In Ivrea (Italy) Archisbang architecture studio has recently completed GNR Il Generale, a project consisting of energy efficiency upgrading, structural renovation, along with the total restyling of a residential building from the Seventies, which can be divided into three independent apartments.
From the original structure, the house mantains its impressive volume, also thanks to the large rock on which the building is sited, but the solids and voids are redesigned with large squared holes and the roof is transformed into a useful floor area, a private rooftop with a view; in addition, only the skeleton was left and then reinforced in order to improve its resistance to earthquakes.
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 and all the apartments can be connected through the elevator and the interior stairwell; 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, where 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.
GNR Il Generale is a project of a solid and compact house, able to stand out in the context that surrounds it.
