THE MAGAZINE OF INTERIORS AND CONTEMPORARY DESIGN
N° 2 JANUARY-FEBRUARY GENNAIO-FEBBRAIO
2019
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MILLENNIAL DESIGN INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH ISSUE
INside
ARCHITECTURE Project by NOA*- NETWORK OF ARCHITECTURE
THE HOUSE OF THE FLOATING ROOMS
From an Alpine hayloft to an experimental dwelling: below the Sciliar Massif, in the Alpe di Siusi (Bolzano), an old building in stone and wood is reborn. The owner is the architect Stefan Rier, co-founder of the Alto Adige-based studio noa*, who explains the idea. Telling us about the mountains and his childhood memories photos Alex Filz article Laura Ragazzola
A wooden trellis covers the building, adding a reminder of the traditional construction of Alpine barns. Above, detail of the structure seen from below. The house in larch wood rests on a stone base, and has three levels. The entrance opens to the north (left), towards the main road, while on the opposite side large windows face the Sciliar Massif, in the heart of the Dolomites.
“If I think back on the years of my childhood, the best memories are of when I climbed up to the top of the hayloft and jumped down into the fresh hay.” Stefan Rier smiles, remembering bygone days. Since then he has come a long way. In 2011 in Bolzano, together with Lukas Rungger, he founded noa*– network of architecture, a young and rising Alto Adige-based architecture firm that in 2018 alone has won 18 international prizes. “Two of them – the Best of Interior Award and the Iconic Award for Innovative Architecture – were
precisely for this project,” he says, guiding us through his new house: a visionary, unexpected, magical habitat. This house is also a sort of plunge into the past for you… I’d say so, yes, also from a professional standpoint: an adventure that began in 2011, precisely with the birth of studio noa*. The construction was part of the oldest nucleus of the town of Siusi: an old wooden hayloft that stood next to the farmhouse, as tradition dictated. The
INTERNI January-February 2019 / 45
INside
ARCHITECTURE Project by NOA*- NETWORK OF ARCHITECTURE
THE HOUSE OF THE FLOATING ROOMS
From an Alpine hayloft to an experimental dwelling: below the Sciliar Massif, in the Alpe di Siusi (Bolzano), an old building in stone and wood is reborn. The owner is the architect Stefan Rier, co-founder of the Alto Adige-based studio noa*, who explains the idea. Telling us about the mountains and his childhood memories photos Alex Filz article Laura Ragazzola
A wooden trellis covers the building, adding a reminder of the traditional construction of Alpine barns. Above, detail of the structure seen from below. The house in larch wood rests on a stone base, and has three levels. The entrance opens to the north (left), towards the main road, while on the opposite side large windows face the Sciliar Massif, in the heart of the Dolomites.
“If I think back on the years of my childhood, the best memories are of when I climbed up to the top of the hayloft and jumped down into the fresh hay.” Stefan Rier smiles, remembering bygone days. Since then he has come a long way. In 2011 in Bolzano, together with Lukas Rungger, he founded noa*– network of architecture, a young and rising Alto Adige-based architecture firm that in 2018 alone has won 18 international prizes. “Two of them – the Best of Interior Award and the Iconic Award for Innovative Architecture – were
precisely for this project,” he says, guiding us through his new house: a visionary, unexpected, magical habitat. This house is also a sort of plunge into the past for you… I’d say so, yes, also from a professional standpoint: an adventure that began in 2011, precisely with the birth of studio noa*. The construction was part of the oldest nucleus of the town of Siusi: an old wooden hayloft that stood next to the farmhouse, as tradition dictated. The
INTERNI January-February 2019 / 45
INside
ARCHITECTURE
The reticular wooden structure is perfectly visible inside, just as in a hayloft: the room-boxes are attached to it, facing the living area on the ground floor. The interior design, with furnishings by Tischlerei Rier made to measure, combines the Alpine tradition with the colors of the Mediterranean. In the facing of the kitchen area the dominant is the blue color of the tiles by Domenico Mori, which returns in the wallpaper of the suspended boxes, by Effeitalia, and in the velvet stage-effect curtains by Fischnaller B. & Partner. Lights by Seletti and Karman.
first objective was to avoid disrupting the organization and image of the town. This is why the Messner Haus – from the name of the former owner, which I wanted to conserve – has been clad to be in tune with the tradition: a wooden trellis that wraps each side, just as in the past. A reference to the tradition, then? Certainly. For us, keeping ties with tradition is
46 / January-February 2019 INTERNI
fundamental: it means complete respect for the natural context in which we are building, and deep knowledge of the morphological and aesthetic rules of the villages and the Alpine communities. In this project, for example, we have kept the double pitched roof typical of our towns; we have also replicated the stone base, reflecting the connection to the ground found in the farmsteads of the Alpine pastures; we have recovered the lightness of the structural part in wood, as in the classic mountain barns. But the goal was also to go beyond the tradition. In what way? I believe the tradition can go on living only if it is renewed. The confrontation with modernity cannot be mere mediation, a compromise, a collage of different influences. It has to come from a mutual recognition of values and needs. In this way the ‘new’ takes on formal and aesthetic independence that enriches it, making it unique, inimitable. Does that happen in your house? Yes, precisely. It is a dwelling in which two spirits coexist and interact. While on the outside the house coincides with that sense of responsibility for the tradition and the historical-environmental context, inside one has maximum compositional freedom, getting away from the classic aesthetic canons of Alpine interiors and becoming an expression of the inhabitants...
