Home JMG Polignano a Mare: Between Original and Contemporary

25/07/2016 – It's called the house and is not uncontroversial , and is the last work of the architect Luca Zanaroli in the countryside of Polignano a Mare (Ba). The project is explained by of our editorial staff.

"The buildings that shape the landscape of the rural areas and to a large part still intact, and these regions have a strong symbolic character, precise, and distinctive architectural language. If I need to retrieve and integrate, as in this case, in a wide-ranging project includes the construction of new volumes, of course we are affected, but also in front of it, fascinated and inspired. If, on the one hand, it is important to the preservation of their identity in the new context, at the same time, it is equally important to allow them to be part of a "whole" without a solution of continuity between the past and the present, between old and new styles, even life.

In this particular situation, the sustainability of the project can not only from the technical and constructive aspects of the transformation process, but in terms of memory, it must also be in recovery mode as characters of the past and their contemporary reinterpretation are key.

Constantly fluctuating between the search for contemporary and of the necessity of symbols, between the drive for innovation and the connection with the tradition. My goal is the overcoming of the dichotomy between the two opposing needs and supplementing it.

Who builds decides, or to restore a building in this context in particular, must spend part of their time to do this, the desire to "belong" in these places, a close connection with the territory, and what it expresses.
From this point of view, the approach of the project is not therefore, exclusively the primary needs of man, his biological needs, or the organization of space in functional terms.

The architecture must strive to establish a balance between the artificial environment (we can do this with the new operations, and our "modus vivendi") and the natural environment, including the traditional rural architecture of games, most of them spontaneously. Through the integration and the coexistence (and not contrast) of the various elements, natural and artificial, this can be part of the landscape of a single, organic and flowing.

The requirements of the customer were clear.
I wanted to place a new, modern house for two families to share mutual privacy, a living room and a common room, an area reserved for guests, to have a swimming pool and plenty of outdoor space with friends, but especially to the improvement of the business environment.

The idea was to create a court "for the rural", is limited on the one hand, of the trullo already existing (where is located the dependance for guests), in the other two sides by a new building in the shape of an "L" and on the side towards the valley, from the pool. The main house (new building) consists of the two sides of the "L" – where are the rooms on the opposite side of the court. It ensures the confidentiality of the sleeping area and the intimacy of the house, and a block in the middle, where you will find the living room and the kitchen/dining room.
This last part of the house is completely open to the courtyard and a large window, the image of the cadres of the yard and the house.
At the request of the owner the biggest benefit was in fact to be able to feel his presence and the environment that surrounds them, perhaps the most important reason that led to the purchase of the property.

In so acting, the house will be an integral part of the new context without losing its specific identity. I have tried the correct distance, the height and the proportions of the buildings of the court of justice, and worked on colors, textures and materials for the construction of new buildings.

You can easily change the dimensions of the earth, then we placed the new building on the same level of the existing building. In the analysis of the elements of stylistic and linguistic traditional local architecture, I realized, in the new building the re-reading of the foundation stone of the trullo not just a continuity of the language with this, but also to a reduction in the perception and the impact of the new volumes and connect the two buildings, both of which are spatially and colour-coordinated. On the basis of plaster laid dry, the building ends with a wall, the plaster with lime and white, typical of these areas, which reduces the weight without reducing the power of expression, with the emphasis on the importance of the horizontality of the building.

To further reduce the impact of the new construction, I have divided the building by the insertion between the two sides of the "L," a book deliberately contrasting both the shape and the color, also to emphasize the different purpose. This cube, net square meters, is fully colored, lined with a wall made of slats of black larch wood. The case is a function, the skin to be ventilated in order to increase the thermal insulation of the building. The black box contains the municipality, a living room and a kitchen, and is, as already said, quite open, the court of justice by a large sliding door in glass.
The frames are steel, cor-ten, a natural material, reminiscent of the colors of the earth – here, too, a red/brown – brown, for a better integration with the context.

Internally, I worked mainly with light in the summer to try to "capture" and it through openings designed to do, so that itpenetrates from above and is translated smoothly onto the inner surfaces and objects to avoid strong effects of light/darkness. I wanted it to be cosy, to create an environment "soft" and relaxing but at the same time my clear intention was the contrast of the brightness between the inside and the outside. In order to illustrate that the perception of the environment that surrounds it, I wanted the openings to the outside as a type of film or screen-light-square, on the "project" the development of the landscape in the outdoor area. To do this, I used dark opaques: the floors are sanded cement industry, black/brown by hand and then waxed, while the walls are made of mortar and limestone of a grey colour.

From the outside I intentionally left the ground, as it originally was not to distort the rural character of the property. I created some areas, the paths with stone walls, very small contracts with white lime, simple characters, and a minimum on the floor. The floors are of polished concrete by hand of the same color of the stones from the ground and around the pool, in the wood of the larch is the natural color of the skin of the olive trees, which had not been touched."

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