Location  Calle Gaspari Gozzi, on the Rio de la Frescada

Site  140 square metres

Brief  To design a residence for an artist with an adjoining art gallery and work studio.

Program

• Personal residence: Kitchen/dining area, sitting room, bedrooms, bathrooms.
• Art studio connected to residence.
• Art gallery with an independent entrance and connected to the studio.

Backround  The site is narrow and relatively dark but its location on the canal makes it a very attractive plot in spite of its initial disadvantages. The site is accessed by calle Gaspari Gozzi, by the Rio de la Frescada canal path and by the Ponte di Dona Onesta. The surrounding area and buildings are in the traditional venetian style with simple brick façades.

Personal Intention  The intention was to create a simple and practical building that fitted neatly into the narrow space that was available. I wanted to make the limitations of the site part of its attraction. This was achieved by respecting the original street layout and the distances to the surrounding buildings and by allowing the building a lot of movement and flexibility. The building reaches out or pulls itself in. These expansions and contractions depend on the floor level, the use of space on that floor, the position of the other buildings and on the desire to make the most of the natural light .The movement and the fluidity of the building are helped by the fact that the Ponte di Dona Onesta leads directly to the site and effectively creates an urban entrance. The projection of the building across the canal means that the structure doesn’t only shift form side to side to accommodate its limits but also springs forward to bridge the gap left by the waterway.