Casa Doppia is located on the outskirts of the province of Caserta: it is an almost alien presence, in comparison to the built up area where it stands. It is a kind of constructive liberation, able to testify an alternative way to build; intelligently and respectful to the surrounding environment. The building much like a sculptural work is able to interact with both light and shadow; the ground floor is flooded with natural light, the first floor receives its fair share and sufficient light, enough to act as a guide, also filters to the underground floor, while perfect interaction develops with calibrated volumes between mass and light able to generate a play of dense, well-defined shadows. The essential rigor of clean, linea geometry and the absolute negation of detail; no frame, no moulding, no mark are seen to compromise the compositional unity, tirelessly sought, or to alter the equilibrium of full and empty spaces between protruding volumes and space which is left free to vibrate in the natural light. The various parts of the building are organized around a number of courtyards and the delimiting wall seems just to be a screen.
In addition, it expresses the materialization of a “limit” which makes space visible through the framing of a patio. Another fundamental element of this project is the direct continuity between the interior and exterior spaces. The large glass floor-to-ceiling windows of the ground floor, have the ability of putting the living area, a single open space, indirect continuity with the exterior areas. The use of glass for the exterior walls aims to dematerialize them and puts them in contrast with the compact volumes of the first floor which house the bedrooms. The two floors of the building are specially connected in correspondence to the dual height atrium and feature a sky-light made up of large beams in exposed reinforced concrete. The building is marked by a clear separation between the free layout of the interior space and the structural elements. The latter consist in a series of pillars made of steel and a double wall made of exposed reinforced concrete that “joins and separates” the two housing units.
