“It was completely abandoned, completely impossible to imagine life here at the beginning,” Roberto Mazzilli says of the brutalist 1971 home he bought with his partner, Fabian Nagel, in 2019. Set in the district of Cumiana, southwest of Turin, Italy, the dwelling was designed by Italian architect Carlo Graffi for businessman Riccardo Gontero. Its sharp edges and cantilevered levels made of reinforced concrete were a calling card for Gontero, who owned a concrete factory, although it’s always been an oddity in this part of Italy. After he died, it stood empty for 16 years.

When Roberto and Fabian found it, vegetation had overrun the garden and was creeping up the concrete walls. But Fabian had a vision of what this home could be, and undeterred by the work that lay ahead, the couple snapped it up for the price of an apartment in Turin. Armed with an initial budget of €90,000, they set to work.

Clearing the garden revealed a series of pathways around the massive structure set against the dramatic backdrop of the Alps. Fabian, who works in car design, was drawn to the home’s jutting silhouette, which he feels has a sort of momentum. One wing leads from the central living space to a TV room, two offices, two bedrooms, and a large balcony facing the swimming pool, while the other wing holds the kitchen and dining area and another spacious balcony. A spiraling metal staircase runs from the basement, past the pool deck, and up through the sleeping area to the roof. The semicircular structure atop the concrete column that encircles the staircase was originally used as a water tank, although it now sits empty.

€4,000 Wall Finishes	€700 Flooring	€45,000 Roofing
€16,000 Electrical	€3,000 Plumbing	€6,000 HVAC Equipment
€6,000 Landscaping	€2,000 Kitchen & Bath Fixtures	€300 Lighting
€4,000 Furnishings & Decor	€1,000 Waste/Debris Removal	€2,000 Pool Renovation & Paint
€12,000 Pool Filter System
Grand Total: €102,000

It took Fabian and Roberto about two years to complete the major jobs, which they chose to manage themselves. They repainted the orange-red metal window and door frames, and they hired specialists for the bigger jobs, such as fixing the flat roof, which was waterlogged and leaking, and rewiring the house.

“We don’t have any curtains in the house. You can always see outside. You’re always in contact with the exterior.”
—Fabian Nagel, resident

The pair wanted to remain true to the original design, so they lightly updated the interiors. The travertine stairs and built-in seating in the living room were luckily still intact, and the couple preserved the slender blue tiles that clad the bathrooms and kitchen—although they partly refinished the rough-hewn built-in shelving and painted the other rooms. They also removed several partition walls (one between the hallway and living room and one between the kitchen and dining area) to open up the ground floor, and they scrapped old radiators from a prior renovation. A new woodburning fireplace heats the majority of the house.

Now, Fabian and Roberto happily dive into the shimmering, 9.8-foot deep end of the pool from their second-floor bedroom balcony, as Graffi originally intended. “It’s this 1970s idea that nobody would actually do now,” says Fabian. “But you know, at that time, it was all about having fun.”

The work is ongoing, with some water-damaged parquet floors and integrated lighting to fix and a furniture selection to refine. “It’s a project that is alive,” says Fabian. “It’s probably never going to be truly finished.”

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Carlo Graffi

Builder/General Contractor: Impresa Cementi Armati

Structural Engineer: Sergio Musmeci

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A Brutalist Behemoth Left Deserted for Decades Comes Back to Life for €102K