If we had to mention a type of house that more than others has characterized – and continues to characterize – the Italian territory throughout history, that is certainly the farmhouse. It is a type of rural house linked to the system of sharecropping typical of central Italy, but which can also be found in the Po Valley.
It is here, more precisely in the province of Parma, that CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota have worked together on The Greenary, what can be defined as a farmhouse 2.0, that is, one that presents traditional characteristics combined with new needs.
The Greenary – a name that voluntarily combines the words “green” and “granary” – was commissioned to the two architects by Francesco Mutti, CEO of Mutti, Europe’s leading producer of tomato-derived products, and was built on a site that extends over 2.5 hectares.
Seen from a distance, the house doesn’t differ much from other similar structures, but analyzing the project and getting closer you can immediately see the main feature of the house: The Greenary was built around a 60 year old 10 meters tall ficus called Alma.
Once again CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati worked with a clear objective to create a space where there were no boundaries between natural and artificial. In this case the architecture is completely at the service of the natural element and develops around it preserving it and, in some way, celebrating it.
Moreover, to guarantee the tree the necessary light and air all the windows and the roof can be opened to the outside and a 10 meters high glass wall facing south has been installed.
Carlo Ratti himself commented on the project saying, “The 20th-century Italian architect Carlo Scarpa once said, ‘Between a tree and a house, choose the tree.’ While I resonate with his sentiment, I think we can go a step further and put the two together. Much of CRA’s work focuses on the intersection between the natural and artificial worlds. With the Greenary, we are trying to imagine a new domestic landscape built around nature and its rhythm.”
PH: Delfino Sisto Legnani e Alessandro Saletta
