Portuguese Pritzker Prize-winning architect Álvaro Siza and Porto studio COR Arquitectos have revealed a housing scheme almost entirely clad in travertine in Italy.
Built in the city of Gallarate in Lombardy, the development consists of two housing blocks clad in travertine ? a type of limestone ? that contain 20 apartments in total.
Travertine-clad housing by Álvaro Siza and COR Arquitectos
The development near the city centre stands between two roads, with its main facade on the busy Via Roma and a smaller entrance on the much quieter Via Postporta.
Álvaro Siza and COR Arquitectos created two four-storey blocks that face each other with a communal walkway between them.
The large block is shaped like a C
The larger of the two blocks is located away from the main road surrounded by existing buildings and is shaped like C to partially enclose a small area of grass. On the other side of the site, the smaller block was designed to stand alone from the development like a villa and has a largely plain travertine-clad facade facing the road with numerous windows on its inward facade.
The housing's main facade is on Via Roma
Both blocks were built above a two-storey car park, which occupies the entire site and is accessed from Via Roma.

Along two sides of the development, a public pathway has been created as a route between the main road and the city centre.
The blocks are built above a car park
Alongside the blocks, the architecture studios have created a series of gardens...