Cube House
Lombardy
Italy
Story
Our clients had been living in their home for years. And over that time, successful careers transpired, to the point that their house wasn’t reflecting that reality. It was time for a change, to start something new. But our clients loved their neighborhood and decided to radically remodel rather than abandon their community.
Challenge
Unlike the do-over shows on TV, remodeling is usually more than merely removing a few walls and saying voilà.
In this case, strict city ordinances did not allow for an increase in the existing building’s footprint. But our clients very much needed more space. And any solution needed to avoid exorbitant construction costs.
A major facelift for the exterior was also required to transform it from a sturdy but very grey cookie-cutter design to something that would have a “wow” factor.
Results
If going out was not an option, then the only choices were going down into the ground or up into the air. Working with the structure that was already in place, we designed an additional second story and a modernized exterior that basically slipped over the existing building.
This included having to fortify the building internally, but that represented a net reduction of construction costs when compared to demolition and rebuilding.
The project also created direct links between the family’s memories of their past and their future home. The most loved interior features of the existing home were kept while a bold new exterior and expanded upstairs came into being. The architectural philosophy is known in Italian as “Costruire su Costruto,” meaning “Constructing on Constructed.”