Casetta a Meina / Small house in Meina
ristrutturazione con cambio di destinazione / restoration and conversion
FROM BARN TO GUEST HOUSE
In Meina old town, on the piemontese side of the Maggiore lake, an old barn belonging to a historic villa and used as garage and deposit, becomes the ideal solution to a need for expansion of the existing house.
The need of the owners is to obtain an outbuilding with a living area and two bedrooms that could accomodate for short periods, the two sons' families and the visiting friends.
The request is to obtain a totally independent cottage, making the most of the existing volumes without changing the shape of the building and maintaining the morphological and matteric features.
THE PROJECT
Into the existing building envelope, totally emptied from partitions, ceilings, stairs and bearing walls, find space three new levels: one for the living area and two for the night area.
A system of stairs and corridors leads to the different floors creating a sort of circular path along which the spaces are continuosly linked by the views between the double height areas.
Simple materials such as oxidized iron, smooth concrete, rough plaster painted with enamel or lime, stone boards recovered from the existing staircase and construction wood are enhanced in their materiality by the combination with finer materials such as Carrara marble, brushed steel, aged elm and varnished wood.
Externally, some specific changes, such as the openings resize or creation and the windows replacement, keeps unchanged the shape and the main external features.
