WINNER - BigSEE Interior Design Award 2023

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LOCATION

ITALY - FRISA

 

DESIGNERS

Main architect : R. Cimini

Concept : A.J.Cimini - B.Arcari

Structure : ing. C.Iacovella 

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PROJECT YEAR

2020

 

PROJECT OF RENOVATION

2022

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PROJECT COMPLETION

ongoing

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PHOTOGRAPHER

BEATRIZ ARCARI

 

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A house with an ancient morphology but completely renovated in the second half of the 20th century. In the heart of a small historic centre and next to a micro urban vineyard.

The project for this house is based on the desire to reinforce its identity and at the same time enhance its special position.

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On the outside, recent additions were removed and the living area was opened up to the large terrace overlooking the roofs, the vineyard and the cultivated hills in the distance. A new viewpoint from the house onto the built and agricultural landscape. 

The lower floor of the building, which preserves more rural characteristics, is still being restored and designed.

Inside, the interventions of the last century have transformed a rural house through materials and devices typical of the 1960s. A time when the desire for modernity tended to prevail over traditional techniques and materials.

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The concept for the interior sought to strike a balance between the historical identity of the house, its rural past and the desire for contemporaneity manifested 60 years ago.

Baskets, traditional furniture and objects, some of which were already in the house, were recovered, along with other antique furniture built in the area. The new furniture such as the table, bed and large chests of drawers have been chosen in a warm white colour in order to place them on a secondary perceptive level.

Some inserts, on the other hand, recall the transition that the house made during the 20th century through important design icons. In the sleeping area there are cantilever chairs by Mart Stam and in the living area the colourful Series 7 by Arne Jacobsen.   

The kitchen was custom-designed and conceived for occasional and mainly summer use, calibrating the dimensions to the clients' needs and height. Made of solid wood from a single ash log, it was reduced to a simple suspended volume in order to minimise its perception in the small living area. Kitchen necessities, such as appliances, dishware and a removable induction hob, are located inside an antique trunk made of painted pine wood. A small freestanding refrigerator is located on the opposite wall.

The bathroom, as in most houses in the old town, was the last room added and is typologically an alien body. It has been completely rebuilt with a Ceppo di Gré stoneware cladding, seeking a dialogue with the restored 'terrazzo' floor of the rest of the house. 

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A story of overlapping and rewriting that the new intervention seeks to tell and interpret.