The relationship of reciprocal, sensorial interferences transforms into an instrument with which to compose: vision, hearing and touch follow one another, alternating indefinite and simultaneous, spatial perceptions. Surface, sound, body, in the same way as space, time and effort are represented by a consistent, logical, strictly geometric shape, contaminated by the raw material, considered as a unique element leading back to an existential space.
Our senses are no longer forced to analytically observe the architecture-body under the mandatory imposition of a precise gaze (from afar), but rather to compare with the observer using the experience of total perception.
Time becomes the primordial vehicle to read the body by fragmenting the unity of the object, and highlighting it as an objective reality, in which the movements of the different architectural parts are constantly changing.
The rent in the body skin communicates the inside-outside space, which transforms into the place of something which has been pierced. “Matter in its brutal state” as an alien element, a contaminator and permeating force moves and in so doing recalls the sense of touch as the true witness of its presence. As it moves, it emits sounds expressed by its being matter: a cement panel emits different sounds to those of a wooden panel, as will a steel panel differ from a plastic one.
The house has no openings in the traditional sense of the word. The cuts are the only elements which allow light to enter inside. However, to guarantee the correct lighting, a central patio has been designed with a ramp which, like an architectural promenade, leads to different levels and arouses ever-changing sensations.
The rest of the house is based on the principle of the vacuum: the roofs resemble partitions, with the exception of the volumes of the utility rooms, which are designed as transparent to enable a total perception not only of space and of the different movements of the parts, but also of the different sounds.
Both inside and outside the building, matter is constructed as an exceptional event, as a variation of an overall abstract scene. To be precise, the panels are the only elements, which characterise the levels. We are talking of a flat or sloping roof or wall, etc. When matter can be perceived from the outside, it transforms into something else: the horizontal roof becomes a canopy to protect the entrance; the internal wall transforms into an external panel, capable of closing a portion of the open space to wrap round it and protect it The entrance and the door to the balcony are designed as elements drawn and cut into the wall. When needed, they can be projected forwards to become an integral part of the envelope once again.
Year: 2007 (Lake Bracciano, Rome)
Architect: Anna Rita Emili
Collaborator: Emanuele Piccioni (model), Federica Ciapanna (model), Marco Zanzarella (animations)
