HLBH, house of levels by NAT OFFICE

15/03/2016. [Reggio Emilia] Italy
metalocus, ANDREA PORTILLO

Today we bring you the restoration of the house Gualerzi, a historical building that combined barn and stable, now reconverted into an office space with a library in several levels.

Inside view of HLBH by NAT OFFICE. Photography © Filippo Poli.

Inside view of HLBH by NAT OFFICE. Photography © Filippo Poli.

Site plan of HLBH by NAT OFFICE.

Ground floor plan of HLBH by NAT OFFICE.

First floor plan of HLBH by NAT OFFICE.

Second floor plan of HLBH by NAT OFFICE.

Third floor plan of HLBH by NAT OFFICE.

Rooftop plan of HLBH by NAT OFFICE.

Nort and south elevations floor plan of HLBH by NAT OFFICE.

East elevation and cross sections floor plan of HLBH by NAT OFFICE.

Longitudinal sections floor plan of HLBH by NAT OFFICE.

The Italian office directed by Christian Gasparini, NAT OFFICE, has carried out the recovery of a listed building for which they wanted to preserve the morphological and typological characteristics. The historical facade remains, but inside the assembly has been reinterpreted by introducing new materials and placing the spaces within different levels, generating double and triple heights and being all linked by a double stair on the east wing.

Description of the project by NAT OFFICE

The architectural recovery of historical listed settlement Casa Gualerzi is based on the preservation of the typological and morphological building’s characters. The project works on existing indoor levels, reinterpreted contemporarily, whereas voids and full spaces of the historical facades and the typological elements such as the porch, don’t change but becomes key points to define free plans inside the volume, that slide on each other generating double and triple height cavities.

The staircase is studied on the columns original system of the barn. the spaces on the first floor underline the juxtaposition of the central body of the east wing through the introduction of a double flight stair that links all internal levels, appearing as trasparent cases hanging into the volume.

This movement of levels originates new enclosed surfaces caring about privacy while, at the same time it allows the hayloft spaces to be read and looked up in their beauty.