MOONLIGHTING 04/03/08

Words :: Piero Facchin // Images :: Peter Mylonas, Studio D’Ambrosio

Rhythm: slow, sensual progression; transparency; contact with nature; contemporary and eclectic features - these are what Giovanni D'Ambrosio has clearly expressed in the capacity to "feel space" through the use of materials in his architecture. This in itself would be nothing new if not for the fact that behind this quest is a constant search for the interaction between materials, place and atmospheric conditions, all in relation to man. Under the moonlight house is the perfect example of how one can "work" architecture to fulfill the demands of the client, creating a synergy of technology, function and the "felt space" of the architect. This is very close to the concept of "organic architecture": the building responds to the client's and architect's needs without detracting from the specificity of the climatic conditions of the area.
D'Ambrosio designs in such a way as to take into account the transforming natural elements which are in constant rapport with his architecture. A key factor in this shared "living space" becomes its transformation into an active relationship, almost an exchange, between his architecture and the surrounding environment.
Without a doubt, what strikes us most at first is the perfect insertion of the built environment into the natural one, but certainly not only because of the use of wood and stone. We are at Mount Hotham, in the high country of Victoria, Australia, quite a ways from D'Ambrosio's home city of Rome, Italy. Giovanni admits that "I've never experienced such wide open spaces before. From here, you don't see any other buildings" - something that in Rome, or anywhere in Italy for that matter, is almost impossible.
D'Ambrosio, after have been scouted out in Bali by the Ray Group of Australia, was keen to take on the commission to design a landmark house for a future development in one of Victoria's premier ski resorts. The "DP Village" at Mount Hotham (short for Dinner Plain, the spot where cattlemen once stopped for dinner) is being transformed into an ensemble of houses ranging from 240 to 1000 square metres each. Most of the existing houses at Hotham were not designed with a high regard for the elements, but D'Ambrosio would certainly not conceive anything in this manner. "Why would you shut out this view or this magnificent snow gum tree?" he asks.
D'Ambrosio's architecture is in fact absolutely four-dimensional, in the sense that we cannot fully grasp it if we don't move through it, especially considering that, unfolding itself on multiple levels, it allows us to fully live the spacial dynamics in many directions.
Although the new house sits on one of the smallest sites in the village (240 square metres), it is home to Mount Hotham's most heroic architecture. Constructed of steel, concrete, timber and locally quarried stone, the structure that appears carved out of the site, firmly anchored to the ground by a twenty-tonne cantilevered stone fireplace supported by 200 cubic square metres of concrete poured below the surface. "The fireplace is pivotal in the design. The hearth has always been important in architectural history," says D'Ambrosio, who was partially inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.
The Roman architect's design however differs quite starkly with Wright's horizontality: the project has a strong verticality. Dubbed "Under the Moonlight," it aims toward the moon and stars as well as outward to include the 150-year-old snow gum tree on the property as if it were part of a surreal "tableau." "When I was a teenager, I used to love riding my motorbike up the mountains with friends. The evenings were spent around the campfire," says D'Ambrosio, explaining his keen engagement with the outdoors.
His design features a 45-degree pitched roof to prevent the build-up of snow, giving way to nine-metre-high ceilings at the highest point. The generous use of glass gives a wonderful sense of transparency between the indoor and outdoor spaces. To further blur this border, the architect uses the same materials on both sides of the glass walls: stone, wood and concrete.
As Frank Lloyd Wright often did, D'Ambrosio has additionally designed the furniture for the house. The architectural elements are used at their most basic and elementary level: the roof, an inclined plane made of wood for protection against the elements; the hearth, with its 20-tonne cantilevered mass of stone, defying gravity and yet not unnerving, used for intimacy and warmth. Opposite to this living area is the kitchen and another stone nook - a "media enclave," as D'Ambrosio puts it (for televison, stereo or simply reading). "It's really just one large open space, with crevices to escape to," says D'Ambrosio, modestly. And one does truly sense this cavernous, primitive feel inside the house as well as an intimacy created by the use of warm, natural materials used in a modern key.
Although the house appears substantial in size, it has only two bedrooms. "Our brief was to create a glamorous house, something you'd image Frank Sinatra escaping to in the fifties and sixties. Maybe in Palm Springs," says Cannon of the Ray Group, who hopes that modern-day Rat Packers will make the long journey down under to experience D'Ambrosio's design. Sinatra would have certainly relished the spacious main bedroom, overlooking the living areas. He would also have enjoyed luxuriating in the ensuite, with its built-in day bed that comfortably accommodates two to three people, and its spa, with cascading water feature. As D'Ambrosio says, "it is a fantasy house for someone. But it's also a house where nature is the dream. You feel as though you can almost touch the branches".

Pictures:

Details: