tela architettura revives abandoned concrete shell into italian countryside refuge

"Set in the countryside of Ostuni, , Casa nell'agro di Ostuni by Tela Architettura reinterprets an unfinished rural into a calm and continuous architecture. When the owners discovered the site, they found an abandoned shell, an unfinished house that had never been completed. Instead of demolishing it, they decided to what was already there and used its geometry as the foundation for a new project rooted in restraint and permanence."

"The intervention reconfigures the interior spaces while extending the existing volume with subtle precision and wrapping it in materials of the surrounding landscape. The project draws its identity from the dialogue between construction and terrain. Large glazed openings dissolve the threshold between inside and out, pulling the countryside into the domestic space. Natural lime plaster and sand-colored microcement form a continuous, tactile skin that defines every surface."

"These materials, shaped into essential geometries by Tela Architettura, generate a sequence of offset planes that become steps, benches, and built-in furniture. The staircase leading to the pool doubles as seating for the outdoor lounge, the fireplace emerges from the living room wall, and the master bed rises from the floor in seamless continuity. The Italian architecture studio defines space mostly through material, but light completes it."

Casa nell'agro di Ostuni reinterprets an unfinished rural shell into a calm, continuous architecture rooted in restraint and permanence. The intervention retains and extends the existing volume, using its geometry as the foundation for new spatial configurations. Interiors are reconfigured while large glazed openings dissolve thresholds and visually pull the countryside into the domestic space. Natural lime plaster and sand-colored microcement wrap surfaces to form a continuous, tactile skin that relates directly to the surrounding landscape. Offset planes become integrated steps, benches, and built-in furniture, while walnut joinery and iron frames introduce warmth and fine lines. Light sculpts surfaces, varying from soft northern illumination to warmer eastern morning tones.

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine