Wiggly House by ifdesign. A single family home open to light

This compact singly family home was nominated to Mies van der Rohe Award 2017. Wiggly house is a single-family residential building located in a difficult context 50km away from Milan in Italy, characterized by multi-storey buildings that surround it. The house tries to protect itself from a difficult context reducing the openings toward the outside.

Wiggly House by ifdesign. Photograph © Andrea Martiradonna

Franco Tagliabue Volontè and Ida Origgi principals of ifdesign propose a house trying to protect itself reducing the openings toward the outside as much as possible, compensating with big or smaller patios, both closed and open, that give light to the inner spaces in a more suitable way. The house has a roof folds searching zenithal light in an almost gestural attitude, generating three light stacks, “wiggling” the sequence of the lines of the roof section.

Description of the project by ifdesign

Wiggly house is a single-family residential building located in a difficult context 50km away from Milan in Italy, characterized by multi-storey buildings that surround it. Because of this promiscuity, the house tries to protect itself reducing the openings toward the outside as much as possible, compensating with big or smaller patios, both closed and open, that give light to the inner spaces in a more suitable way.

The covering reaffirms this principle. Canadian gray granite covers the entire building to symbolize this idea of protection with the exception of the walls where the volume is subtracted by the grey-plaster made patios.

This way the building tries to open upwards: the pitch of the roof folds restless in search of the zenithal light in an almost gestural attitude, generating three light stacks in the living room,in the kitchen and in the “meditation room” at the end.

The pitches of the roof alternate, “wiggling” the sequence of the lines of the roof section. So in the inner spaces the value of the light is emphasised. From the typological point of view, the project investigates new combinations depending on the change in the family structure and the use of contemporary living spaces that seems to be radically changed in recent years.

The Italian architect Cesare Cattaneo assumed in "the house for the Christian family" a growth hypothesis of the building organism; the new paradigms on which the evolution of the families of our times are assumed call for a deep reflection on the status of the new housing models.

What is proposed is an ability to survive to subsequent configurations, at least for some key spaces of the house, but also an organism with a spatial structure that is able to grow in the future.

So the project is not completely saturated by the volume allowed for the lot, occupying it in the manner of a matrix, which leaves voids in the plan and arranges the rooms along a North-South axis, waiting to be completed and added in the future.

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Overview. Wiggly House by ifdesign. Photograph © Andrea Martiradonnaa Wiggly por ifdesign. Fotografía © Andrea Martiradonna

Interior view. Wiggly House by ifdesign. Photograph © Andrea Martiradonna

Kitchen view. Wiggly House by ifdesign. Photograph © Andrea Martiradonna

Corridor and courtyard view. Wiggly House by ifdesign. Photograph © Andrea Martiradonna

Access. Wiggly House by ifdesign. Photograph © Andrea Martiradonna

Roof details. Wiggly House by ifdesign. Photograph © Andrea Martiradonna

Model. Wiggly House by ifdesign. Photograph © Andrea Martiradonna

Ground floor leve. Wiggly House by ifdesign.

Sections and elevatin. Wiggly House by ifdesign.

Roof level plan. Wiggly House by ifdesign.

View more images

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More information

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Architects

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Ifdesign. Franco Tagliabue Volontè - Ida Origgi Architetti. Milan

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Collaborators

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Structural design.- Ing. Marco Torchiana

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Area

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Gross surface.- 150m²
Total area.- 1,790m²

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Materials

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Structural technology.- reinforced concrete
External covering.- canadian grey granite stone

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Cost

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€ 300,000

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Dates

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2015 (Year began 2014)

Franco Tagliabue Volontè - Ida Origgi. ifdesign

ifdesign. Franco Tagliabue Volontè and Ida Origgi founded ifdesign in 2001 after graduating with Pierluigi Nicolin in the Faculty of Architecture of Politechnic of Milan (where F.T.V. now is Professor of Architecture). ifdesign is interested in residential, offices, interiors, urban planning and public space, participated to many national and international, open and restricted competitions. They has been teaching architecture in international seminars, had lecture in many European Universities. 2002-2005 IO was Zucchi Stores retail architect opening 25 stores.

In 2006 won with the project "Black Square White Square" the Honourable Mention at the EUROPEAN PRIZE FOR URBAN PUBLIC SPACE in Barcelona for best public space in Europe, till today the only one italian project awarded by the Prize.

In 2008 the same project with 'The Wall" was selected for the "V Biennal Europea de Paisatge de Barcelona". In 2009 was awarded (finalist project) the "Gold medal for ltalian Architecture" for residential building in Casorezzo, in 2012 with Noivoiloro Civic Center and Zona K.

With the project Noivoiloro Civic Center won the 1st Prize of ECOLA AWARD 2012 for the best new architecture built in Europe, won the 1st Prize of MAGISTRI COMACINI AWARD in 2013, was nominated in Mies Van de Rohe Award 2011, finalist in INARCH Award 2011.

In 2016 Wigglyhouse won the first international prize at CID in Chicago for the best stone architecture worlwide. In December 2009 ifdesign is invited at Ili Biennal of Architecture & Urbanism of Shenzhen "mobilization of the city" about new urban spaces for contemporary Metropolis.

ifdesign was invited in XII, XIV and XV Venice Biennale of Architecture and was called by Triennale di Milano to design a temporary restaurant in ex-Expo Area in Milan.

Franco Tagliabue Volontè is responsable of Cereals and Tubers Cluster Workshop for architectural project of Iraq, Togo, Haiti, Mozambico, Congo, Bolivia and Zimbawe pavillions in Expo 2015 in Milan. He is visiting professor in 2014, 2015 and 2016 both in the Faculty of Architecture and in the Faculty of Interiors of UTE Universidad Tecnologica Equinoccial in Quito. He published with Nina Bassoli the book StemProcedure - Post Earthquake Regeneration Strategies and was involved in planning the urban strategies for the reconstruction of the cities affected by the April ’16 Quake on Pacific Coast in Ecuador.

Ida Origgi was selected to represent Italian Female Excellence in Architecture in the book donnArchitettura by M.G. Eccheli.

Published on: June 10, 2017

Cite: "Wiggly House by ifdesign. A single family home open to light" METALOCUS. Accessed

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