Inside a Modern Villa in Puglia Surrounded by Ancient Olive Trees - Luca Zanaroli

The house is located in the Apulian countryside between Carovigno and Ostuni on a plot of land characterized by classic dry stone walls and these hundred-year-old, sometimes thousand-year-old olive trees with their large canopies. The fundamental characteristic of this setting is the light, the light that filters through the tree canopies, which filter the sunlight and project it onto the red Apulian earth. My clients asked me to build their home while maintaining as much as possible the atmosphere they found in this particular setting. The idea was, of course, to maintain the relationship with nature as much as possible. So this house had to be in some way fluid, open towards the outside. Nature absolutely had to be part of the architecture, to enter into the architecture. The thing that most characterized the architectural composition and the layout of the house was maintaining the existing trees without having to cut down or move any of them. So let's say the project developed around the trees themselves, effectively making them an integral part of it. Therefore, not only was it an essential constraint for me, but it also became a fundamental element of the project. The building is accessed through an entrance that then distributes to the various parts of the home. And from the very first approach to the house, you can perceive the countryside continuing and extending through the house. You enter this large, widely glazed living area, shaded by a large olive tree, where a large masonry sofa has been built facing the countryside and the pool area. Connected to this living area, linked by a wide opening, is the kitchen which faces west, a kitchen with a large dining table made of brown oak wood and natural iron crafted by local artisans. Next to this block is another very simple linear block, which essentially contains the bedrooms. The bedrooms face south. These are also treated with this light gray pigmented lime plaster coating. The choice of this color compared to the white lime of the exterior is intentional to soften the strong light entering the rooms in order to create this more intimate and restful effect for the sleeping area, for the bedrooms. When intervening in these contexts and thus creating a sort of artificialization of the setting, one commits a kind of violence against nature, a sort of wound that must somehow be compensated for. One must essentially then find a reconciliation with nature itself. This is achieved both by trying to minimize the impact of the construction on the context and by reusing local materials as much as possible. Even materials that come from the foundation excavations themselves, for example. The materials used in this house are natural materials for the blocks, let's say, lime-treated, so natural lime. And as for some parts of the house, these were completely clad using the stone that was extracted from the excavations to build the pool and the foundations. The concept is precisely that of placing a natural element near the house that has the specific function of filtering the light but also of creating these effects of light and shadow and therefore creating simple monochromatic surfaces upon which the light and shadow can reflect, essentially making the building vibrate, thus making it always alive. Together with Giuseppe Tricarico, a landscape architect from the Paz studio, the interventions on the greenery were planned. I believe these interventions were necessary to accompany the integration of the building into the existing landscape. Therefore, native plant species were used, not typical garden varieties, but rather species that are found spontaneously in the countryside. The swimming pool itself was designed to integrate delicately into the context, using dark colors that could reflect and reverberate the natural elements surrounding it, in a sort of play of reflections that highlights the relationship between artifice and nature. Therefore, the creation of these outdoor spaces is nothing more than elements aimed at seeking the maximum integration of the artificial environment with the natural one.