Pico House

spbr arquitetos (Angelo Bucci) with baserga mozzetti architetti and ingegneri pedrazzini guidotti, 2013

The parcel of land in question is located on the edge of the Cassarate plain, at the foot of the hilly area. To the west, it is bounded by Via Pico, which topographically denotes the transition between the urbanity of the plan and the more landscaped nature of the hillside. To the east, the Vicari street offers a close relationship with the city street system. However, an easement of distance and the particular geometry prevent the street alignment. Due to this fact and the proximity to the adjacent park, we prefer the choice of an autonomous volume, free from alignments, characterised by its accentuated verticality and free plan. The volume raised from the ground allows the creation of an urban garden on the ground floor, extends the existing park and connects the two streets. On the basement floors are organised service spaces and a garage. On the first three floors there are two flats per floor. This condition led to a plan divided into two cores, which was also considered appropriate on the upper levels with one flat per floor characterised by the division into day and night. The separation into two parts of the floor plan was thematised structurally with two load-bearing elements in different directions. The roof is organised as a communal roof garden.