A nineteenth-century farmhouse in Piedmont rediscovers a dialogue with the mountains

A 19th century farmhouse in Piedmont, Italy, has been renovated by Jonathan Tuckey Design, an English studio specialising in the enhancement of existing buildings. The complex has been transformed into a home-studio for a fashion designer and naturalist, bringing out its rural essence and enhancing its relationship with the landscape, while also optimising the thermal performance of the envelope. The architecture, made up of three stone volumes – the two-storey house, the loft barn and an enclosed bridge connecting them on the first level – was redesigned to let in more light compared to the pre-existing situation, characterised by dark spaces lacking a connection with the outside.

The designers have thus re-oriented the floor plan, proposing communal spaces and the kitchen to the south-east, enlarging the existing windows and creating new passages directly overlooking the landscape. A lowered area of the ground floor houses the spa and sauna, located under the original brick vaults, while on the first floor three rooms are housed, characterised by the natural materiality of wood and stone. A traditional brick jalousie camouflages the space that serves as a bridge leading to the studio on the first floor– a room that looks out over the trees and the Alps. Here, the existing truss roof was restored and used to optimise the thermal performance of the structure by installing a new floating roof covered with local wood above the beams. The architects also took care of the organisation of the property’s sloping gardens by inserting retaining walls of local stone to form a series of grassy terraces, in harmony with the project and the surrounding landscape.