This rural house in the Italian region of Le Marche, between the Adriatic Sea and the Sibillini Mountains, is the latest offering by Ancona-based architect Simone Subissati. The project, entitled Border Crossing House (or Casa di ConFine, in Italian), is a two storey family home drawing strongly on its context, merging the freedom of the fields around it and the traditions of the region’s farmhouse architecture.
The house's powerful long and linear form is accentuated by the architect's chosen material composition; the more ‘solid’-looking ground floor is clad in eye-catching varnished iron sheets treated with anti-rust primer, while the top level is lighter and more transparent, mixing glass expanses and crisp walls of self-cleaning plaster.
Inside, the uses are arranged in distinct separation; the ground floor is for the ‘day', explains the architect, while upstairs is for ‘night-time'. Either way, interiors throughout are open and bright, with a firm focus placed on flowing spaces and views through and across levels. Subissati artfully positions a double height living space, including kitchen and dining area, at the heart of the layout, crowned by an open balcony circulation area on the upper level.
This feeling of openness and permeability was crucial to the design, as was its sense of place, which is why the architect opted out of creating strict borders around the property – there are no fences that separate it from the fields around it. Subissati sought to ‘break the border' and the protocol that says private dwellings should be separate from farm work, he explains.
‘Regarding the interior and the furniture (which was all custom-designed) the purpose was to avoid the contemporary language made of bright, luxury labels and design of contemporary fashion,’ continues the architect. ‘I was searching for an authenticity, an "inherited" space, imagining it almost as though temporary, like a nomadic or camping structure.’
INFORMATION
-
Samuel Collins’ stone sculptures capture the raw and rugged nature of the British landscapeThe British artist and sculptor presents 'Silence Split', a series of stone sculptures which presents an abstract take on the horizontal and vertical landscape
-
Houston's Ismaili Centre is the most dazzling new building in America. Here's a look insideLondon-based architect Farshid Moussavi has created a new building open to all – and in the process, has created a gleaming new monument
-
A postcard from Irish Design Week 2025How Ireland's collaborative design culture, from Kilkenny's 60-year legacy to island circularity offers an expansive model for the future
-
At the Holcim Foundation Forum and its Grand Prizes, sustainability is both urgent and hopefulThe Holcim Foundation Forum just took place in Venice, culminating in the announcement of the organisation's Grand Prizes, the projects especially honoured among 20 previously announced winning designs
-
Carlo Ratti reflects on his bold Venice Architecture Biennale as it closes this weekendThe Venice Architecture Biennale opens with excitement and fanfare every two years; as the 2025 edition draws to a close, we take stock with its curator Carlo Ratti and ask him, what next?
-
Step inside Casa Moncler, the brand’s sustainable and highly creative Milanese HQCasa Moncler opens its doors in a masterfully reimagined Milanese industrial site, blending modern minimalism and heritage, courtesy of ACPV Architects Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel
-
Aldo Frattini Bivouac is a mountain shelter, but not as you know itA new mountain shelter on the northern Italian pre-Alp region of Val Seriana, Aldo Frattini Bivouac is an experimental and aesthetically rich, compact piece of architecture
-
The 2026 Winter Olympics Village is complete. Take a look insideAhead of the 2026 Winter Olympics, taking place in Milan in February, the new Olympic Village Plaza is set to be a bustling community hub, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
-
Anish Kapoor designs Naples station as a reflection of ‘what it really means to go underground’A new Naples station by artist Anish Kapoor blends art and architecture, while creating an important piece of infrastructure for the southern Italian city
-
‘Landscape architecture is the queen of science’: Emanuele Coccia in conversation with Bas SmetsItalian philosopher Emanuele Coccia meets Belgian landscape architect Bas Smets to discuss nature, cities and ‘biospheric thinking’
-
This historic Sicilian house cost one euro. Go inside its transformationPalermo-based firm Didea teamed up with AirBNB to reimagine the once-dilapidated property in vibrant colour blocks
