Blue House / Studio Gamp!

Architects: studio gamp!
Area: 333 ft²
Year: 2021
Photographs: Lorenzo Zandri
Manufacturers: Fiandre, Artemide, IPF, Irsap, Mutina, Pecchioli Firenze, Poroton
Category: Houses
Architects: Valentino Anselmi, Valerio Palmieri, Marco Grippo, Matteo Murzi, Roberta Nocco
Engineering Consulting: Fabio Giraldo
Landscape Architect: Luca Dionisi
City: Montefiascone
Country: Italy

Villas in Montefiascone residential project designed by gamp! in Montefiascone has reinterpreted rural domesticity by transforming two former tuff agricultural buildings into three interconnected homes, including an underground unit. Completed within the Tuscia countryside, the project preserves the landscape’s integrity while using minimal, archetypal forms that recall traditional rural housing. One house is for the clients, another for their guests, and the third, partly buried, completes the ensemble. The architecture is rigorously organized yet spatially fluid, integrating indoor and outdoor living through careful window placement and site orientation. Pitched roofs and large chimneys define the silhouette of the above-ground volumes, while the underground house features a garden roof. Subtle geometric manipulations, particularly in the light blue house’s asymmetric living space, add dynamism. Traditional materials—recycled terracotta, trowelled plaster, travertine, and stone—are used externally, while interiors combine ceramic, wood, and stoneware, often extended across walls and fireplaces to form sculptural, translucent thresholds. The design avoids nostalgic replication, opting instead for reinterpretation: terracotta tiles clad the smallest house entirely, and raised wainscoting lines the interiors of the light blue volume. Simple metal gazeboes in the landscape frame outdoor occupation as a counterbalance to the domestic interior. The project’s material palette and formal restraint allow it to age with dignity in its setting.

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The architectural firm gamp! has completed the design of two villas in Montefiascone. One of the houses was built for the clients themselves, while the other is intended for their friends to use on weekends and holidays. The project includes three dwellings—two above ground and a third partially underground—developed from the renovation of two tuff structures that were previously used to store agricultural machinery. These volumes, influenced by the sedimented form of the original deposits, are set within the Tuscia countryside, a gently sloping landscape marked by tall oaks.

The architects explain that “the idea was to imagine simple, almost archetypal houses, which would blend harmoniously with the almost intact landscape of the Tuscia without altering its balance, retracing an established image, without giving up on the characteristics of a modern project.”

While the spatial layout remains fluid, the architecture follows a clear functional order. Interior spaces connect with the outdoors through strategically placed windows and a layout that supports exterior living. The two above-ground houses feature pitched roofs, while the underground volume is topped by a garden roof. Chimneys are emphasized in each house through their substantial presence. Though the buildings appear traditional, their forms are subtly altered: in the light blue house, a visible deformation in the living room plan introduces asymmetry and changes spatial perception.

To integrate the homes with their surroundings, the architects selected traditional materials—recycled terracotta, trowelled plaster, travertine, and stone—for the exteriors, and stoneware, ceramic, and wood for the interiors. These choices ensure durability and ease of maintenance, while allowing the architecture to express the passage of time—what the architects describe as “a characteristic we like to think belongs to good architecture.”

Traditional materials are applied in unconventional ways. Recycled terracotta tiles fully clad the smallest house, covering both walls and roof. In the light blue house, elevated wainscoting climbs the interior walls. Inside, ceramic and stoneware extend vertically along walls and around fireplaces, forming translucent volumes and partitions. The surrounding landscape includes minimal metal gazeboes, offering an abstract counterpart to the comfort of the interior spaces.