Anne
Anne is a minimal home located in Ravenna, Italy, designed by Giovanni Mecozzi Architetti. The residential unit is composed of two separate buildings, separated by an internal courtyard, in a classic urban configuration of a Gothic lot, typical of the historical center of the city of Ravenna. The main building is developed on three above-ground floors connected by a central staircase that, in fact, separates each floor of the building into two parts. The ground floor of the main building, from which the street access is made, has been revisited while maintaining the original typological reading, but at the same time focusing the design on the perspective axis that links the entrance and the internal courtyard into a single large space.
The courtyard, thus expressed, becomes a true expansion of the home, creating a unique indoor-outdoor space, embellished by the precious green space planted with species such as Nandina Domestica and various herbs. The existing staircase, a fundamental typological element of the nature of the building, is maintained unaltered and safeguarded through conservative and respectful choices of its value. On the top floor, the demolition of the old ceiling revealed unexpected spatial configurations, embellished and conceptually realized through a continuous furniture solution that hides the services dedicated to the sleeping area and leaves the double-height volume free in its entirety. The internal courtyard is the real heart of the home. Here, the dialogue between traditional and contemporary materials is enhanced by the recovery of the original facade of the annex and the perimeter wall, in exposed brick, previously hidden behind a cement plaster.
In the lower part of the facade, the contemporary element of the large central opening, which connects the ground floor of the annex with the patio, is made in contrast to the two opposite traditional arched openings of the kitchen, in the facade of the main building. The use of thermally treated larch wood cladding, laid in vertical planks, strongly reminds us of its traditional use and contributes to the sense of serenity that the materials, chosen and coordinated with each other, transmit to us. In the summer, the courtyard becomes an outdoor living room, while in the winter the presence of green space remains as a constant background in all the ground floor rooms of the house.
Photography by Simone Bossi