Hill house overlooking the vineyard in Priocca, Italy

Priocca is a commune in the province of Cuneo, in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is located 45 km from Turin, in a wine-growing area known worldwide for the Nebbiolo variety. It is a highly prized black grape that produces quality wines suitable for ageing. Wines such as Nebbiolo d'Alba, Barbera d'Alba and Raero have long since spread beyond the borders of Italy and are known the world over. This special area is home to one of Litarh, a portfolio in which Italy is very well represented.

Why the wooden house in Priocca

Because two technical aspects caught my attention.

One is the interior staircase and how it was made. I will take this opportunity to dismantle the arguments of those who believe that staircases with steps that appear to float are unsafe.

The second is that this wooden house doesn't look wooden at all. We're used to thinking when we talk about wooden houses that they wouldn't really fit in a city because the exposed wood makes them look like cabins or vacation homes. Not true! You can have a wooden house with different types of exterior finishes so that it blends seamlessly into any setting, whether it's a big metropolis, a provincial town or a commune in a wine-growing area.

House plan

The house is made by Litarh in 2013 at the request of a company, so I can't tell you anything about the owners. It is a contemporary style house with ground floor, first floor and basement, positioned on a plateau made on the sloping land specific to the area. In the basement are the garage and technical rooms.

On the ground floor there is the living room, the kitchen, a laundry room where the washing machine is located and there is space for drying and ironing laundry and a bathroom. The living room is generous and bright, with a fully glazed wall including two sliding doors opening onto the terrace. The kitchen is not open plan but is separated from the living room by a sliding door. In Italy, kitchens open to the living room, like American kitchens, are not popular. Perhaps the pleasure of cooking with lots of spices and fragrant herbs, which is a defining Italian trait, has made it necessary to keep the kitchen in a space enclosed by 4 walls and a door.

Upstairs, reached up a minimalist interior staircase, are 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and an office. The master bedroom has an en-suite bathroom and a lovely, wide, sweeping view of the vine-covered hillside and a few trees (thankfully in bloom during the shoot). The second bathroom has the hallway entrance and serves the second bedroom and office.

Construction stages

Once the plans were discussed with the owner and the details of the house were finalized, construction began. As usual the beginning means Valea Moldovei factory and realization of prefabricated walls. The wall frames were made, the walls were cut OSB planksThe ecological wood fiber insulation was prepared, as well as the other materials needed for construction. The walls were not entirely made in the factory because the state-of-the-art equipment that now exists did not yet exist. But much of the work was done in the country, with the rest to be done in Italy.

After the owner had confirmed that the foundation and all the necessary assembly work had been carried out, the house was loaded onto a truck and sent to Italy. Here the construction started, the frames were assembled according to the plans, the wood fiber mattresses for insulation, the anti-condensation foil, the OSB were installed.

After the walls were assembled and insulated, the roof was insulated with wood fiber and covered with galvanized sheet metal. Finally, the interior and exterior finishes were done. The construction took 5 months from the start of the work until the house was ready for use, and the part strictly related to the assembly (the actual construction of the wooden house) took one month.

Scara

It's time to tell you about the interior staircase that caught my attention. It is entirely by Litarh, construction and assembly. The staircase oak wood appear to be suspended between the wall and the glass parapet. When you look at them ready assembled, you get the impression that neither the wall, let alone the glass parapet, provides the necessary support points to make sure that the ladder won't collapse under its own weight.

And yet the ladder is very safe and sturdy, with the only possibility of it collapsing being with the house. The connectors for the steps, each weighing between 8 and 10 kg, are clamped directly to the house's load-bearing structure. What looks like a diaphanous float between the ground floor and the first floor is in fact a very strong structure that is joined to the house.

In order to provide safety without losing the openness, brightness, it was chosen to protect it with a glass parapet highly resistant to mechanical shock and compression. It is special construction glass that does not involve any risk.

Facade

The exterior of the house has a layer of special wood fiber insulation that can be plastered and finished. It was decided that the finish should not be the same throughout the house and that there should be a combination of both colors and materials to avoid monotony. So some parts of the outer surfaces of the walls were plastered and others were covered with ventilated galvanized sheeting. This means that the sheeting was not mounted directly on the wall but on a support made of wooden battens (battens), 22 mm OSB and wood fiber. As the board is spaced away from the wall, air can circulate and there is no risk of mold or condensation.

The facade is a pleasant and balanced combination of the teak areas with the tin and glass areas. The glass parapets of the terraces and windows brighten the house. The alternation between the white of the paint and the blue of the sheeting gives the house a Mediterranean feel. Seen from the outside, there's nothing to reveal that you're looking at a wooden house. But why would you want a wooden house if you can't see the wood? Because these houses have lots of advantages (which you'll find here) that you can benefit from even if you're one of those people who think wood is only for huts and mountain houses.

As I have said every time I have had the opportunity, Romanian builders manage to convince clients from other countries to entrust their projects to them thanks to their seriousness and professionalism. This is also the case with Litarh, the Liteanu family - father and son - and the entire team that they have formed and with which they build each house. Seriousness and professionalism is the recipe with which they have convinced in Italy, Germany and Norway, France, but also in Romania. We are glad that such professionals exist and we are happy to promote them.

the photos in the article are the property of Litarh