Podere 62 is the renovation of an identical farmhouse located in the countryside of San Donato, Italy, designed by PPDA Presicci + Pantanella D’Ettorre Architetti. The architectural proposal draws on the Tuscan rural identity that remains embedded in the building, while creatively engaging with the memory of the structure and its spatial qualities. At the same time, it aims to significantly improve the building’s energy performance.
Podere 62 is located in the San Donato countryside, a rural area that rises from the Bay of Talamone to the hills of Magliano in Toscana.
The building is one of some identical farmhouses built in the 1930s as a result of a reclamation project of marshy areas in the lower Maremma.
The typological scheme, most probably attributed to the architect Marcello Piacentini, includes a two-storey main building with a rectangular plan, longitudinally divided by a thick central spine of load-bearing masonry, and a semicircle on the north façade, in which the internal staircase is developed.
Adjacent to the main dwelling building is a single-storey annexe, used as an old barn and tool shed.
The original characteristics of the building had been lost and the interventions of the various properties that have succeeded one another over time had distorted the Tuscan rural component.
The intervention consisted of the renovation of the entire complex in order to adapt it to the needs of the client, a couple who moved to Italy from London with their two children, who wanted a convivial and cosy country home.
The two main objectives of the work were the energy requalification of the existing building and the restoration of an authentic architectural identity, establishing a link between the external envelope and the interiors, respecting the original typological scheme.
The rooms, one after the other, create a path of continuous discovery of the house, in which the shared spaces coexist with the private ones through the enhanced and newly created connecting areas.
The terraces on the first floor, one of which opened during the design phase on the south side, are the end of the path, from which one can appreciate the lights and colours of the surrounding landscape.
The outside and inside farmhouse surfaces, are characterised by the use of local natural materials and clear geometric shapes. The windows travertine frames, the rough terracotta of the outdoor paving, the arches and the wooden furniture inside, are proof of this.
Facts & Credits
Title Podere 62
Typology Architecture, Residence, Renovation
Location San Donato, Grosseto, Italy
Area 415 m2
Status Completed, 2022
Architecture PPDA Presicci + Pantanella D’Ettorre Architetti
Photography Lorenzo Zandri
Text by the authors
Take a look at another project by PPDA Presicci + Pantanella D’Ettorre Architetti ‘Transforming a farmhouse – Ricupaglia in Grosseto, Italy’, here!
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