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Hotel Gabetti e Isola |
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Gabetti and Isola have revised and reworked their earlier ideas in a new hotel,
shopping and apartment complex. This time, however, their building was to stand in the
most densely built-up area of Sestrière, where town-planning regulations have the
upper hand over inspirational prompting from nature. Detailed guidelines imposed size
limits on elevation and plan (in this case two blocks set perpendicularly in an L) and
dictated that the shops be located in a ground-floor arcade and the hotel in the section
facing the square opposite. With Guido Drocco, their usual collaborator, Gabetti and Isola
care fully set to work within these narrow constraints. However; the simple layout is
offset by an elaborate facade wholly clad in wooden slats fronted by a metal weave of
zinced uprights and crosspieces. At ground level this structure rests on the covered
arcades to produce a staggered profile of overlapping terraces protected by sloping,
toughened glass roofing. Thus, the hotel rooms (with purpose designed furniture) and
apartments lie behind a semitransparent grid of wood, glass and metal that mediates the
transition from outside to inside the building. In their understated, low-key way, Gabetti
and Isola have carried one stage further their search for the classic features of modem
holiday-resort architecture. Enrico Morteo Abitare 351 shortened |
Studio Gabetti e Isola |
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