#House#1.130

By Francesco Pagliari - 28 October 2015

The long, narrow sloping site of this 500 sq m detached family house set on several levels was the key to determining the building’s architectural configuration. The volumes develop lengthwise along the narrow plot, juxtaposed or nested one into the other, adapting to the sloping terrain. Yet although fragmented, the spaces and volumes making up the whole have an overall fluidity. This dynamic continuity does not, however, allow the outside observer to perceive the residence as a whole. Lines of force project from volumes at different levels so that the outside observer sees only individual sections at any one time. The leitmotif throughout is one of distribution pathways and connections - both inside and out. Volumes and spaces course dynamically through the different levels, intersecting the light as it reaches into the different components, creating cohesion yet distinction. The result is an architecture that is both an assembly of parts and yet a whole, a building that evokes the tension of disparate elements but which nonetheless forms a consistent unit.
The fragmented perimeter displays a consistent transparency - underlined by the continuous line of tubular metal brise-soleil shielding the glazed walls. On the upper floor, the outdoor sun-shading system creates virtual exterior environments that become extensions of the interior living areas. The result is a blurring of the building’s perimeter that seems to dissolve in the uncertain demarcation between inside and out. The continuous stretch of brise-soleil along the outside is relieved by concertina fold-back shutters that when opened allow daylight to penetrate deep into the house.
Located on the upper level, the living area is an accelerated sequence of spaces. Transverse metal beams meld interiors and exteriors in a sequence marked out by the different amounts of light and shade falling on timber flooring, glazed openings and internal walls.

Francesco Pagliari