Casa Roca, nestled at the top of a hill, a place to grow in harmony

Casa Roca is a building nestled at the top of a hill, in the beautiful Colli Euganei area, in Rovolon close to Padua, chosen by its owners as a private place where they can grow their great passions for music and nature.
This is a renovation and expansion project of a residential building with an agricultural annex, built in the first half of the 19th century which, before the intervention, was in a precarious and evident state of neglect.
The restoration has favored the use of recycled materials from the surrounding area, favoring the recovery of materials available on site.
The intervention involved the removal of past ad-hoc additions with the creation of a glazed enlargement westward, favoring an immediate insight of the original structure of the building.
The restoration has kept untouched the elements of the traditional Venetian architecture, such as the pitched roof with roof tiles, the regular windows with double shutters, the brick frame under the eave’s fascia and the natural stone façade (Trachyte, Costozza or Nanto’s stones) with dry stone wall effect, without however renouncing to large glazed openings which favor a direct connection with the patio projecting towards the hilly landscape.
The ground floor level has been freed from the original partitions, choosing an open space ambient characterized by a living area directly facing the Euganean valley.
A similar strategy was adopted at the first-floor level, where it is located the sleeping area, interconnected to all the house rooms and the external landscape.
An additional, and not visible extension, was created by digging the rock and consolidating through the insertion of micropiles, obtaining a large basement room completely soundproofed and intended as a recording studio.
Natural untreated stones, wood and steel sheet were preferably chosen for the finishes and the building materials, to give a natural effect to the building perched on the hill.
The intervention has a great aesthetic impact and value, harmonized with the surrounding natural environment, without however neglecting the energy efficiency and low environmental impact themes.
Indeed, it is a A4 class building, with an estimated consumption of 3.36 kWh/sqm per year, with the use of a heat pump heating system and photovoltaic panels on the rooftop. The presence of the photovoltaic panels is limited thanks to the privileged position of the house on the top of the hill and the low tilt angle of the roof.