A Redesign to Highlight Flexible Solids and Voids
We are now at least two decades into the dominant architecture style of this century, when the accoutrements of the past are stripped away in favor of the streamlined and connected modernity of the present. A recent addition to this dominant style is the GNR _ The General in Ivrea, a small town in the metropolitan area of Turin, Italy. Archisbang, the firm responsible for this transformation, took an aging property and turned it into a luxurious project.
The existing property was a 1960s three-story private apartment, with a façade mix of pink stucco accented by baby blue soldiered brick, dull white window shutters, and an overelaborate roof drainage system, all under a sloped roof clad with Mediterranean tiles. The new project is a three-story, three apartment property, with a façade of natural lime plaster and exposed concrete, punctured with wider windows, all under a flat roof that comprises a pool, a skylight, and solar panels. When the replacing of the dilapidated metal balconies with a handsome steel staircase wrapped around the outside is added to the comparison between old and new, it is clear that Archisbang were seeking to create a stark departure from what came before.
From the original structure, we can appreciate its impressive volume in relation to the surrounding, residential area on the hills of Ivrea. The project highlights this feature by removing all the overhangs from the existing building; solids and voids are redesigned with large squared holes and the roof is transformed into a useful floor area – a private rooftop from where you can enjoy a high view over the Alpes and the Serra Moraine of Ivrea.
Only the skeleton was left and then reinforced in order to improve its resistance to earthquakes.
The energy efficiency upgrades include an external insulation system covered by lightweight cement boards, which were then roughly plastered with natural lime mortar. The fortress-like appearance of the building, due to its massive presence, is in contrast with its large transparent holes. Its severe relationship to the ground is emphasized by a large rock, on which the building is sited, and a play of voids and double heights on the southern side renders the rock visible from all floors.
In order to fulfill the requirements of flexibility imposed by today’s dynamic society, the building can be divided into three units: three apartments, three entrances, three finishes on the façade. The ground floor is occupied by a garage and a rock cellar. All the apartments can be connected through the elevator and the interior stairwell, whereas the external metal stairs make the apartments and the rooftop independently accessible.
On the first floor, two small-sized apartments share a living space, which is possible to reconfigure if need be thanks to a 180-degree rotating wooden panel. The main apartment is located on the top floor and the rooftop is surrounded by forest trees on the northern side;; the walls of the master bedroom are made of raw, reinforced concrete, acting as the main support of not only the existing structure, but also the swimming pool on the rooftop. The walls of the fluid interior spaces are roughly plastered in continuity with the exterior and the floors are in polished concrete punctuated with sections of grinded concrete and parquet. The severe atmosphere created by straight lines is softened by custom-made furnishing, wooden doors and windows, as well as large views of the green forest and light cuts intercepting the different levels of the building.
Project: GNR _ The General / Location: Ivrea, municipality in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Italy / Architect: Archisbang firm (Silvia Minutolo, Marco Giai Via, Alberto Perino) / Work plan: energy efficiency upgrades, renovation works, restyling of a residential building from the Sixties / which can be divided into three independent apartments / Structural engineer: Marco Cuccureddu / Constructor: Perino Costruzioni S.r.l. / Duties: preliminary design, final design, executive plan, supervision of works / Use: residential / Size: 450m² / Completion: December 2019 / Photograph: Aldo Amoretti
