CASA M
The project consists in the recovery of the attic of a three-storey building. The floor area is about 90 square meters and the space has a maximum height of 360 cm at the top. The space is unique, without divisions, and natural lighting is guaranteed by two French doors on the east side, two windows on the west side and 3 skylights on the north and south sides. Immediately the presence that influenced the thought on the project was the column in the center of the space inside which the flues that pass from the apartments on the lower floors pass. It becomes the starting point from which the architectural narrative develops: the volume that is built around it houses the fireplace, which becomes the real center of gravity of the house, as it is present and visible from every corner of the common spaces. From the front door the environment denser with meanings develops, no longer a simple place of passage and service, but the place that welcomes in an intimate and muffled atmosphere, the place that accompanies from the shadow to the light of the area day, the place that at the same time gives us horizon and reference but that confuses us with two possible ways, the place that makes us perceive absolute symmetry but that makes us discover that the heights of space are not equal. The two bedrooms and the living room are the arrival points of this welcoming "ritual", and are the places where everything becomes clearer, where light enters the spaces without filters through the large openings on the walls and roof.
Artificial lighting follows the concept with which the house was designed: in the entrance and hallway the atmosphere remains in the shadows, thanks to ceiling spots that only underline the path. In the bedrooms and in the living room / kitchen, on the other hand, the light is more diffused, thanks to wall lamps which, turned towards the ceiling, guarantee general lighting in the rooms.
Natural lighting has not undergone changes in the number and position of the windows, both on the wall and on the ceiling. The three ceiling openings have more than doubled in size to further amplify the transition from shadow to light, the idea that generated the project.
In addition to the plastered walls, only two materials are used for the internal cladding and floors: larch wood and Luserna stone. The wood is strongly present in the entrance area, consistent with the idea of penumbra that is typical of this area, while most of the walls in the living room and inside the rooms are plastered in white color to give great light and fully perceive these spaces.
