Welcome to How They Pulled It Off, where we take a close look at one particularly challenging aspect of a home design and get the nitty-gritty details about how it became a reality.

The old farmhouse and adjacent 17th-century watchtower Emanuela and Francesco sought to renovate in the mountainous Abruzzo region of central Italy was at the top of a hill so steep, the couple called it “Peppa Pig hill”, after an episode of the animated kids’ show in which Peppa Pig’s family hikes a steep slope. There are views there—hence the watchtower—but the farmhouse itself, which previously belonged to Francesco’s family, had been made unlivable by several earthquakes.

In its place the couple built their new family home with the help of Florence studio Map Architetti, creating a plan that wraps around the watchtower—from a glass-walled entry, through the dining area, and around to the living room. The home’s two levels (not to mention the tower) capture views of the Gran Sasso range, and the interiors feature bespoke oak joinery, brick floors, and exposed concrete and wood beams. Map Architetti blended the home with the watchtower (which required extensive repairs) by sourcing reclaimed brick from nearby farmhouses that had been demolished, creating a novel hilltop home that references the region’s rural vernacular while looking out over it.

How they pulled it off: A family home with a 17th-century watchtower

Listen to the place: “Devote a great deal of time to the project site, observing it at different moments throughout the day to understand its light, shadows, shifting atmosphere, views, and landscape,” says architect Giovanni Santini of Map Architetti. In Abruzzo, this meant orienting the new home to face the Corno Grande, the highest summit of the Gran Sasso range. “All the windows now face the mountains, and are exactly facing the peak.” The firm also responded to the region’s environmental conditions—the area is intensely sunny and windy—by creating several brick-latticed pergolas and loggias around the new house.
Synch with the surroundings: Both the clients and the architects wanted to work with locally produced brick, but when the idea was hindered by the pandemic, they alighted on a novel solution—buying up old bricks from demolished farmhouses in the area. The result, explains Santini, is a facade of varying shades and textures, and one that ultimately has a stronger connection to the aged materials of the tower and the surrounding farmhouse vernacular. “We analyzed the material qualities of the existing buildings and their surroundings, seeking to create continuity,” says Santini. “At the same time, we studied local historic architectural typologies—not to replicate them, but to understand and reinterpret them through a contemporary language.”

Blend the new with the old: The watchtower required extensive repairs, so the architects sourced local sandstone and added a concrete helical interior staircase that also serves a structural role, leading to a small landing and the turreted roof, from which both the peaks of the Gran Sasso massif and the Adriatic Sea can be seen. The tower is connected to the house by a glass-and-steel partition, which also houses the entrance to the home. “The glass is like a glue,” says Santini. “We didn’t want to connect stone with brick. We needed another material to separate them and to make the house breathe.”

Map Architetti found working with reclaimed brick an interesting design challenge, since it didn’t come in standard sizes. But the firm has seen hurdles like this before, with its focus on reactivating historic buildings by imbuing them with modern ideas. For the ground-floor facade, Santini and the team created a pattern where bricks jut out at regular intervals, creating a play of shadows that change throughout the day. The upper floor, meanwhile, features slimmer bricks, which gives it a lighter feel. “The work with the bricks has been very challenging, but the result for us is very interesting,” says Santini.

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Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Map Architetti

Structural Design/Construction Management: Gabriele Ninni e Alessandra Ninni

Building Services (MEP) Design: Domenico Torini and ReMa Engineering

Cabinetry Design/Installation Company: DeRe Cucine