HOUSE TV
The building, subject to intervention, is located in the historic center of Caldonazzo and presumably dates back to the 18th century. Built after the adjacent buildings, to complete the urban block, during the 20th century, it underwent multiple transformations, from an accommodation facility to a home, without however having its original features modified.
The project involved the renovation of the building and its elevation, in order to transform the attic space into a new housing unit, rethinking the existing one below.
Taking advantage of the considerable height of the attic space, the interior space has been modelled on different levels, alternating double-height environments with more intimate spaces, offering different point of views and atmospheres. The central element is the staircase, designed to connect the existing entrance level with the living area and the sleeping area, at the same time characterizing the interior space with its sculptural presence. The load-bearing structures, as well as the materials, are conceived as further elements characterizing the intervention: the steel beam painted blue like the ceramic floors, the secondary frame in natural larch wood like the floors of the sleeping area.
In a different way, the intervention on the existing house involved the transformation of its original layout, revisiting and rearranging it in order to optimize natural light and to increase the spaciousness and the quality of the internal spaces. Since it was not possible to work on different levels, like on the attic floor, we decided to relate the internal spaces by opening new passages in the load-bearing walls, allowing physical and visual connections between the rooms and offering interesting and unusual perspectives. Even here, the staircase plays a pivotal role, being shaped as a semicircular climbing element in exposed reinforced concrete to connect the ground and the first floor and as a sculptural block in larch wood in continuity with the floor of the bedroom. The materials and detail solutions are the same already used in the other unit, to harmonize the two interventions, with the exception of the ceramic floors, which are green.
If, internally, the transformations were quite radical, the intervention on the facades aimed to preserve the simple character of the building, removing every non-essential element to enhance the existing, using traditional materials in a contemporary way. Thus, the original openings have been highlighted using raised masonry frames, the texture of the roof has been left visible, the wooden door marking the entrance has been revisited without decorations, the blinds have been removed and their color maintained for the painting of the facade.
