At a glance from the street, it’s a jumble of steely boxes. Even on closer inspection, you’d find it hard to tell it is a residence. That’s not lost on its owner, Guido Fejles. “Many people don’t realize it’s a house because it’s so strange,” he says.

Guido, a chef, knew he wanted to build something in his hometown of Cambiano, near Turin, Italy, but land is hard to come by. So instead of purchasing property, he embraced some space next to his childhood home, where his parents still live, and called up a family friend, architect Stefano Pujatti. The founder of design studio ElasticoFarm, Pujatti was given carte blanche, with some requests: Guido didn’t want a cement house, which is common in the area, and he wanted to prioritize convivial spaces so he could host guests, even if it meant having small bedrooms.

He remembers seeing Pujatti’s proposal for the first time. “We knew he was a bit crazy, but when we saw the design we realized just how crazy he was,” says Guido. “But he’s very talented. That’s why I let him do his thing.”

Pujatti wanted to elevate the home above the neighborhood to capture views, so he created a tree house of sorts by joining a series of aluminum-clad boxes together horizontally to create a ring-shaped structure, which he raised on Y-shaped piles. To situate it with two mature trees growing up through the open center of the oval floor plan, he demolished the original residence’s slanted roof, turning it into a terrace, and floated a portion of the new structure above it. Steps lead up from the terrace to the hovering addition and its views of surrounding homes and mountains in the distance.

The inside of the ring, which is lined with a band of floor-to-ceiling windows, offers a different perspective. Between the boldly painted interiors and the trees at the middle, there’s an abundance of green. “I wanted Guido to look out the window and feel like that green was getting into the house in a synthetic way,” explains Pujatti. “At the same time, it gives the feeling of being among the branches. If we didn’t have that hole, you wouldn’t feel the suspension, because you wouldn’t see the stilts.”

The roughly 1,450-square-foot interiors are dynamic, with elevation changing as you move in a circle. “That’s what we want to create when we design a space,” says Pujatti. “It’s not a predictable feeling.” The entrance steps up into the living room, which leads to the dining area; then there’s a slope down to the two bedrooms, a primary furnished with armoires and a made-to-measure bed and shower for the taller-than-average chef and a smaller one for guests.

“If I die in this house, I’ll be happy. When you build a house from scratch, you want to live in it for the rest of your life.”
—Guido Fejles, resident

The highest point in the home, off the dining area, is the showpiece kitchen, complete with open shelves, restaurant-style heat lamps, and two ovens and cabinets in stainless steel. Pujatti wanted it to be like a stage where the chef could perform and test out ideas. Ever since Guido opened his restaurant, GAF, just steps from his house, he hasn’t had much free time. But when he does, he’s always up for hosting friends—and a good experiment.

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: ELASTICOFarm

Builder: DEFILIPPI Costruzioni

Structural and Civil Engineering: Corrado Curti

Sound Engineering: Diego Dellerba

Mechanical Engineering: Pasquale Matarazzo and Bruno Marcon

Geology: Claudio Bertoncello

Lighting: Artemide S.p.A

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