FUNDAMENTALS The main intention of this house renovation project was to create a central and predominant garden area (nonexistent due to the original placement of the house), and at the same time highlight and enhance the position of the house facing the hill, which was originally ignored. COMPOSITION AND DEVELOPMENT In order to accomplish the above, 60% of the original house had to be demolished,maintainingonly a parallelepiped volume with gabled roof, which becamethecompositional modulefor the project. Over the original volume, a second outer skin of woodenslabs was disposed laid out, with the intention of, on the one hand, achieving the desired reading of the volumetric element, and on the other hand, creating a ventilated facade (the original house had very poorly thermal insulation) The project was composed of 3 volumes; original volume of theground floor+ second floor volume rotated to the dominant view + newground floor volume, rotated relative to the prior two, in order to maintain an independent reading of the 3 elements.
DESIGN PRINCIPLES Special emphasis was placed on the coherence between the exterior and the interior, both regarding the volumetric reading and its spatiality. This is achieved through external volumes spanning into the interior, whilst keeping the configuration if the original roof. Along the same lines, the meeting point of the three volumes becomes evident from both the outside and inside through a double-height space formed by the three geometric forms, which constitutes the house’s geometric articulator facing the entrance, and containing the staircase, therefore making it also the functional articulator of the house. The outer skin of wooden slabs not only creates a ventilated façade, but also allows for the entire volume to be read encompassing both wall and ceiling, in a simple and recognizable geometry but with a visual texture that enriches the experience of the approach by discovering the details.
