The S family, who owned a small piece of industrial land in the centre of a town in Brianza district, decided to convert the building it contained into a home. This sort of situation used to be quite normal, being on the out-skirts of the town, but these areas have now been encompassed in the residential building complexes, and have thus become almost an emergency.
In this case Mrs S wanted an introvert house, where they could relax in the peace of their own home, and a large lawn garden. Perhaps a totally normal request, but when taken literally it dictated the features of this house.
The situation was that of a densely built area, with little free space and poor quality buildings.
The pitched roof rectangular house stands on a public street, and has been extended and now has the entrance, kitchen, garage and bedrooms on the first floor. The building inside, built between this one and the boundary wall has been cut: the demolished part has become the garden, while the remaining part is now the living area. The project has maintained the original volumes of the old vaulted shed, and the south facing lounge is very high with an enormous glass wall overlooking the inner garden. The natural daylight that flows into the lounge can be filtered by vertical blinds, which are suspended on steel cables to the top of the ceiling, and three meters from the window so that when they are lowered they create a much more intimate atmosphere inside and an effect outside that looks like the town arcades. The large frames that enclose the enormous vault in the living area are the result of the architect’s masterly and audacious and scrupulously detailed project, and they recall the type of iron bars that were once used in old factories: very slender black galvanized steel frames that do not form any obstacle to the view of the garden. Apart from being very essential and light visually, they are also excellent in functional terms with guaranteed strength and endurance, low thermal trasmittance levels, excellent soundproofing and burglar resistance.
The bedrooms and bathrooms have windows of the original sizes and the frames are light coloured, but still made with the best quality steel, with the light screened by motorized venetian blinds.
The garden is all lawn and the swimming pool is an elegant and functional accessory, all surrounded by a wall and iron fencing covered with ivy which climbs up to even more intimacy to the garden.
The terrace on the first floor is quite distinctive, surrounded by a tall metal fence.
