Cascina Otto/

Studio Wok

Italy

Project Details

Location

Location(City/Country):

Cossano Belbo / Italy
Tipology

Tipology:

Residential
Year

Year (Design/Construction):

- / 2021
Area

Area (Net/Gross):

- / -
Operational Carbon emissions

Operational Carbon emissions (B6) kgCO2e/m2/y:

-
Embodied Carbon emissions

Embodied Carbon emissions (A1-A3) kgCO2e/m2:

-
  • The project promotes the revitalization of an existing building, engaging with the history of the site, reducing embodied energy consumption and waste generation.
  • The house takes advantage of natural light and ventilation with its large windows.
  •  The main structure of the roof is made of wood, a renewable and recyclable material that stores carbon during its growth and reduces the building’s embodied carbon emissions.

Project description as provided by the Architects:

The farmhouse is located on the road that leads to the top of the hill of S. Bovo, surrounded by vineyards in  a rural and suggestive landscape.

The clients, a young couple from Berlin, wished to convert the anonymous existing building into a convivial  place to host friends, a place that could also be transformed into an artistic residence or a vacation rental.

The building presents two levels with an “L” structure overlooking a courtyard and it’s composed of an older part (north-east / south-west), already divided into pass-through rooms and storage spaces, and a large  barn with a stable on the ground floor.

The first project operation was to clarify the planimetric system.

The barn was kept as an open space and became the heart of the house, hosting the kitchen, the dining  and the living area. The typological identity has been preserved thanks to a 15-meters long window, which  defines the transition between the inhabited space and the outside landscape and leaves the old brick pillars exposed.

A new balcony, connected to the courtyard via an external staircase, reorganizes the access to the rooms  and gives uniformity to the front of the building, also recalling a typical element of the rural architecture of  the area.

The material choices follow a language that is both linked to the territory and contemporary at the same  time.

The plaster, originally present on the facades, has been removed to bring to light the “langa stone” masonry  with punctual brick inserts. The other elements and details typical of traditional architecture have also  been preserved and enhanced.

The dialogue between the new grafts and the pre-existing elements occurs naturally, creating an almost  timeless stratification.

The internal floor of the living area, the external walkways and sidewalks, as well as the new top curb that  becomes the tympanum, are made of exposed concrete with its texture and color echoing those of the  Langa stone.

An infinity pool was built inside the garden and set on the slope for the water to reflect the color of the sky  and mirror the view of the surrounding vineyards.

Commission 

Concept design, developed design, technical design and construction supervision  collaborators: arch. Claudia Begni, arch. Federica Torri

Local technicians : geom. Luca Manzo, Ing. Giorgio Domini

Client: Cascina otto

Contractors

Building: Ofstage, Milano (MI)

Carpentry: Rabatto srl, Cerea (VR)

Companies involved

Quadro Rubinetterie – bathroom taps

Progetto Benessere – pool

Photos: Simone Bossi photographer

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