Place: Arzachena, Sassari
Author: Marco Zanuso
Chronology: 1962 | 1964
Itinerary: Italy goes on vacation
Use: Double-family house
On the coast of the Gulf of Arzachena, in the Monti di Mola area, in a landscape defined by rocks that end at the sea, and by Mediterranean vegetation and low dry-stone walls, Zanuso built, between 1963 and 1964, twin holiday houses for two Milanese families, one being the architect’s brother’s family. The villas are two small but severe stone architectures that recall the original character of the Costa Smeralda landscape, before its massive tourist exploitation.
The houses are defined by a monolithic volume in granite blocks. The 15×15-meter square plan is divided into nine 4×4-meter squares that form a Greek cross patio in the center. The four corners hold the three bedrooms and the kitchen-dining room. One of the two houses was later enlarged with two cylindrical stone blocks, which accommodate a living room and a kitchen.
A large opening, marked by a 4-meter granite architrave, opens the front towards the sea and connects the central patio with the external landscape.
In other parts, the surrounding wall is engraved only by thin openings that allow access to the house.
The patio is the house’s main space: covered in the middle by a pergola and uncovered in the four wings that define its cross-shaped plan, it is occupied by a stone table made from an ancient millstone’s granite disc.
The rooms open to the central patio with doors cut into the corners, dematerializing the stone walls’ inner corners and making the space very airy.
The bedrooms are cozy and welcoming.
The living room, built in one of the added cylindrical volumes, holds a few simple furnishings: a curved granite bench and a stone fireplace.