Description
The villa is located in the charming town of Sabaudia, a model of rationalist architecture of the 1930s, at a distance of about 100 km south of Rome.
Sabaudia stands on a magnificent flat coastal territory, enclosed between the forest of the National Park that surrounds it from the hinterland and a splendid cordon of sand dunes that accompany the wide white beach for about fifteen kilometers, up to the imposing promontory of Circeo to the south.
Between the town and the sea, Lake Paola stretches out and spreads with its arms, a place of sports competitions and pleasant landscapes, overlooked by a long bridge that connects the center of Sabaudia to the sea.
The Circeo National Park is an area of naturalistic interest for its typical Mediterranean scrub habitat protected by the environmental institutions of the European Community.
The house stands on a plot of land of 3500 m2, easily accessible, a short distance from the city center (800 m). The wooded land slopes down to the lake, where a dock can be set up for mooring electric motor boats. The lake, about 7 km long, on whose banks overlook modern villas and the remains of ancient villas, such as that of Domitian, allows sailing and rowing activities. For the project we were inspired by a zoomorphic suggestion that would integrate well with the environment and we created a shape that, like a snake and unraveling from a mostly transparent base/den, wraps itself up, and while it creates a space/courtyard inside that breathes the intimacy of the house, it develops decisively until it insinuates itself with its head/projection, in a final daring volute, in the empty space that looks towards Mount Circeo.
The volume starting from the north side, creates semi-underground rooms and progressively rises varying the heights of the floors and forming various staggers between one floor and another so as to intertwine the rooms both vertically and horizontally.
The house therefore has a spiral shape and this is reflected both inside and outside. that outside.
Outside, starting from the tail of the snake, you go up from the garden on a staircase that widens, you cross a suspended bridge over the courtyard, and you continue on the roof terrace continuing to climb until you reach the peak (the head of the snake) from where you can admire the view of the Park, Lake Paola and Mount Circeo in the distance.
Inside, you start from the north side, where there is an annex unit with a living room/kitchen and two bedrooms with mezzanines and bathrooms. Via a glass and stainless steel staircase from the living room you access, going down one floor, a hobby room with washing machine room and a bathroom, while going up one floor you arrive at another bedroom with bathroom which can also be accessed directly from the outside. Continuing on the south side you find yourself in the large living room with integrated kitchen of the main unit, large windows ensure continuity between the large terrace overlooking the park and the internal courtyard, which can be transformed into a garden or swimming pool. A large area in the center of the living room is designed as a double height, the light through the large glass surfaces floods the interior from above.
On this same ground floor on the west side there is a bedroom with bathroom.
From the living room an open staircase leads to the first floor where there are three bedrooms with their respective bathrooms, from the loggia overlooking the living room you access a large terrace overlooking the park. Still taking the central staircase, going up one floor, you arrive at the room that occupies the head of the snake.
This room, which houses its own bathroom at the back, projects into the void and the position of the bed is such as to allow the park and lake to be seen through the large window, while the profile of the sorceress Circe appears in the background (the promontory of Circeo).
The basement can be accessed both from the central staircase and from the outside via a vehicle ramp.
On this floor there is a utility room (ironing room) with a bathroom and a room for washing/drying, a large garage (340 m2) and the technical rooms where the air conditioning units (hot and cold) are housed.
The project also includes the possibility of creating an outdoor swimming pool and a lift that from the garage serves the ground floor, the first floor and reaches up to the terrace above.
From an energy point of view, the house meets the highest standards of efficiency. The construction elements such as the high insulation of the external envelope and the very low transmittance value of the windows, as well as the systems adopted for its air conditioning, heat pump system, solar thermal panels and underfloor heating have led to achieving maximum performance in terms of energy saving.
The house in fact has a class A 4 energy performance certificate, the highest possible!
