Suspended between forests and pastures, Casera Cornolera is located in San Martino di Chies d’Alpago, in the heart of the Belluno Dolomites. The studio facchinelli daboit saviane, based in Belluno and with a declared focus on Alpine architecture, transformed a small rural building into a new, silent, and respectful architecture capable of telling the landscape through its materials and proportions.
The project delicately and precisely integrates into the landscape, demonstrating how even a small-scale building can have a significant impact on the conservation of the territory. In fact, the intervention prevented the encroachment of the forest, preserving the alpine meadows that for centuries have shaped the visual and productive identity of Alpago.
Although it altered the original function, the refunctionalization preserved the typological traits of the structure, clearly and honestly communicating the new elements of design. An example is the bow-window that interrupts the gabled roof with wooden trusses: a contemporary feature that reinterprets the large openings of old haylofts, enabling a new relationship with the landscape.
Materials and construction techniques dialogue with local tradition: larch wood, stone extracted from a nearby quarry, and concrete slats for the roof, an updated reference to ancient solutions in straw or stone, now lost. The arrangement of openings—between stone thresholds and wooden lintels—also evokes vernacular architecture, not as a replica but as an authentic and functional reinterpretation.
The project is situated in a delicate territory, balancing between abandonment and a return to the land, proposing a viable vision for the future of Alpine architecture: a measured, artisanal, rooted practice that chooses to listen to the landscape before designing it.
facchinelli daboit saviane
Founded in 2019 by Gianluca Facchinelli, Celeste Da Boit, and Giada Saviane, the studio is based in Belluno and dedicated to research in mountain architecture, with a careful approach to the specificity of places. The founders, all graduates with honors from IUAV in Venice, combine their design activity with teaching collaborations in design courses at the same university.
For more information: www.facchinellidaboitsaviane.com
CREDITS
Project: Casera Cornolera
Architect: facchinelli daboit saviane
Location: San Martino di Chies d’Alpago (BL), Italy
Year: 2018
Photography: Marina Caneve
