Haus am Sägeweg

At 1.100 meters in the south of South Tyrolean Unterland lies the small village of Truden im Naturpark, characterized by its frugal building tradition with plastered, punctuated facades and simplicity. It is equally influenced by the neighboring Italian-speaking Val di Fiemme and the German-speaking Unterland. Along Sägeweg, a relatively densely built single-family housing estate has developed in recent decades. In the midst of this, “Haus am Sägeweg” (house on Sägeweg) was built on an existing garage substructure.

Due to structural conditions, the rooms of this single-family house are spread over two floors and connected to the terrace of the outbuilding on the west side by a one-story extension. With the parish church behind it, it forms a contemporary interpretation of Truden’s village-influenced architectural language, reflecting the quality of everyday life and building tradition in a reduced form. The inclusion of essential building features of the location creates a present yet reserved building: a clear, punctuated facade in solid construction, characterized solely by smooth, hand-applied Marmorino plaster with typical porphyry additives, as well as accentuated, reddish-brown, bush-hammered concrete elements and windows made of silver fir, creating, in interplay with the typical roofing made of monks and nuns (under-and-over tiles), a distinctive, contemporary overall picture. The implied floor division and a building incision on the west side structure the facade and emphasize the clarity of the design.

Due to the rectangular arrangement of the main building and the annex, as well as the connecting roofing and the setback, an implied courtyard situation is created, which provides a protected and usable outdoor space. Inside, the clarity of the design continues in form and material: all wooden elements, such as the furniture, doors, windows, and wooden floors, are made of silver fir. The metal elements, like door handles and fittings, are made of bronze, and the stone elements, such as the kitchen countertop, are made of red-brown porphyry. The room is characterized by low-lying door reveals lined in silver fir, as well as window reveals that are concise with the plaster and the pitched roof design of the ceilings in the bedroom area. A bronze kitchen block and reddish wall finishes play a central role in the living space, as does the typical stove bench pushed into the wall.