Contributor
Studio Albori

2010
Renovation of a barn - Ispra - Italy

The ruin of a small farm building, located on top of Mount Ispra, is transformed into house of holidays.
They are retained and consolidated the massive stone-walls three sides of the perimeter and a pillar at the center of the missing side - while they are removed the remaining non-recoverable parts.
For the construction of the missing side, the local Construction Commission imposes to respect the “aesthetic typology” present in the actual state, or to maintain the bottom “full” part (opaque) and the upper “empty” part (transparent, or glazed). From this imposition, the living room and the kitchen are placed on the upper floor: to protect them from the sun of the south-east in hot weather and the proximity of the surrounding houses, in front of the windows of the top floor is placed a frame made of branches and logs , cut in the grove that is behind the barn, and then put in place on the facade.
The woods of the near forest is the main energy source of the house, integrated by the sun, captured by photovoltaic panels and termic - complete also the lower part of the facade, this time shaped in the firewood stacked to form a sort of floating counterwall and fuel (which has also additional thermal insulation function).
On the back side, the wide carving in the stone wall is boxed and turned into a window, which corresponds to a trellis / terrace that statically counteracts the enlargement of the existing masonry: from there, over the top of the trees of the wood, you see the lake.
Rainwater is collected in a tank made from the remains of the walls of another small neighbouring house: in the following days of the rains the tank becomes a small pool, which is then emptied, removing a pipe segment from the exhaust vent and leaving it drain in the underground tank, which will serve to water the garden.

[project selected by Anouck Charlotte Babled]

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Architecture as Resource / Imprint