Fog House: a four-family villa

Although it may seem strange to talk of fog in the case of a house on the edge of Rome, it was in fact the morning mists that inspired architect Filippo Bombace, creator of the «Fog house» project, to design this modern construction facing onto a large garden and the Olgiata golf course. This four-family house with independent volumes drawn together by a single design projects an overall image of a single, imposing contemporary villa. The layout is homogeneous while maintaining the privacy and identities of the individual dwelling units.
The construction consists of a total of four independent homes. The individual units come in various sizes according to market demand (just one will be inhabited by the client/owner): a totally open-space one-room studio apartment, a medium-sized apartment, and the larger showcase apartment with a dual-height living space and the large garden with swimming pool. To ensure that the individual residences do not overlook each other, a cross-shaped layout was chosen with a modern version of the pitched roof imposed by local building regulations, which finds a new expression in the reversed inclinations of the roof. The roof pitches are almost invisible from the main facades and slope down towards the interior of the building to create deep porticoes structured in such a way as to attenuate heat in the summer and maximise sunlight in the winter. However, the pitched roof was chosen not only to comply with local building regulations. The client was also keen to adopt a contemporary language while respecting local building traditions and materials, in particular facing bricks and pietra serena stone with the addition of wooden walkways. «Although the project had to meet a relatively tight budget», explains Filippo Bombace, «it demonstrates that when the individual players involved (client, architect and construction firm) have a common goal it is possible to achieve outstanding results through hard work and determination to overcome any difficulties that arise.» Large north and south-facing cantilever roofs underscore this attention to natural lighting and are designed to protect from excessive sunlight in the summer and maximise illumination in the winter. The remaining facades are shaded by wood and aluminium pergola structures. As mentioned above, wooden walkways lead to the entrance doors to the individual units. This is the only material used other than brickwork and pietra serena stone in both natural and industrial versions («Serena» porcelain tile from Ceramica Sant’Agostino, Work series, in various sizes and natural and bush-hammered finishes) for the floor coverings and various finishing details.