Overlooking the tranquil waters of Lake Maggiore, La casa sul lago in Porto Valtravaglia, in the province of Varese, is the result of a transformation project by the studio duearchitetti, founded by Nicoletta Binello and Paolo Gelso. The intervention stems from the desire to reoccupy a place of memory—a 1970s villa, a historic family holiday home—reimagining it as a permanent residence. This is not merely a renovation but an empathetic transformation capable of dialoguing with the natural context and responding to contemporary living needs.
The site is extraordinary: on one side, the lake caresses the house with its calm, almost seeping into the interior spaces; on the other, a steep slope surrounds the building, intertwining architecture and landscape. The architects embrace this tension between opposing elements—water and earth, openness and protection—to shape a fluid, permeable, sensory space.
The most significant intervention involves closing the existing porch with glass walls, transforming it into a bright, convivial kitchen that extends outward, in continuity with the historic iron pergola covered with wisteria. Thus, an element that once marked the threshold between inside and outside becomes the heartbeat of the home, capable of welcoming daily life with lightness and transparency.
Inside, the layout has been radically rethought: unnecessary partitions have been removed, favoring a fluid organization that enhances visual and functional connection between spaces. Surfaces are minimalist, colors subdued, and materials natural. Every choice reflects sartorial care but without excess: here, simplicity becomes a project, in line with the studio’s approach, which always begins with the relationship between inhabitant and environment.
The outdoor spaces thus become true open-air rooms: a cozy porch facing the lake invites contemplation, while a terrace near the dock allows experiencing the landscape with intensity, in the slow rhythm of the seasons.
duearchitetti is a studio founded in Varese in 2012 by Nicoletta Binello and Paolo Gelso. Combining technical expertise and humanistic sensitivity, the studio approaches each project as a living organism, where architecture, environment, and inhabitant continuously dialogue. Elegance arises from simplicity; innovation from attention to detail.
For more info: www.duearchitetti.it
CREDITS
Project: La casa sul lago
Architect: duearchitetti
Location: Porto Valtravaglia (VA), Italy
Year: 2023
Photograph: Simone Bossi
