Amaca Architetti Associati: 13 Treviso Houses

The project took as its starting point the idea of telescoping into a small plot the design potential of a larger area incorporating a pre-existing structure and farm buildings. This made it possible to build, in total, 13 single family houses, each with a floor space of around 90m2. These are lined up in three parallel rows on the site, protecting a part of the countryside which is still being farmed from the development.

Given the limited size of the houses and their proximity to three factory buildings, the main aims of the design, from the start, were the integration of the internal and external spaces, and ensuring that the houses were sufficiently private. Even though there are slight differences between them, the houses are largely uniform in appearance. Inside, they are clearly divided into servant and served spaces; there is a dining/living area linking a front garden and a private patio on the south side. To ensure intimacy and privacy, these patios are bounded by a kind of "double facade" built from concrete sections: this also supports a mobile system of metal brise soleil.

The south patio is connected, in its turn, to a larger, to more traditional garden. The external space for each house is completed by a tiny utility area on the north side with the entrances. The houses in the north-facing row differ in having access that is independent of the public road.

The buildings were constructed from very simple, inexpensive materials – plaster, exposed brick with white enamel paint, wood for the doors and windows, and varnished metal for the brise soleil and railings. The project was designed in 2005 and finished in October 2008 with some modifications, in particular to the exteriors. The green areas have only been laid out very recently, and some of parts of these are still to be finished.

The members of Amaca Architetti are: Monica Bosio (born 1971), Martina Cafaro (1966), Marco Ferrari (1966) and Carlo Zavan (1966). The group was chosen in 2009 at the Premio Città di Oderzo for their design of these 13 Treviso houses, and in 2005 for their residential buildings in Dosson di Casier, which also won a silver award at the Premio Europeo L. Cosenza.

13 Treviso Houses
Design: Amaca Architetti Associati,
(Monica Bosio, Martina Cafaro, Marco Ferrari and Carlo Zavan)
Structural engineering: Antonio Pantuso
Construction supervision: Monica Bosio and Marco Ferrari
Collaborator: Alice Pesce
Client: N.I.R. Nuove Iniziative Residenziali s.r.l
Building contractor: Co.Ra. Costruzioni srl, Venezia, Mestre
Timeline: 2005 (design), 2006 - 2008 (construction)
Plot size: 3100 m2; gross volume: 5050 m3
Cost: € 1,900,000