Over the years, we have transformed an old 19th century rural building into a space for living and working. The historical construction is divided into at least six successive phases that were added over time around the dairy farm space. Following the typological and spatial vocations of historical architecture, we arranged and connected the house with an exhibition backdrop and the studio into a single body. The basilical part of the barn with its circular columns and its complementary spaces became the design location. The so-called portamorta, the system of re-opened arches leading to the large farm portico and the upper levels of the old barn have become places to live. In addition to preserving the masonry as we found it, with the signs of time and brick salt, we added a natural cement floor smoothed with a dustproof treatment, an external floor with exposed white aggregate and a wooden insert in the projection of the kitchen onto the garden. Some Corten steel elements mark the new presence of the stairs and technical systems with museum-like turrets for switching and sockets. In the rooms on the upper floor, new openings of old curtain walls and horizontal glazed slits restore light to the brick pillars of the first porticos, which were quickly closed up. Beyond the open kitchen, we added a new white volume that becomes the architectural backdrop of the portico for anyone arriving from the garden and, vice versa, a contemplative living space facing the greenery through the portico, overlooked by a donkey – a large urban photograph by Oliviero Toscani recovered from an exhibition held in Piazza Garibaldi a few years earlier. On the side passing between the courtyard and the countryside, we have over time created a long white exhibition wall where art exhibitions can be set up even for just one day. On the ground, a glazed frame marks the presence of the old well.
Parma, 2010-2021
Strutture Marco Pedrini
Impianti Massimo Bocchi
Photography Carlo Gardini
