Lucio Rosato has designed a house that for me is a modern complimentary to Casa Malaparte by Adalberto Libera. You can imagine them both on the same island, sitting on opposite promontories, juxtaposed in an architectural dialogue of the bare minimal, the absolutely essential.
Built parallel to the seafront (in contrast to the jutting Casa Malaparte), Rosato's design invites you to enjoy the infinite horizon of the sea within a new perspective. The house overlooking the sea marks a walk on the slope of the land parallel to the seafront through the rhythmic sequence of empty space and constructed elements.
The house emerges from the earth, and at the same time seems to plunge into it looking for the territory of the provisional determination. The project is so well placed in the landscape, as if someone had already designed it as the intersection of perspective vanishing points.
The manor house occupies the lower part of the monolith but the actual living is done on the roof deck of the "ship", where a big slab of water dives inside the white stone from which a huge balcony is formed. From it a white steel loggia emerges which frames the vistas surrounding you, its lightness the opposit to the white cube of the guest house on the south part of the building.
Even though the surrounding land formations are well preserved and the natural configuration of spontaneous Mediterranean vegetation marked by rows of old olive trees suggests a random harmony, the project tries to be a sign of natural artifice, much like Casa Malaparte is on Capri. No effort is made to assimilate the house to the landscape, no material used to make it look environmentally friendly. Yet,the bold statement it is more than makes up for it.
Location: Riparo Bardella di Ortona (Chieti).
Construction: 2000/2006.
Photography by Tommy Della Frana, Pasquale Carfagna, Lúcio Rosato
Via:2modern.blogs
