This home renovation of a summer house built in the mid-60s is one that, at first, I was like “meh,” but then upon closer inspection I started to love the materials and details. Upon first glance, it looks as though the home is covered in wood slats but up close you will see that it’s actually travertine marble tiles — definitely an unexpected material.
Located in Marina di Castagneto Carducci, Tuscany, Italy, sundaymorning and Massimo Fiorido Associati designed a home that feels at one with the landscape and yet stands out as a unique structure.
I have to admit, though, that what really sold me was the staircase bookshelf.
Photographs by Fabio Candido.
Edoris on 09.05.2012 at 16:56 PM
Wow what a brilliantly clever and beautiful design. I would have never thought the house was made of travertine marble tiles – amazing. Love the interior, so simple, clean and polished looking! Thanks for the great post!
Dorin on 09.06.2012 at 07:45 AM
Where is the architecture ????
I see here only materials and wonderful trees !!
Kim on 09.06.2012 at 09:34 AM
I see this “house” a cold, dangerous, waste of money.
The trees against the house are going to grow and evolve, eventually causing the building to shift and crack.
The stairs are interesting, but hardly practical. With no railing, I see an accident pending. Plus, who has to do all the dusting? Not me!!!
I like modern when it is thoughtful about the family who will live there.
Cleveland Wall on 09.07.2012 at 17:13 PM
Killjoy.
AmyCat on 09.17.2012 at 17:08 PM
Kim’s right: the trees will outgrow their settings VERY quickly, which will damage the house and hurt the trees.
Also, with no railing on the stairway, it’s unsafe for families with children, elderly, or alter-abled members.
The “bookcase stairway” is my favorite feature, but as a reader and a bookseller, I can see that whoever designed it is NOT an avid reader, or else never kept many novels (paperback and hardcover) in his/her library. The shelves shown would be suited to display a combination of oversize art-books and “coffee-table books” interspersed with objets d’arte, vases of flowers, etc., but mostly aren’t the right sizes to shelve a large collection of novels: most of them are about 2-3 times taller than the books in MY library…
It’s hard to tell from these photos, but if the shelves under the steps are as deep as the staircase is wide, there’s a lot of wasted space here, because they’re MUCH deeper than the width of a standard book… Either you shelve more books behind the ones visible and accessible, or you lose about 2′ (1/2 meter) of depth behind the visible rows of books… but perhaps there are built-in cupboards or other storage spaces which run under the stairs and are reached from the opposite side?
I’d love to see this idea re-designed by someone who’s actually got a large library and knows what makes for good book shelving…
WAYLIFE on 09.06.2012 at 10:12 AM
Love it… but it does kind of remind me of the outside entrance to the Wolf’s Lair, but nicer… :P
Linda on 09.07.2012 at 22:41 PM
Reminds me of a rest- stop bathroom along the Interstate.