Type of project
Private Residence
Year
2005
Tag
Glass Metal Stairs Recovery Cement Reflection Interior
Mentions
1° PREMIO CONCORSO RIABITA 2005
RIABITA N.10/2006
AND N.24
ABITARE N.460
Photographers
Paola de Pietri
Status
Completed
Location
Siena, Italy
Architectural work in Italy usually involves operating in delicate situations and addressing the historical layers of the site.
The Vertigo project combines profound respect for historic structures while, at the same time, completely renouncing feelings of awe; our approach of listening to the context is perceptible. We are attentive to seeking and selecting an initial matrix, cleansing the space of any superfluous material, and releasing the bindings that tie it to the ground, like those in the sky, and exploring the possibilities of interstitial space. Only then does our architectural scalpel, in a shrewd indirect interplay with the historical material, make a lucid and decisive stroke of modernity; this is what happened in this residential unit wedged in among a row of terraced houses in the centre of Siena.
A dematerialised pair of binoculars is arranged vertically following the building’s layout, clearing out the existing staircase and transforming it into a transparent, vertiginous vector of light, as well as an amplifier of space, given the small net surface of 50 square metres per floor, in the underlying principle of all the internal geometry, which forms a sort of box within a box that detaches itself from the perimeter wall. This design is combined with the careful selection of a few primary materials; iron, glass, concrete, and a single variety of wood for furnishings and finishes.
