studio wok . photos: © Marcello Mariana . + archdaily
The project is located near Lake Orta, inside the headquarters of the QuadroDesign faucet company; our intervention involved the design of open spaces and the recovery of an old electrical cabin present inside the property and represents the second step of work, following the restyling of the offices and showroom, which took place in 2022.
The client desired to add new spaces to the property that could have a flexible and dynamic use, usable either by the Magistro family, owners of the business, for commercial purposes, or as an artist’s residence. A concrete plateau identifies a kind of public square from which 3 volumes emerge that define, in a labile and flexible way, different possible ways of using the space: the cabin, the pergola, and the swimming pool.
The recovery and reuse of the abandoned electrical cabin, given its unusual shape for an inhabited space, becomes an opportunity for spatial experimentation; the ground floor is in direct connection with the outdoors, with a series of external metal sliding doors and windows managing the transition. The interior accommodates some technical functions, such as a bathroom and a mini-kitchen, which can also be used as support for functions performed outdoors. The building thus becomes a small activator of the company’s open spaces.
Verticality is exploited thanks to the two mezzanines connected by a system of metal stairs. The first, more generous, is made of natural wood and can accommodate a bed, while the second reclaims and domesticates an existing concrete slab and can be used as a cozy place in direct contact with the light from the window located near the roof.
Material and color choices are aimed at creating a neutral and absolute, almost sacred space. There are no colors, and materials are left with their natural hues, bathed in light. The pergola sits on the edge of the concrete plateau, perpendicular to the cabin; it is made of galvanized steel tubular profiles, arranged in 5 bays with regular 2.6 m spacing. The first two bays can accommodate a lounge or dining area, while a long kitchen counter, custom-made of stone and sheet metal, occupies two other bays and is protected by a light corrugated sheet metal roof.
Completing the intervention and defining its boundary is a small swimming pool, which is semi-encased in the ground to emerge from the concrete pavement as a monolithic volume of anthracite stone (echoing the volume of the kitchen) and become a large seating area.
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