What was the brief?
It is a challenging intervention inside a building with an ancient history, located in the historic center of Gravina in Puglia (BA). A two-level housing unit that echoes a loft mood. With the client it was possible to establish a fair dose of dialogue between history and contemporaneity. The immovable unit that for years had been in a state of neglect has been redeveloped looking for innovative elements aimed at improving the quality of the house.
In the design, the original spaces were recovered, giving them a new identity and integrity. Respecting the tradition and the peculiarity of the place, the design organization of the spaces was addressed by preserving the original volume, characterizing a strong sensitivity for the choice of materials and colors to enhance the structural system.
What were the key challenges?
The housing unit intended for a young couple with children has no rigid division between the living and sleeping areas, an open spatial model made up of autonomous nuclei that relate to the center of a filter space where there is a minimal staircase with cantilevered steps, which leads to the mezzanine intended for the play-study area.
The idea was immediately to create a continuous and fluid space that could relate to all environments. A new modern architecture, fresh, pure, calm, minimal, respecting the place. Architectures within architecture underlined by the continuity of the flooring in natural oak slats. All the branched rooms are linked together also by large white rooms and clear surfaces that dominate and expand the spaces. The special designed furnishings light up with refined colors and solutions in perfect harmony with the architecture of the place.
The house develops on two levels connected by a white steel staircase dematerialized, a minimal graphic sign, contrasted by the brilliance of the laminated glass balustrade. Upstairs there is the office-study area open to the staircase. The space of the bathrooms equipped with all the comforts for a personal well-being are designed with respect for the simplicity and elegance evident in the cut of the false ceilings and in the use of flush doors flush with the wall.
What materials did you choose and why?
The punctuation of the light designed in a dynamic way, gives a diffused and soft brightness to the rooms, furnished with contemporary design objects. In this house everything is studied and designed in the smallest details from the flush doors including the armored doors, to the wooden windows, to the invisible mosquito nets, to the shutters designed at the same time as the fixtures, to the artificial lighting designed respecting natural light, to the real metal stairs. sculptural objects, designed and customized furnishings including the kitchen with a great formal impact, all the lowerings designed to make the space dynamic.
