House for a photographer in North Italy

The new villa for renowned photographer Cellina von Mannstein located in northern Italy is situated on a large Agricultural green surrounded by apple trees next to the established brewery Forst and the river Etsch. Surrounded by mountains, the site is part of the beginning of a main valley. It is dominated by two old walnut trees and another little river on the east side.

House for a photographer in North Italy

House for a photographer in North Italy

House for a photographer in North Italy

House for a photographer in North Italy

The main idea of the project was to keep the two trees and to capture one of the trees within the volumes of the building. The so created space is acting as a “green atrium” between those volumes and cuts the building in two parts. The two parts comprise the main housing part and a photo-studio, the clients’ demands.

The housing part is distributed on two levels which are slightly shifted on eachother to create a canopied entrance on the northern part of the first level and a balcony on the south side of the second level.

The first level contains the living area concerted as open floor-plan and connects onto the south oriented terrace with pool. The entire floor is framed by a plat form and is lifted up from the ground in order to guarantee a better view from the inside.

Eye-catching is the tree in the atrium, which is visible and accessible by large sliding glass windows. From the atrium you can access the photo-studio on the west side, which is characterised by a great glass facade at the end. This “screen” provides light or can alternatively be transformed into a vast projection wall (provided by an integrated projection surface) and can be used as a “drive-in-theatre” for presentations.

There is a main visual axis that goes through the entire building from the living area until outside the photo-studio.

The second floor contains the sleeping area and is connected by a bridge to the top of the photo-studio, which forms a large terrace.

House for a photographer in North Italy

Site plan

House for a photographer in North Italy

Plan

House for a photographer in North Italy

Plan

House for a photographer in North Italy

Section

House for a photographer in North Italy

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