Contemporary Trulli. Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio
20/08/2022.
[Apulia] Italy
metalocus, ADELA BONAS
metalocus, ADELA BONAS
If you travel through the Italian region of Apulia, it will be a typology of buildings that will not go unnoticed: the trulli, cylindrical buildings painted white made entirely with dry stone masonry walls -without mortar-, topped with a large roof conical in shape.
These buildings, which are typical of the Itria Valley on the slopes of the Murgia promontory, are usually crowned by a sphere or symbolic figures. These old buildings, houses of the humblest classes, are currently rehabilitated and renovated as holiday homes.
The architecture firm based in Ragusa, Giuseppe Gurrieri, was commissioned to renovate and extend a set of trulli, near the town of Cisternino, between Bari, Brindisi and Taranto, into a residential building.
These buildings, which are typical of the Itria Valley on the slopes of the Murgia promontory, are usually crowned by a sphere or symbolic figures. These old buildings, houses of the humblest classes, are currently rehabilitated and renovated as holiday homes.
The architecture firm based in Ragusa, Giuseppe Gurrieri, was commissioned to renovate and extend a set of trulli, near the town of Cisternino, between Bari, Brindisi and Taranto, into a residential building.
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli
Previous constructions. Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio.
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio.
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio.
Sections. Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio.
Sections. Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio.
Elevations. Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio.
Casa ACO is the extension and renovation designed by Giuseppe Gurrieri for a private builder, of a complex that includes the main house made up of two trulli and an independent annexe building with a rectangular floor plan.
The old buildings, the trulli, are built with thick walls with an archaic look and small windows that offer good protection against heat and cold. The new extension dialogues with the existing buildings with a minimalist volume, separated from the roof structure by a continuous skylight, which opens onto the rural landscape with large floor-to-ceiling windows.
The complex occupies an area of 300 square meters, on a large rural plot of 1,600 square meters.
The old buildings, the trulli, are built with thick walls with an archaic look and small windows that offer good protection against heat and cold. The new extension dialogues with the existing buildings with a minimalist volume, separated from the roof structure by a continuous skylight, which opens onto the rural landscape with large floor-to-ceiling windows.
The complex occupies an area of 300 square meters, on a large rural plot of 1,600 square meters.
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli.
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli.
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli.
Project description by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio
Casa ACO is a renovation and expansion project of two typical rural buildings (called Trulli), in the Apulian countryside.
The project is based on the construction of two parallel walls in local stone, which delimit and identify the site both planimetrically and altimetrically. The first wall, adjacent to the access road, delimits the height of the various buildings while the second wall delimits the floor level. The rural buildings are converted into residential units. The small building consisting of two vaulted trulli has been restored and transformed into a dependence.
In the main block, the insertion of a new volume expresses a contemporary style that manages to integrate with the existing one both for material contrast and for chromatic and geometric continuity. The small size of the renovated rooms and the rigidity of the existing floor plan are contrasted by the flexibility and minimalism of the new building. New large windows overlook the gardens, allowing the original architectural components to be seen from the outside. A cut in the roof, which acts as a skylight, underlines the link between the old and the new, showing how the outer wall of the trullo has been incorporated into the new building. The new building keeps the dual identity of domestic space in relation to the landscape and of external space in relation to the trulli.
A visual axis identified by aligned openings crosses the entire unit in a walk that goes from the garden to the living room, continuing up to the thought rooms inside the trulli. And it is precisely the two cones of the trulli which, exceeding the height limit imposed by the project, deny the compositional principles of the work, dominating the horizon drawn by the building. The rational forms and white plaster of the buildings are contrasted by a landscape design with organic shapes and a variety of colours.
Casa Aco by Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio. Photograph by Filippo Poli.
The external spaces between the volumes are characterized by exclusive interventions. The two stone walls delimit a canvas within which the landscape and paths intertwine and connect the different parts of the buildings. In fact, it is possible to define a path that joins the two opposite vertices of the site, starting from the dependence and continuing towards the trulli and, through the new building, reaching the pool.
A path between grassy carpets and natural rock floors that leads the visitor from a context with traditional atmospheres towards the progressive discovery of contemporaneity.
More information
Architects
Project team
Arch.Giulia Filetti, Arch. Valentina Occhipinti.
Collaborators
Local technical support.- Quantity surveyor. Pietro Baccaro, Architect. Angela Sabatelli.
General Contractor
Pietraviva di Albino Cecere.
Area
Plot area.- 1,600 m².
GFA.- 300m².
GFA.- 300m².
Dates
2021.
Venue / Localitation
Apulia, Italy.
Manufacturers
Fixed furnishings.- Itria Arredamenti.
Furniture supplier.- Donatello Cecere.
Furniture supplier.- Donatello Cecere.
Photography
GIUSEPPE GURRIERI
Giuseppe Gurrieri (Ragusa, 1977) graduated in architecture at the Milan Polytechnic. After his graduation, Gurrieri worked for several years with the practice of Maria Giuseppina Grasso Cannizzo in Vittoria. In 2008 he opened his own practice in Dubrovnik and today operates primarily in the field of private residential construction. Gurrieri exerts his activity between Sicily and Puglia. In parallel, he collaborates as a professor with the Faculty of Architecture in Stockholm.
Among his recent awars we found.- the third place at the international competition "SAIE SELECTION" organized by BolognaFiere and Archi-Europa; first prize at the third edition of the award "RI.U.SO" organized by the National Council of Architects; special mention at the prize“Giovane Talento dell’Architettura Italiana 2014”.
