This holiday home in the Valverde region of northern Italy features deep square windows, bare concrete interiors and a roof that rises up towards steeply pointed corners.
House R is located in the village of Casa D'Agosto and was designed by Monza-based 35a Studio for a Milanese couple who wanted a place to escape from the city.

The village is surrounded by the rolling hills, woods and farmland of the Valverde municipality, which has just 315 inhabitants and is located around 20 kilometres from the city of Pavia.
The compact 120-square-metre house was built on a gently sloping plot and precisely occupies the footprint of an old barn that was demolished to make way for the new structure.

The building's angular form was created by rotating the roof's ridge 45 degrees so each wall slopes up towards the two highest corners, creating space for mezzanine sleeping areas in opposite corners . "This holiday home is conceived as an open space on two floors, articulated in a single double-height volume," explained architect Andrea Carmignola.
"Characteristics of the house are its lofts and the 45-degree rotation of the traditional roof cover, which results in the creation of four identical, stereometric and trapezoidal sections."

Reinforced concrete was used to construct the geometric volume, which is perched on a flat piece of ground that opens onto a gravelled yard.
The choice of material ensured additional structural elements are not required, which frees...