A house turns its back on the road to open up to the landscape

In Romano d'Ezzelino, near Vicenza, a house designed by architect Elena Gianesini within the project of demolition of existing volumes, building renovation and extension, offers an intimate and cosy “nest” to a family that does not renounce architectural quality and, despite the building's urban location, daily interaction with the landscape.

The building is located along the heavily trafficked Provincial Road 248. The project aimed to ensure living comfort by mitigating the impact of traffic: the setback of the building from the road front, thanks to the possibility of exploiting the wide area of the lot, and the creation of a private access path parallel to the road, screened by an ornamental green belt, provide a visual and acoustic filter between outside and inside.

A lively dialectic of materials characterises the building. The plastered walls in earthy tones create a “neutral canvas” on which slits and windows open; the first floor's double-pitched roof is entirely clad in Mazzonetto's Vestis® Testa di Moro 3D – a finish of high aesthetic quality and extremely resistant over time to weather, low temperatures, ageing, and ultraviolet rays – which gives a cracking contemporary touch to the composition. The Skin Aggraffato assembly system made it possible to obtain a technically high-performance façade and roofing with great figurative impact, also thanks to the synergy between Mazzonetto for the technical support throughout all the construction phases and the installers of MC Lattoneria.

The building is designed to optimise solar orientation and views of the countryside: large windows on the north façade establish a direct relationship with the garden, favouring natural lighting and blurring the boundary between house and landscape; on the south façade, a large fixed glazing framed by a metal canopy frames the rear garden.

The work is characterised by a “horseshoe” plan, around a central courtyard open to the north. On the ground floor, the main living functions are arranged, responding to the client's request for a house predominantly on one level. The heart of the composition is the central open space including living room, kitchen and dining area – visually interconnected but articulated in distinct volumes – which expands northwards with a porch and acts as a pivot for the "private" rooms: the west wing with the master bedroom area; the east wing with the studio, garage and wellness area. The upper floor, smaller and more compact, houses the daughters' rooms, facing north onto a large panoramic terrace.

Finally, the building has been designed with particular attention to energy efficiency and environmental sustainability: from the high-performance construction solutions in terms of insulation of the shell, structures and fixtures, to the use of a photovoltaic system to power the heat pump and radiant floor system, to the controlled mechanical ventilation system that ensures a continuous change of air without the need to open windows.

A sensitive and scrupulous project that evokes an idea of intimate and cosy, but also technically performing, living.