“I envisioned a space that would feel inherited,” says Simone Subissati, founder of Simone Subissati Architects of this landed home project. “I wanted it to feel as if it had always been there by remaining contemporary and in many ways detaching itself from tradition.”
“Furthermore, I wanted it to feel as if it were already there but had been reclaimed; as a space devoid of frills and luxury, much like rural traditional buildings where people lived and worked.”
On the hills of the Marche region in eastern Italy, near the city of Ancona, this 3,767 sq ft house is located on a 4,337 sq m lot surrounded by lush green fields.
Its clean architectural lines appear to blend into the surroundings. By merging the visual language of traditional rural constructions and the avant-garde approach of its architect, the rectangular steel building features several openings with different shapes.
AT A GLANCE
Who lives here: A family of four
Home: A two-storey landed property in Italy
Size: 3,767 sq ft
ID: Simone Subissati Architects
The result is a greater connection between the house, its interior spaces and the fields of wheat, barley, field beans, and sunflowers.
A double-pitched asymmetrical roof made from laminated wood adorned with micro-perforated metal sheets tops off the construction.
Three key concepts in this project are openness, lightness and flexibility.
“I was fascinated by the rural houses my grandparents and relatives built in the Marche countryside, with their straightforward simplicity that is very different from today’s trend for minimalist design,” says Simone.
Glass floor-to-ceiling windows connect the interior with the outdoors.
On the ground floor, where a red coating creates visual contrast, the living area has the kitchen, living room, and spa that leads out to an outdoor pool which is perpendicular to the house.
The Strips sofa system by Cini Boeri for Arflex, white Crisis chairs by Piet Hein Eek, and Mexical pendant light by Renzo Serafini make up the living area.
The upper floor of the building has a timber staircase with a white-painted structure, which houses the sleeping area. Here, Simone installed what he calls “diaphragms” instead of windows.
As with the winter garden, the second living room on the upper floor is poetically illuminated at night.
He explains: “The idea was to overflow, to break the boundaries of convention between the private living space and the agricultural workspace.”
In this sitting room, a 1940s rocking chair pairs well with the 1980s Tavolino table from B&B Italia.
Extruded red windows frame the landscape.
Says Simone: “Luxury lies in how we use spaces. It is the kind of lifestyle the project and the site suggest. It is not dictated by whims and artefacts of precious value.”
Pops of colour and a skylight add visual interest to a minimalist space.
The furniture pieces are made from solid ash wood and dyed white or pre-finished pine boards, while the kitchen countertops, sink and basin are made from cement and quartz.
Simone custom-designed these to create a space that would, in his words, feel both eternal and forward-looking.
As a testament to the harmony between architecture and nature, the house adheres to passive bioclimatic standards, which enable passive regulation of the indoor temperatures, according to the seasons.
A varnished solid ash floor from World Parquet finishes the interior. A rainwater collection system connected to underground tanks is also present in the house.
The house exemplifies Simone’s creative approach, which is to believe in an architecture of ideas and not of forms.
“This arises through our senses and experiences. Our starting point is an understanding of the body, relationships with other people, and our interactions with built empty spaces, with culture and with memories of the place.”
This house certainly goes along with that.