrating the double leaf door giving access to the entrance lobby; when these are open, such lobby, the living, the dining area, the kitchen connected to them through a large doorless passage and its terrace may be perceived as a wide and fluid open space in continuity with the outside terraces. All floor surfaces are finished with no interruptions at all with a smooth sand colour mat mixture of resin and cement (the product’s name is“cementodiluna”. In the kitchen such finish covers the walls too, bringing out the bespoke cabinets of this room from where, through a wide sliding window, one may access the outside dining terrace connected by a few steps to the swimming pool located right below.  Image Courtesy © Dietrich Steinmetz  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu Going back to the living area, an open passage between the textured wall and the Hi-Fi alcove gives access to the storage and boiler room (if turning right) and to the staircase leading to the upper floor. This last space features a linear sequence of solid oak wood thick steps covering like a central carpet the structural stairs and running at a distance of 5cm from each side wall. Such steps also feature a special solution: the interposition between rise and tread of a protective 1mm thick aluminium flat profile, the edge of which being flush with both surfaces, strongly reinforces the step’s nose, making it last much longer in its original conditions. As a secondary effect, although not less important, thanks to its metallic reflections such profile also works as an elegant yet discrete highlighter of the steps’ noses. When reaching the upper landing of the stairs one finds himself in a distributive space flooded by the copious daylight entering through the wide skylight opened in the flat roof above. Two full height glass panels protect against accidental falls in the staircase void and allow the natural light to permeate the whole space, making this last look wider than it actually is. On such lobby open the doors of three bedrooms, a guests’ bathroom and a small storage. These doors’ shutters – all covered with the same dark brown oak as all cabinets in the house – go from floor to ceiling, pivot on invisible hinges and are framed by special invisible aluminium chassis (supplied by ALBED e L’INVISIBILE) allowing them to stay perfectly flush with the inner face of the walls (inside the rooms). The door handles are model “Chiara”, supplied by OLIVARI.  Image Courtesy © Dietrich Steinmetz  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu All bedrooms, being fitted with the minimum necessary pieces of furniture, are about bare. All have large sliding windows with Cor-Ten frames, screened by white linen curtains, giving access to the wide surrounding terraces offering a superb view. One of the rooms features a covering with special white ceramic tiles (series “Bas-relief”, supplied by MUTINA, the texture of which is meant to evoke traditional ancient Sardinian jewellery (golden filigree) and embroidery. All bedrooms are fitted with bespoke wall to wall suspended wardrobe cabinets, the central section of which houses a fully equipped vanity unit for ladies. These cabinets are also fitted with linear lights recessed below and inside them. They are suspended not only for aesthetical reasons but also to allow the air conditioning system to continuously suck the fresh air flow through a duct recessed in the cabinets, filter, recycle and pour it again in the rooms. In the main bedroom such cabinet is faced by a full height wood panelling integrating the access door, while its central section features a double leaf doorway giving access to the en suite bathroom. All wood panelling and wardrobe doors are fitted with recessed cavities working as handles.  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu Once one steps in the en suite bathroom finds himself in front of a bathtub (model “Normal”, designed by Benedini Associati, produced by Agape) freestanding out at the wide sliding window and so providing the pleasure of a relaxing bath en plein air, under the beautiful Sardinian blue sky (such window also gives access to a large panoramic terrace pertaining to this bathroom. On the left side is a niche fitted with a suspended thick wood board on which rest the twin sinks “Cathino” produced by Boffi. Below is a cylindric radiator “Flow-Form”, supplied by RUNTAL ITALIA. On top of them is a fully mirrored cabinet with lights integrated. On the right side, as per the entrance, next to the w.c. is a niche fitted with a small suspended cabinet for disposals, while at the far bottom is the wide alcove devoted to the shower, equipped with a recessed towels-heating panel (model “SP-Platt, by BREM Radiatori). The walls adjacent to the bedroom and surrounding the shower’s alcove are covered with 120x120cm wide ceramic tiles (series “Dechirer”, supplied by MUTINA) featuring a texture which is meant to remind the patterns of traditional Sardinian carpets recently revisited by Patricia Urquiola. The guest’s bathroom is located in front of the main bedroom’s door. At its far bottom opposite to the entrance is the wide doorless alcove of the shower, also, equipped with a recessed towels heating panel (model “SP-Platt, by BREM Radiatori). On the left side is a niche fitted with a suspended thick wood board on which rest the twin sinks (model “Cathino” and faucets “Minimal”, by BOFFI, Below which is again a cylindric radiator “Flow-Form”, supplied by RUNTAL ITALIA. Note the small panels recessed in the side walls of the sinks: being impossible to place the sinks anywhere else than in front of the unremovable window, they ended not having a mirror hanging in front of their users; to solve this problem foldaway mirrors have been fitted on the inner face of the panels recessed in both side walls.  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu Next to the entrance, on its left side, is a built-in full height cabinet for bathroom linen and disposals. A band of black and white textured ceramic tiles runs from floor to walls, up to the ceiling, laying on the same surface as the surrounding finish of floor and walls (dove grey cement-resin, “cementodiluna”) and integrating a transversal brushed stainless steel band devoted to the flush operation buttons. The texture of such tiles is meant to evoke handwoven traditional Sardinian fabrics and carpets. All the remaining wall surfaces are finished with the very same waterproof product laid on the floors. Everywhere in the house except in the kitchen and the guests’ bathroom – and in the terraces, the floor finish rises on the walls to form a 10cm high skirting laid on the same surface of the lime based plaster covering them, with an interposed 10x10mm “U” shaped recessed aluminium profile working as a separating shadow gap.  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © CONFINIVISIVI, Pierluigi Dessì  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © CONFINIVISIVI, Pierluigi Dessì  Image Courtesy © CONFINIVISIVI, Pierluigi Dessì  Image Courtesy © CONFINIVISIVI, Pierluigi Dessì  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu  Image Courtesy © Pierluigi Piu
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