In the heart of the Parioli neighborhood in Rome, we are bringing to completion the project for a luxury oriental day-spa, contained within a wood volume suspended and projecting over the street. A small traditional pre-existing two-floor villa without special quality has been completely transformed in a contemporary key throught simple but strong transformations.
The young firm Noses Architects completed their ‘mission architecture’ for the Kook eating house project in Rome: it meant creating a place that enhanced the perception of the senses without going overboard. The designers say: “The project trusted in cold concrete, heated by the warm wood and custom furnishing full of memories and, perhaps, until recently, bearing witness to intimate family scenes. Today’s and yesterday’s threads meet in the architecture and in the cuisine.
Winner of the international competition organized by the city of Rome to design the new city hall, the public building occupies an area of 110,000 square meters. The project reorganizes and rationalizes the localization of the municipal offices in the Capital and the entire urban area in which they are inserted.
Team: Mario Cucinella, Elizabeth Francis, Stefano Massa (architect in charge), Alessandro Gazzoni, Dora Giunco, Hyun Seok Kim, Antonella Maggiore
Coordination engineering: Studio Altieri Spa
In collaboration with: Land Srl landscape architects, TiFS Ingegneria Srl, SVEI Spa, Studio FOA, Ing, Franco Mola, Centostazioni Spa, Ing. Alessandra Focaracci, Dott. Mara Memo
Rome – Beyond the glass is Rome, the songs and postcards. There is the atmosphere and the irresistible charm of the capital, is its urban rhythm and then there are the buildings. The context of the setting of this house is the Umbertine quarter of Prati, near the Vatican. The setting planimetric is stiff, typical of the dwellings in this area: entrance, corridor, culminating at the end of the kitchen and the bedroom. In one of these buildings Colavita family lives, better known, especially in the United States, such as “lords of the oil.” “We are a mature couple” – said with a slight smile the owner – and both me and my husband wanted to end up in a home intimate and reassuring that it was neither too much nor too contemporary classic.
In a time when it is our duty to investigate alternative non-oil based energy sources, Smart Grid represents the most sustainable model in environmental, energetic and economic terms. The nodes in the energy grid will be the power stations of the future: intermodal and social centers, in which we will be able to exchange energy and data, and interact socially as if we were in a market, or rather in an energy mall. In these energy malls we will switch from “volumetric” vehicles for long-distance travel short-distance movements (electro assisted and automated individual devices that are an extension to one’s body).
A virtual diagonal between the two opposite corners of the shape of the apartment, exactly from the bedroom and the fireplace represent the sign along the one the apartment distribution is organized. Anybody can read this strong sign characterizing the floor plan and the ceiling.
Hallway to the bedrooms : Image Courtesy Gianni Franchellucci and Marinella Paolini
The project area is located near Rome in the Castelli Romani Park. Prior to our intervention, in the project area there was an old shed, abandoned for over 15 years was made of tuff bricks and it had a roof in Eternit. Before starting the construction of the new building was necessary to proceed with the work of land reclamation. In this way we were sure to realized a building in a safe place.
It was the will of the Client to make a beauty center with a strong communicative impact, in which the user could immediately receive a message of efficiency, timeliness and sophistication. The container in which we would have to work is within a historic restricted building. The Superintendence has been an obstacle not easily pass. The volume in question is located on the first floor of an extension built in the early decades of the last century, in a noble palace in Rome.
Ground floor reception detail : Image Courtesy ANDREA ZANI
The project stems from the idea of creating a perfect synergy between architecture, nature and social technologies Jardimpu (Arduino and Paraimpu).
The name “St. Horto” is a pun, between Italian and English language. The two words “Horto” and “St” give at the same time the idea of a sacred, intimate garden and of something crooked, apparently disordered but full of life, just like a plant. Together they represent the irregular geometry (crooked or oblique) but highly controlled architectural design of the garden.