An hour and a half south of Milan, beyond the industrial plain of the Po Valley, the landscape begins to rise gently into the rolling hills of Emilia. Near the city of Piacenza, wheat fields, vineyards,  and scattered woodlands define a countryside that has remained remarkably untouched by mass tourism. It is a place where agricultural traditions continue to shape everyday life, offering a slower rhythm that stands in contrast to the metropolitan intensity of northern Italy.
It is here that architects and designers Fabio Calvi and Paolo Brambilla chose to build their country retreat— a weekend escape in a landscape whose identity is still deeply tied to its rural culture. Conceived as a place to gather family and friends, the house establishes a careful dialogue between contemporary architectural language and the enduring character of the countryside.
From a distance, the building appears as a horizontal band resting lightly on the side of the hill. Its terracotta hue recalls the clay roof tiles that have characterised local farmhouses and villages for centuries, allowing the volume to blend naturally into the chromatic palette of the surrounding landscape. Rather than mimicking vernacular architecture, however, the project interprets it through a contemporary lens.

“From a distance, the building appears
as a horizontal band resting lightly on the side of the hill”.

The house is defined by a bold exposed concrete roof whose weight and tectonic clarity openly reference Brutalist architecture.
Yet this expressive structural element is softened by details that root the building within its geographical context.
The deep cornice, for instance, features a rhythmic profile inspired by the crenellated crowns of the medieval castles that punctuate the hills around Piacenza, subtly connecting the house to the region's architectural heritage.

The link between architecture and landscape extends well beyond material references: the load-bearing walls emerge as thick linear elements that visually connect the interior spaces with the surrounding fields. Rather than functioning simply as structural supports, they establish a sequence of spatial thresholds, framing views and reinforcing the perception of continuity between inside and outside.

Arrival has been carefully choreographed. To access the house you descend from above looking at the landscape above the green roof of the house. The entrance compresses the visitor before opening onto a precisely framed view of the small woodland opposite the house. This precisely composed visual axis immediately establishes the project's central theme: architecture not as an object placed within nature, but as an instrument for observing it.

Every element of the house is organized according to a 90 by 90 centimetres square grid established by the coffered ceiling above. Doors, built-in cabinetry and bespoke furniture all derive their proportions from this framework, producing a quiet sense of order. Geometry becomes the project's hidden discipline, allowing diverse materials and furnishings to coexist within a coherent spatial language.

“Architecture not as an object placed within nature, but as an instrument for
observing it”.

The coffered concrete roof projects beyond the western façade to form a deep lattice that shelters the terrace overlooking the swimming pool. Throughout the day, this structural extension casts a constantly changing pattern of shadows across the outdoor living spaces, turning the passage of sunlight into an integral architectural material.

This dialogue between permanence and domesticity continues in the treatment of surfaces. A gridded artificial stone paving extends uninterrupted from the interior to the terraces, continues beneath the water of the swimming pool and even folds upward to form the outdoor kitchen worktop. The textured surface in a 5×5cm square grid evokes the visionary landscapes imagined by Superstudio during the Radical Architecture movement of the late 1960s, transforming the grid from a conceptual device int o a lived domestic experience.

Ultimately, the project reconciles two architectural positions often considered incompatible. On one hand, it embraces the expressive structural honesty and material directness of Brutalism; on the other, it embodies the principles of Critical Regionalism, grounding a contemporary language in the cultural and environmental specificity of its setting. Structural clarity and contextual sensitivity are not treated as opposing ambitions but as complementary ones.

The result is a house that is unmistakably modern while remaining deeply embedded in the landscape from which it emerges—a measured architectural presence whose strongest gesture may be the quiet confidence with which it belongs.

ph: Andrea Martiradonna

text: Studio Calvi Brambilla

styling: Stanza 97