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Architects: COR Arquitectos, Álvaro Siza
- Area: 3266 m²
- Year: 2020
- Photographs: Francesca Ióvene - fondaco studio
Written by Romullo Baratto. Situated in a suburban property in Gallarate, in the Italian region of Lombardy, stand the two blocks of travertine marble, Álvaro Siza's newest project: a housing condominium with 20 apartments developed in partnership with the Portuguese office COR Arquitectos. Facing the busy Via Roma and the peaceful Via Postporta, the complex recreates two local typologies - the Italian courtyard and the secluded villa - in a set of volumes that hints at the shapes of another one of Siza's masterpieces, the Porto School of Architecture.
The project consists of two four-story blocks with two underground floors dedicated to the garage. Between the buildings, a public promenade connects the blocks and leads to a historical building that is incorporated into the complex.
The project seems to address a side of Siza's work that is concerned with housing issues - a program already explored in the projects for the Bouça neighborhood in Porto, Schilderswijk in The Hague, Schlesisches Tor in Berlin, and Campo di Marte in Venice. This time, however, not in the form of social housing, but of high-end apartments - made clear by the large glazed openings and marble cladding on the facades.
"The clients were the owners and also the builders. When the relationship with the client is going well, the work goes well too", says Roberto Cremascoli, from COR Arquitectos, in an interview with DOMUS journalist Giulia Ricci. After recently building a series of large-scale projects, mostly in Asia, it seems that his work in Italy was indeed successful, showing that when it comes to housing projects, Siza has still got it.
With information from DOMUS
