Belvedere Residence – Florence

“Restoration with division in multi property, on the Florentine Hills”

Belvedere is about the restoration of a traditional Tuscan farm, with a partition in several units.

The property is located on the hill overlooking Florence, along with a ridge that forms the bottom of the valley of Bagno a Ripoli. The complex consists of the main building, and three annexes that used to be farmers’ barns. Given the ancient origin and the code constraints, the general design criterion was to respect the inherent characteristics of the buildings, hence the restoration of the main grid of bearing wall, keeping as much as possible the original distribution of the spaces. However, we found necessary the introduction of new internal partitions and the insertion of a staircase, to establish the new functional set-up deriving from having divided the ancient villa into several units.

The complexity of such a restoration work lays in the contemporary attention we must give by one side to the conservation of the typological elements and, by the other, to the compliance to the modern rules regarding anti-seismic and energy conservation. Also, a certain sensibility is needed to adopt an ancient manor to the needs of a modern lifestyle.

We have worked to the structural consolidation of foundations, with the insertion of ventilated underfloors at ground level, consolidation of the masonry and consolidation or reconstruction of the traditional wooden slabs, to finish with the complete overhaul of the roof, with the reintroduction of the traditional Florentine overhanging eaves.

From a systems point of view, we made the complete replacement of the hydro-sanitary, electrical, gas and heating systems, introducing floor radiant panels.

For the façade, we proceeded with the thermal insulation through the outer coat, the replacement of cornices and string courses and the restoration of “gelosie”, the typical see-through brickworks, that the farmers used to keep the barn ventilated on the southern side.