Not a Rural House highlights an Italian regulatory paradox. An old crumbling barn to be demolished constrains the shape and height of the new house, forced into the outline of the old ruin. The result is a “fake,” a contemporary home with the appearance of a historic one.

If regulations impose a fake rural house, a non-rural house indeed, dressed up in the costume of tradition, architecture has the task of declaring its true nature, unmasking the “ make-up ” of forgery.

Inside, the paradox is revealed, exhibiting the reinforced concrete and timber frame, manifesting the contemporary nature of the intervention. 

Not a Rural House does not give up on the rural idea of slow living, timed with the seasons, yet it represents a provocative statement toward landscaping legislation, transforming its boundaries and contradictions into a design and critic opportunity.