The Tuscan fienile (hay barn) was abandoned for many years. Over time the roof caved in. Olive tree netting and pitch forks for moving hay bales rusted inside. Yet, the building, much beloved for its airbrick-patterned walls, which let air in to dry the hay, but kept the rain out. The new addition, in dialogue with the existing, was the same size/geometry except the new cube was shifted to the mid-point to give an independent integrity to the fienile, and the same integrity, but less immediately visible, to the new modern addition.
The shift also allows for two courtyards. The new addition has an inverted-pitched roof, which hides the solar panels. Off the grid and on an isolated vineyard, the two volumes play off one another, with the more modern twin peaking out from the historic one. The pitched roof and the inverted pitch are visible on the interior telling the story of their relationship, as does the position of the waterspout on the walled façade on the west – suggesting something collecting water behind the wall. Glass on two of the four walls at the connection of the existing was to resist touching the fienile with the new stone walls.
The fienile is now a sculpture studio for a family deep into the arts where marble is readily available to carve. The sculpture studio has large glass doors to move big art pieces out into the exterior courtyard for final detail work and for loading onto a truck below. The basement under the light-filled sculpture studio is a “messy” clay studio with similar views to the cypress-covered hills through a glass garage door. The historic fienile was fully rebuilt to be entirely earthquake-proof and insulated to today’s energy standards, all while retaining the craft of local building methods.