Twisted House / Stefano Larotonda

Architects: Stefano Larotonda
Year: 2023
Photographs: Stefano Larotonda, Simone Bossi, Nicole Gaia
Construction: Respedil
Renewable Energy: L’idroelettrica
Furniture: Isacchi Arredi d’Arte
Lightning: Fratelli Broggi Viabizzuno
Category: Houses, Renovation
Collaborators: Andrea Tregnago, Nicole Gaia
Program: Transformation of a modernist building
Windows: Caimi Ermanno
Architectural Materials: Materia 2.0
City: Anzano del Parco
Country: Italy

Twisted House residential renovation project designed by Stefano Larotonda in Italy transforms a 1960s modernist villa into energy-efficient apartments that respond to contemporary living needs. The interior layout introduces two new apartments with living areas oriented toward the pre-Alpine lakes and more private rooms facing the garden. A minimal color palette of green and gray is applied throughout, with green offering smooth continuity with the landscape and gray emphasizing subtracted volumes through textured finishes. The project concludes with a site-specific artistic installation on the terrace overlooking Lago di Alserio, accessible only to residents, unifying the interior and exterior language of the transformation.

The villa, originally constructed in the late 1960s, features elements inspired by modernist architecture, including pure volumes, a compact form, and materials characteristic of that era. Evolving requirements for contemporary living prompted its transformation into new apartments, along with the implementation of energy efficiency improvements.

The intervention on the building envelope resulted in a redefinition of hierarchies within the facades, focusing on the relationship between solids and voids to accentuate the strength of the volumes and the rotational shift between the two levels.

The interior work includes the design of two new apartments, with living areas oriented toward the pre-Alpine lakes and more private rooms positioned to face the garden.

The color palette is limited to two tones: green, defined by a smooth and continuous texture that harmonizes with the surrounding environment, and grey, highlighted through a material finish that accentuates the volumetric subtractions. This chromatic approach extends to all components of the building, including floors, walls, windows, and doors, except for the acid-yellow doors that mark the entrances to the apartments. Yellow and green are also used for the main furnishing elements within the interiors, which are finished with solid oak wood strip flooring.

The design process concludes with a site-specific artistic intervention located on the large terrace that overlooks Lago di Alserio, accessible exclusively to the residents of the house. The project strengthens the existing structure by establishing a design language that connects interior and exterior spaces in a continuous, unified experience.