Dolomitenblick

Sesto, Italy

Photo © Hertha Hurnaus

Drawing © Plasma Studio

Photo © Hertha Hurnaus

Drawing © Plasma Studio

Photo © Hertha Hurnaus

Apartment Buildings

Architects: Plasma Studio

Location: Sesto, Italy
Year: 2012
Client: Private
Design Team: Eva Castro, Nicoletta Gerevini, Ulla Hell, Holger Kehne, Peter Pichler, David Preindl, Maya Shopova, Daniela Walder, Chuan Wang

A strip unfolds to form the balustrade of a covered balcony that merges with the surrounding topography.

The building is located on a hillside in the Dolomites, at the edge of a residential area. The volume was mainly determined by the functional elements required to host six independent apartments with a common circulation core. A formal incision marks the main access and the division of the units, splitting the main volume in two halves. This incision becomes the defining element of the building. From either side of the cut, a strip unfolds to form the balustrade of a covered balcony that merges with the surrounding topography. Following the steep natural hillside the strips and the façade jump back. The building hosts six generous holiday homes, all directed to catch the southern sun and the panoramic view of the Dolomites. The material palette was reduced to a very local code: larch wood and pre-oxidized copper. By borrowing from the color palette of nearby farmhouses with dark, sunburned larch wood façades, the building blends into its natural surroundings. The strips of dark copper are surrounding the volume, form a second skin, offering shelter and defining the roof as a continuation of the overall façade. The form of the roof itself draws on the local planning regulation which allows only a pitched roof for this specific building plot. Slightly deformed, it merges with our design concept as well as with the traditional pitched roof typology.