Postcard from Italy #1

Why do I propose this detached villa in Castel di Lama, near Ascoli, as my first postcard from Italy? Because its creator Emanuele Scaramucci is only 28 years old, and realizing a house of this quality at such a young age is quite uncommon.

Scaramucci earned his degree at University of Rome, completed an Erasmus semester abroad in Scandinavia and worked briefly with David Chipperfield in Milan and Massimiliano Fuksas in Rome.

The client and owner of the villa is Scaramucci’s brother, an engineer who actively contributed to the construction by carrying out structural calculations. Both decided to use laminated wood for the cantilevered first floor that characterise the façade. And both were very attentive to the energetic matters: the house is in large part self-sufficient due to about 100-sq-m of photovoltaic panels hidden in the flat roof.  

Like many Italian architects, Scaramucci thinks technology must be hidden and prefers High Touch – sensuality and balance of fullness and emptiness – over High Tech.

Photos courtesy Gabriele Viviani.
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Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi is an architectural writer, critic and the president of Associazione Italiana di Architettura e Critica. He is the editor-in-chief of Compasses, an editor for Le Carré Bleu, and the director of the weekly presS/Tletter. He is a regular contributor to architectural magazines and has written numerous books on architecture.