Sottolfaro is a complex of six flats created in Trieste by Peter Lorenz: it is striking for its cutting-edge application of technology and the challenging use it makes in places of architectural components. Equally, however, it is a construction that seems invisible, one that combines the physicality of a building with a sense of place. Sited on land that drops sharply towards the sea, the large block has been built on free-standing platforms that extend towards the calm horizon of the Adriatic. From the public road to the north, the building is inconspicuous, except for its glass lift shaft. This feature is the only one to break the flat grey surface, which, when seen from a low angle, merges with the silver reflection of the sea. The descent towards the platform-flats begins at a small metal door, and continues over a footbridge like those for boarding ships – your gaze fixed on the sea ahead – with a ninety-degree turn at the last moment.

Towards the north-east – the direction of the prevailing wind – the flats have solid walls with a limited number of openings; towards the south and the Gulf of Trieste, however, they are completely open. The flats share this twin feature: they are protected towards the mountains and unobstructed towards the sea. The unbroken glass windows towards the south-west give the residents the sense of being projected out to sea. The Californian houses of Craig Ellwood, Pierre Koenig, Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler are similar in that they have a surprising ability to appear after the sun has gone down and disappear during the day.

Seen from the garden below, Sottolfaro has a dynamic, elusive quality. The terraces and the metal sunshades divide up the block, determining the layout of each flat. Glass and metal are used extensively and very precisely: this is particularly true as well of concrete, which represents the strongest link with the hard, understated stone used in Trieste's traditional architecture, a style characterised by open spaces and minimal decoration. Lorenz's light-coloured concrete recalls the feel of calcareous stone: though it is obviously smoother, it reflects or absorbs heat and light in the same way. Sottolfaro is an important building for Trieste: it enriches its building tradition with a contemporary idiom. This is a culture that was innovative in its own day, one that combined determined planning and building speed – applied to the port and merchant areas – with architectural sobriety and rigour. The city was able to alter its difficult topography, even so far as to make a resource of it, and create a dynamic mercantile city and contemporary urban environment from scratch. [Text taken from re_action, Libria 2005]

Sottolfaro, multi-flat block, Trieste
Architect: peterlorenzateliers
Design team: Wolfgang Rzehak, Giulia Decorti, Karin Leitner, and Martin Painer
Client: Sottolfaro S.r.l.
Design and realization: 2001 – 2004
Surface area: 611.77 m2