Masseria Grottone, part of Masserie Maresca Farm-Hotel, built between 1812 and 1860 is an agricultural complex a few miles away from Ostuni. Dipped in 40 acres of centenary olive trees and Mediterranean scrub: a natural context of extraordinary richness.
Restoration and implementation of Masseria Grottone
LOCATION: Ostuni (BR) , Italy
CLIENT: MASSERIE MARESCA
YEAR: 2012-2016
PROJECT: Schiattarella Associati, Andrea Schiattarella, Carla Maresca
PHOTO: Antonio Fatano
Abandoned for several years, the restoration and extension project has been assigned to the firm Schiattarella Associati having a long history dating back to 1970s and a know-how linked to some of the most significant projects of the last years such as the Seoul Metropolitan Museum, the Children Museum in Kyonggi, the Art Center in Addirriyah and many relevant projects in Italy as well such as the Spanish School of Archaeology, the Cube House in the Olympic Village and the Pediatric Ward of the Umberto I Hospital in Rome.
Recovery of the historical building has taken into consideration the respectful restoration of volumes and vaulted spaces, in order to preserve its original features in addition to the realization of new expressly contemporary elements that are discreetly placed next to the main structure.
Expansion has enabled to build services in the rooms at ground level without modifying the existing structure.
The new building, placed in a position not visible from the main entrance, thanks to a high dry stone wall, doesn’t change the overall perception of the historical structure.
Today the estate hosts a luxury farm-resort with 10 rooms, a garden, a swimming-pool, a patio and a solarium.
Interiors are intentionally bare and just cleansed: nature with its mighty and thousand-year old olive trees in the surrounding area is the real treasure. Minimal design for furniture, local finishing material, as the Trani stone, are the frame.
Once again, Schiattarella Associati commits to develop a concept of responsible restoration fully respecting history and nature. An intervention that restates Schiattarella Assiociati vision: an act of responsibility towards the community, where each structural, formal and stylistic innovation, is always addressed to improve experience and relationship inside architectural and urban projects, always respecting context and history in which they are embedded.
SCHIATTARELLA ASSOCIATI
SCHIATTARELLA ASSOCIATI is a Rome based architectural firm, operating within the fields of design, architecture, urbanism, research and development.
The office is currently involved in a significative number of projects in Europe and the Middle East.
SA has always combined its professional engagements with equally intensive efforts of research, taking part in both national and international competitions while working to disseminate architectural culture.
Its design is focused on investigating the relationship between geometry and randomness, solids and voids, static and dynamic nature of spaces.
The concept of “void”, of the inter-space that arises among volumes or surfaces, that “absence” of the built, which represents the essence of architecture itself, becomes the focal point on which SA designs its projects.
Building the void, understanding the inner workings ruling the logics and controlling all possible configurations, represents an almost unexplored research area. Experimental approach is the only one possible and each project or contest becomes an opportunity to verify and check.
