The latest edition of “Architizer: The World’s Best Architecture” — a stunning, hardbound book celebrating the most inspiring contemporary architecture from around the globe — is now available. Order your copy today.
Doors come in all shapes, sizes and materials. Slatted wood-wrapped doors and shiny metal-clad entryways can command all the attention on a façade, while simple glass doors — sometimes dramatically — can entirely disappear as if they were never in the picture. The architectural industry has become obsessed with the contemporary and minimalist aesthetic of see-through spaces. It’s so popular that we’re seeing architects and manufacturers take the idea of the non-door a step beyond sheer structural transparency.
The Italy-based studio Bergmeisterwolf Architekten, for example, recently completed a 250-square-meter [2,700-square-foot] extension of a 17th-century villa that features a massive window wall that sinks into the earth, vanishing from view.
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Situated next to Lake Garda in Northern Italy, House F was bought by and updated as a holiday house for an economist in Vienna. Bergmeisterwolf expanded the floor area of the home and maximized the connection between the indoor and outdoor spaces in an effort to enhance the functionality of the old structure. Their innovative improvement brought the lakeside house into the 21st century thanks to the vertical sliding walls that open the living space to the large backyard garden.
Designed as a single-story volume, the new construction is clad in black-dyed concrete and finished with a white-walled interior with wooden cabinetry. The double-glazed exterior, which wraps the building in two angular L-shaped sections, serves as both a wall when closed and an entryway when open. Sturdy bronze frames, weighing 1.5 tons each, line the edge of the wide space.
These floor-to-ceiling glass panels connect to a mechanical pulley system underground that tugs the doors 3 meters down below grade through thin slots. When the interior is exposed, the panels rest in the sectioned-off basement area of the house. This seamless, 12-second transition allows users to enjoy the garden while relaxing underneath the suddenly canopy-like roof that cantilevers over the uncovered interior.
On the existing, stone plastered house, Bergmeisterwolf also added fresh windows, shutters and door frames finished in a dark hue to complement the new design. The stone slabbing used as flooring inside the new project also references the historic home. The slabbing extends past the horizontal panel openings and furthers the relationship between the interior and garden.
The latest edition of “Architizer: The World’s Best Architecture” — a stunning, hardbound book celebrating the most inspiring contemporary architecture from around the globe — is now available. Order your copy today.
Images Courtesy Bergmeisterwolf; photos by Gustav Willeit