Homage to water

Photographs: Pasquale Abbattista
This residence facing the sea of Sardinia is called H2O. The name probably came from the fact that the access door opens up on a panorama dominated largely by water. The actual aspect of the residence is a result of the renovation that interested the entire building and the surrounding terrain; from the preceding villa only the volume and closed spaces remained while the terraces and external spaces were newly added. The residence projects out onto the water: the sea, to where it leans and the pools that surround the entire home. Water, in continuous movement, flows from the pool placed higher through pools underneath, producing a play of small waterfalls. All the pools present have irregular forms, almost as if to emphasize the indecision of the spaces surrounding the house, the faint borders, sometimes traced only by rock masses. It’s these very rocks that accommodate the pools, proposing terraces of water on top of water, in the charm of Sardinia’s vegetation.
There are numerous open spaces in the home: not only pools but also large verandas stretching out to the water, spaces of junction between interior and exterior of the house furnished with simple and linear designed furniture, conceived by the architect that took on the entire design of the house together with the home owner. The large access patio, that gives form to the panoramic terraces on the roof of the home, is distinguished by pavement in teak, the terraces on the floor underneath are rather in white stone by Apricena, the same color chosen for the inside of the house and the painting of the pools, with the intent of giving a sense of visual continuity among the spaces. The pools, placed unevenly on the rock masses, are in close physical vicinity to the most important parts of the house with a perimetric overflow system, in contact with the places destined for living like the living room and veranda as well as the private areas. The access to the main pool is by submerged stairs that don’t alter the sense of continuity among solarium and water, accentuated by the overflow system adopted for all the pools with water gathering canal on the side facing the valley, realized in stone decorated with pebbles.
Designer: Arch. Giovanni Faggioli – Studio Faggioli Architetti Associati, Milan
Building Company: Ainocal s.r.l.
Pool structure: reinforced cement
Form: irregular
Surface: main pool 120 square meters, other pools 165 square meters
Dimensions: irregular
Depth: variable
Internal lining: painted
Water circulation: overflow on one side