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Architects: Vivian Haddad and Marco Giunta
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Photographs:Andrea Ferrari
Text description provided by the architects. The project is a redevelopment of several small independent houses that are located within the historical city center of Modica, Sicily. The houses were originally single family homes and are arranged in a circle around a Mediterranean garden. Each room has an entrance from the garden and a private terrace which overviews the historical center of Modica. The project idea was inspired by the typical model of a Moroccan Riad, where traditionally the common spaces or a garden lie at the heart of the house.
For the restoration of the houses, great attention has been given to the choice of materials, which are natural, ecological, and, above all, typical of the Sicilian tradition: stone walls, lime plasters, cane roof, stone and polychrom tiled floors.
- The roofs were reconstructed using traditional techniques using local bamboo, wooden beams, natural cork, and handmade terracotta tiles.
- The plaster is made based on lime and natural colored oxides.
- The floors were made using recycled materials such as stone of Modica, stone pitch, concrete tiles and glazed ceramic tiles.
All the main walls of Modica are kept and preserved thus retaining the traditional building technique and authenticity, intervening only where necessary with structural consolidation and replacement of parts using the same local stone. The restoration completely respected the preexistences and the interiors has been furnished with simplicity and good taste, using pieces of furniture which tell the “Sicilianity” and their background – all rooms, with their colours and atmospheres, refer to Mediterranean places and to the different cultures that marked the Sicilian history. The project is designed to reflect the old and the new – such as the home automation system that allows control of all electrical output and energy consumption.
The philosophy behind Talia is ‘Slowliving’: to enjoy the sweet running of time, to leave behind the daily rhythms of the city. It is the ideal place for people who want to take a regenerating break, who want to be cuddled by the fragrances and flavours of this land, contemplating the wonderful landscape in a quiet atmosphere.
