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When creating the house for this young couple in the province of Bergamo, architects Alberta Colombo and Gianfranco Cuter took a step back and looked at the couple's life together. The house was then designed and built with a contemporary feel and spaces that needed to be, above all, functional for a “family project”. The living area (living room - dining room - kitchen) is spacious and open. The sleeping area is divided into bedrooms and bathrooms for guests and children. Finally, there's the raised terrace overlooking a wonderful view of the hills, and the basement, most of which is overlooking the garden.

Particular attention was given to the energy performance of the building, in the choice of appropriate insulation and the heating/cooling system. The choice of the chimney was expressly made with certain objectives in mind.

Because of its function of providing heat, but also because of its evocative role as the “domestic hearth”, the fireplace becomes the centre of the large living area and lends itself to other spaces. We choose a wide, panoramic model, in order to enjoy all the pleasure of the flame. – Architect Alberta Colombo

The fireplace (model Forma 115 di MCZ),  a large, single stone paralellepiped, on one side conceals the service area and kitchen. On the other side, it reveals the large opening provided by the dining area, thanks to the choice of leaving the exposed flue. The living room is designed by using just two materials, surrounded by total white walls and furniture: Basaltine stone, which covers the volume of the fireplace and continues to the stairs, and wood, featured on the large oak slats with a warm colour on the parquet floor. 

In this fireplace project, there are several interesting solutions which architect Alberta Colombo conceived.

First of all, the warm air outlet grids have been designed directly in the covering with a 45° milling process. This way, the stone surface looks seamless. Secondly, the niche with door created in the covering itself can be used to store wood or other accessories for the fireplace.

Secondly, it is very interesting the niche with door created in the covering itself, that can be used to store wood or other accessories for the fireplace.

A last, unconventional choice leads us in the terrace, where the view of the flue, placed slightly away from the wall, might have been too much in an environment designed for all seasons. The intelligent choice, therefore, was to hide the flue inside a partition wall, a parallelepiped that contains a handy sink and that will become the load-bearing part of a pergola projecting from the wall.

Studio PaìS

In 2006, Alberta Colombo, architect and landscape designer, Gianfranco Cuter, surveyor, Flavio Silvano Arrigoni and Fabio Giuseppe Cartolano, engineers, founded Studio PaìS with the shared conviction that, in order to make quality products, a structure was needed that housed each of their own specific skills and expertise.

In the studio, clients can liaise with all the professionals that will guide them in their project, from the idea to the realisation. The studio's areas of expertise cover landscaping, architecture and structural engineering, also for hydraulic works. The attention devoted to the design, the functionality of spaces and every aspect of the project starts from the details and is featured throughout the entire project.

The principle described here, the studio's distinctive feature, is impressed in its name: PaìS – Paesaggio Architettura Ingegneria Sicurezza (Landscaping Architecture Engineering Safety); in its simple spirit, it illustrates its multidisciplinary nature, which means it has the expertise to cover almost every need for construction, town planning and landscaping.

For more information: Studio Paìs, Piazza Emanuele Filiberto n. 4, Bergamo, Italy, a.colombo@studiopais.it