Rocking Roof
The icon of a traditional italian farm house, becomes the starting point of a design process, that brings SELF arquitectura, moving the roof and piercing the volume, transforming the original shape in something very different.
White House is a residence for four families, which is
spread over two levels above ground, plus one in the
basement. The project was born from the desire to
design a single volume that draws the icon of the house
with a traditional gable roof, on which apply some
simple modeling.
It is a typical quadrifamiliar house, a battle horse for
small constructors that have colonized
the Padana plain, where we have tried to revolutionize
the languages, transforming the iconic elements that
make these kind of homes “sellable” and desired, in
quality spaces: the attic that becomes an architecture
within an architecture, the terraces that disappear to
become empty volumes in the full volume of the house
as well as the porches.
The loggias and some windows are obtained by
subtracting the volume of the solid block of the house,
while the roof slopes are pressed, like the keys of a
piano, to get a more dynamic trend to the coverage.
The result is a large house whose shape is reminiscent
of the old farmhouses of the Po valley, in which,
however, domestic spaces are structured to meet the
needs of contemporary living.
Privacy and Sharing some common areas, become two
important keywords in the design of individual housing,
as well as the green spaces that surround the house.
The White House is a Padano cottage that started a
metamorphosis that we will hardly be able to control
to the full. The four families live there experiencing
forms of sharing that they would otherwise have never
imagined and this, perhaps, is the most interesting
aspect of the project.
Program: private housing.
Site: Origgio (VA), Italy.
Surface: 360 m2.
Budget: 500.000 euros.
Client: Casatec.
Construction: BPM
Chronology: 2012-2017
Preliminary, Definitive and Construction
Design. Construction management.
Photo: Andrea Penisto