The Hole with the House Around by ELASTICOFarm: Contemporary architecture that embraces the void

The ELASTICOFarm studio, led by architect Stefano Pujatti, once again demonstrates its extraordinary ability to address architectural issues based on a highly innovative approach and open to experimentation. "The Hole with the House Around" is a residence designed for a young chef from Piedmont located in the heart of a private park in Cambiano, in the province of Turin. Boldly reinterpreting a residential building from the 1970s, defying both gravity and architectural conventions, the volumes of the new house rise above the original construction on which they partially rest. In the heart of the building a void opens up that amplifies the feeling of vertigo and detachment from the surrounding ground.
The architectural structure seems fragmented into a series of elements that surround this empty space. The solution adopted by the architects creates a unique atmosphere, in which the rooms of the house seem to float above the ground, establishing a direct relationship with the treetops. The new point of view allows for a dialogue to be created with a broader landscape, which extends to the Alpine arc.

The house is accessed directly from the park, among the trees, through a hanging and open metal staircase that offers a continuously-changing view as one climbs up towards the residence. The vegetation penetrates and envelops the building, also transforming the interior spaces, an effect further amplified by the interior walls painted in different shades of green to create an ideal link with the nature of the park. The building, fully clad in corrugated aluminium sheet, strikingly reflects its surroundings.

ELASTICOFarm does not limit itself to designing a residence, clearly articulating its mission: not to be satisfied with triviality and conformism, but to constantly seek new constructive solutions and new spatial configurations. The studio led by architect Stefano Pujatti has always stood out for its ability to interpret themes and problems adopting an innovative approach since its first projects, such as Atelier Fleuriste in Chieri in 2008 and Hotel 1301iNN in Piancavallo in 2012, as well as in the "Le bâtiment descendant l'escalier" (Jesolo, 2021) residential building, already presented in Floornature’s pages. The architectural research conducted by Stefano Pujatti and his studio challenges the norms and conventions of contemporary architectural culture, characteristics that have received the recognition of the jury of the Italian Architecture Prize, promoted by the Triennale di Milano and MAXXI, awarded to the ELASTICOFarm studio for the S-LAB project, the building of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare - INFN) in Turin, Italy.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Images courtesy of ELASTICOFarm and Cultivar, photo by Anna Positano, Gaia Cambiaggi | Studio Campo

Name of the project: The Hole with the House Around
Location: Cambiano (Torino), Italy
Architect: ELASTICOFarm www.elasticofarm.com
Design team: Stefano Pujatti, Daniele Almondo, Valeria Brero, Serena Nano, Andrea Rosada
Structural engineering: Corrado Curti
Mechanical engineering: Pasquale Matarazzo, Bruno Marcon
Contractor: De Filippi Costruzioni

Project size
Intervention plot area: 5,635 square metres
Extension (new house): 135 square metres
Renovation (existing house): 250 square metres


Project schedule Design: February 2015 - December 2016
Construction: February 2017 - June 2022
Completion: July 2022

Photographs: Anna Positano, Gaia Cambiaggi | Studio Campo www.studiocampo.net

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