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Within the context of current Italian production, 1301INN by ELASTICOSPA+3 is a pleasing example of architectural rule breaking. Going against the growing tendency of domestic architects to keep theory and practice well separated - especially when they venture beyond the small-time residential project - this building is a manifesto of an approach rooted in Italian architectural culture, successfully pulling together many complex themes into one consistent volume.
Occupying a small triangular plot in a spillover area north of the skiing resort of Piancavallo, near Pordenone in northeast Italy, 1301INN stands where there was once an anonymous hotel. This was partly demolished and then phagocytized by the new organism that took its place. What’s left of the former building is now the ground floor entrance. Above it, a sturdy three-storey wooden structure standing off the ground has been erected, supported by the two stairwells and seven reinforced concrete tripods. The design is both a re-elaboration and obsessive repetition of Carlo Mollino’s well-known structural solution for Casa Capriata - a reference that is clearly visible in the sharp geometries of the hotel’s dormer windows.
Internally, spatial distribution is organised radially around a full-height triangular atrium situated at the point of convergence of the two wings of the irregular “V”-shaped floor plan. From this central fogolâr, enveloped by a pattern of wooden latticework and decorated by an enigmatic phantasmagorical chandelier by Carlo Mollino, the visitor can enjoy sweeping vistas of the nearby Carniche Alpine range through ample glazed lights that in turn project this intimate interior out into the surrounding landscape.
It is, however, the hotel roof that exemplifies the way in which 1301INN succeeds in fusing with context. Far from being an extravagant plastic flourish, or even just a bland echoing of the nearby jagged mountain peaks, the...
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