This building program, promoted by a housing cooperative, foresees the construction of sixteen residential units within a subsidized housing framework in Marina di Ragusa, Sicily.
The project pursues an explicit objective: to challenge standard public housing practices, a private initiative supported by public funding, with a proposal that prioritizes environmental comfort and domestic spatial quality over maximum floor-area ratios and commercial real estate speculation.
At the core of this project lies a rigorous reflection on how to align goals with available tools under the strict imperative of budget constraints, aiming to deliver a tangible contribution, maximum design for minimum cost.
The site layout was partitioned to create a series of plots served by a single internal two-way road. Four distinct detached housing types across two levels were developed, each characterized by a different relationship with the external space.
According to the building specification, each unit features a floor area of 110 square meters distributed over two levels, along with a 25-square-meter covered garage. The garage roof decks serve as private terraces overlooking the sea.
From a structural and technological standpoint, the construction employs a reinforced concrete frame with perimeter infill walls made of double-layer hollow clay bricks. The external elevations are wrapped in an External Insulation Finishing System finished with synthetic plaster renders.
Great attention was dedicated to the design of shared outdoor areas and boundary walls between properties. A unified material and color palette was selected for both the internal roadway and the walls: the road consists of a cast-in-place concrete slab enriched with oxides and volcanic ash dust.
The same composite mixture was sprayed onto the boundary walls to achieve a monolithic, trench-like section. Pedestrian and vehicular gates are constructed from galvanized sheet iron, matching the exact height of the boundary walls.
Lot 12 and Lot 16
At the request of the buyers, the interior partitions and finishes of the residences on Lots 12 and 16 were fully customized.
These units are surrounded by generous private gardens, with all ground floor spaces maintaining a direct relationship with the outdoors. Both residences span two levels, organizing active living areas on the ground floor and private sleeping quarters on the upper floor.
Lot 12
The ground floor layout is characterized by “hyper-furniture” units that integrate storage, space division, and mechanical/technological equipment. These custom volumes are crafted from blue valchromat and white lacquered MDF.
Lot 16
The interior space is strongly characterized by the treatment of horizontal surfaces and the sculptural presence of the stair volume. Bespoke glazed lava stone tiles were designed to form geometric patterns when combined.
The tile color palette includes white, cobalt blue, and Siena yellow. The staircase volume is entirely clad in yellow valchromat and is flanked by an integrated utility core housing the building’s systems.