INTERNI January-February 2019 / 47
INside
ARCHITECTURE
The reticular wooden structure is perfectly visible inside, just as in a hayloft: the room-boxes are attached to it, facing the living area on the ground floor. The interior design, with furnishings by Tischlerei Rier made to measure, combines the Alpine tradition with the colors of the Mediterranean. In the facing of the kitchen area the dominant is the blue color of the tiles by Domenico Mori, which returns in the wallpaper of the suspended boxes, by Effeitalia, and in the velvet stage-effect curtains by Fischnaller B. & Partner. Lights by Seletti and Karman.
first objective was to avoid disrupting the organization and image of the town. This is why the Messner Haus – from the name of the former owner, which I wanted to conserve – has been clad to be in tune with the tradition: a wooden trellis that wraps each side, just as in the past. A reference to the tradition, then? Certainly. For us, keeping ties with tradition is
46 / January-February 2019 INTERNI
fundamental: it means complete respect for the natural context in which we are building, and deep knowledge of the morphological and aesthetic rules of the villages and the Alpine communities. In this project, for example, we have kept the double pitched roof typical of our towns; we have also replicated the stone base, reflecting the connection to the ground found in the farmsteads of the Alpine pastures; we have recovered the lightness of the structural part in wood, as in the classic mountain barns. But the goal was also to go beyond the tradition. In what way? I believe the tradition can go on living only if it is renewed. The confrontation with modernity cannot be mere mediation, a compromise, a collage of different influences. It has to come from a mutual recognition of values and needs. In this way the ‘new’ takes on formal and aesthetic independence that enriches it, making it unique, inimitable. Does that happen in your house? Yes, precisely. It is a dwelling in which two spirits coexist and interact. While on the outside the house coincides with that sense of responsibility for the tradition and the historical-environmental context, inside one has maximum compositional freedom, getting away from the classic aesthetic canons of Alpine interiors and becoming an expression of the inhabitants...
INTERNI January-February 2019 / 47
INside
ARCHITECTURE
From the living area the gaze scans up to a height of 12 meters, to take in the wooden roof trusses. A system of walkways provides access to the room-boxes and leads to the other spaces open to the living area (left). The bathtub by Teuco, almost suspended in the void, offers a view of the landscape (below). At the bottom, the axonometric section reveals the original layout of the house.
An iron staircase by Kometal connects the three levels of the building: the structure, similar to the finely carved grates of the Arabian tradition, allows light to enter, creating shadow effects that enhance the structural dynamic of the architecture.
48 / January-February 2019 INTERNI
A sort of design rebellion? I have simply played the card of the contemporary, freeing myself of any preset constraints and schemes. To look forward, but also a bit backward... To your roots? Yes. While I was designing this house I thought back on the years of my childhood, the happy moments spent amidst these beautiful mountains: from the leaps into the hay to climbing trees to reach secret shelters. I think those memories were behind the internal structure of the house. In particular, the idea of replacing the classic rooms with ‘floating’ boxes hung at different heights and connected by staircases and walkways. It is like a mountain path: as you go up, you gradually leave the more public part of the house behind (kitchen and living area) to reach the more intimate, private zone of the family (bedrooms and bathrooms). And at the top there is a surprise, that rewards you for the whole climb: a marvelous panoramic sauna, hung on the wooden trellis, where only the mountains can spy on you… ■
INTERNI January-February 2019 / 49
INside
ARCHITECTURE
From the living area the gaze scans up to a height of 12 meters, to take in the wooden roof trusses. A system of walkways provides access to the room-boxes and leads to the other spaces open to the living area (left). The bathtub by Teuco, almost suspended in the void, offers a view of the landscape (below). At the bottom, the axonometric section reveals the original layout of the house.
An iron staircase by Kometal connects the three levels of the building: the structure, similar to the finely carved grates of the Arabian tradition, allows light to enter, creating shadow effects that enhance the structural dynamic of the architecture.
48 / January-February 2019 INTERNI
A sort of design rebellion? I have simply played the card of the contemporary, freeing myself of any preset constraints and schemes. To look forward, but also a bit backward... To your roots? Yes. While I was designing this house I thought back on the years of my childhood, the happy moments spent amidst these beautiful mountains: from the leaps into the hay to climbing trees to reach secret shelters. I think those memories were behind the internal structure of the house. In particular, the idea of replacing the classic rooms with ‘floating’ boxes hung at different heights and connected by staircases and walkways. It is like a mountain path: as you go up, you gradually leave the more public part of the house behind (kitchen and living area) to reach the more intimate, private zone of the family (bedrooms and bathrooms). And at the top there is a surprise, that rewards you for the whole climb: a marvelous panoramic sauna, hung on the wooden trellis, where only the mountains can spy on you… ■
INTERNI January-February 2019 / 49