Architects:Elastico Farm

Area :200 m²

Year :2020

Photographs :Atelier XYZ

Design Team : Stefano Pujatti, Valeria Brero, Serena Nano, Daniele Almondo, Andrea Rosada

City : Torrazza Piemonte

Country : Italy

These two houses have been built through a long process of research, design, and experimentation on materials, technology, and program. The binding element of this process was the courage and trust of the client who accepted to be part of a journey of which these two buildings are only a fragment.

Research. The project for the Houses of Cards started long before it was actually commissioned at the end of 2015. Elastico Farm has been carrying on for years structured research on building materials and on the technology and techniques related to them. In the last 10 years, we have been engaged in the study and experimental application of prefabricated structural elements for industrial buildings. At the same time, we have worked with the brick, stone, wood, and prefabricated reinforced concrete industries to fully understand their potential and the possibilities for alternative or/ and combined use of those materials in the construction market. Our research on Sardinian granite began in 2013 when we were approached by a quarry from Olbia to study their material and to evaluate the unexpressed potential of this unique, relatively inexpensive, and abundant product.

Materials. Sardinian granite is an intrusive igneous rock that has excellent properties due to the pressure and temperatures at the origin of its formation. While in the past it was widely used for structural purposes (as for the columns of the Pantheon), nowadays is normally employed for cladding or for flooring. The consistency of Sardinian granite, together with its homogeneity and resistance, makes it ideal for paving large surfaces such as airports, stations, and public places subject to traffic and wear. In these years, the rapid evolution of ceramic materials and the possibility of finding highly performing stone products at very competitive prices from East Asia are slowly eroding the market share once held by this product of our territory.

The investigation into the properties of the material and the quarrying methods suggested the possibility of working with large monolithic elements that could be produced directly on the excavation site. The idea of using granite for the load-bearing panels came from the observation of the excavation process and the acquired knowledge of the technologies with which the rock is extracted and trimmed. To be more specific, the cutting of the quarry wall with the wires allows a certain accuracy while the compactness of the material makes it possible to produce blocks and slabs even of very large dimensions. Considering the weights and overall dimensions for transporting the slabs (by land and sea), we established that a plausible size for optimal use of the panel was 600 cm by 240 cm with a variable thickness depending on the structural needs from 12 cm to 20 cm. In principle, the resistance to compression and flexure of a granite panel is comparable to that of reinforced concrete panels of similar thickness.

Design. The Houses of Cards, built in an allotment of a small town in the province of Turin, in Northern Italy, are part of the experimentation phase on the large granite slab for use as a load-bearing construction element. Both houses consist of a triple level of superimposed septa that connect thanks to a system of cuts and metal dowels. During the structural design phase, for normative reasons related to their certification, we chose to combine granite slabs with other concrete panels. This allowed us to study the material without having to go through a lengthy certification process which would have delayed and perhaps compromised the possibility of completing the project. Working in combination with the colored concrete panels has helped us to understand the limits and opportunities of this material. This is now helping us to develop the research and carry on the experimentation on pre-cast concrete through some other projects we have now underway.

Research and experimentation on the material have therefore developed hand-in-hand with that on the structural system based on load-bearing panels. The shape of the two houses comes from a sequential approach to the project. Starting from a regular and intuitive scheme - the Cat House - we developed a second project - the Dog House - in which the theoretical problems identified in the structure of the first building are solved by form. This produced more complex spaces. The Cat House has an orthogonal structure that determines its weakness in reacting to forces produced by a hypothetical earthquake; the dry-mounted panels, therefore, need metal bracings and reinforcements to resist transverse forces. The Dog House, instead, thanks to its shape developed around a central courtyard, does not require additional bracings. The complexity of its radial form produces a structurally efficient building.

The research carried out during the design phase gets tested in the construction site: this is the phase of experimentation and verification, this is when it is possible to identify new problems, solve them, and process them in order to understand if the idea behind the project can become a possible construction system.

Program. All the structural investigations and the subsequent formal choices had to deal with the program and the specific requirements of the single-family house typology, as well as with the needs of those who now live there. The houses, belonging to two sisters, have similar dimensions but are very different in their distribution and inner spatial relationships.

The Cat House has an orthogonal and very compact structure, in which the slabs define a sequence of external micro-environments that filter the passage towards the inside of the house. There a double-height hall connects the different levels. The heart of the house, therefore, acts as a scenographic distribution element and can be perceived from every room.

In both buildings, the load-bearing structure plays a scenographic role and defines the essence of the two houses. The slabs, with the materiality of granite or with the color of the concrete, define and give character to the spaces. In the Cat House, the regular arrangement of the panels conveys rigor and produces a sense of closure and finiteness of the space; the structural elements appear as fragments inside the rooms, as formal accents capable of playing with light and color. In the Dog House, on the other hand, the radial structure of the first level contrasts with the necessary irregularity in their arrangement on the other two levels, hinting at an unfinished system and spaces that can change and evolve.

If the granite and concrete structural elements convey a sense of permanence, the wooden partitions let one perceive the possibility that time will lead to their transformation and potential dissolution. The building contains and foresees the image of ruin, the only things that will be able to resist will reveal the essence of the project.

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