If the magical wardrobe from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe were to go modern, it might look something like this holiday retreat in the Italian alpine village of Madesimo.
While alpine conditions are conducive to small and cozy living, Italian architect Enrico Scaramellini's insertion of a finely crafted, narrow wooden box (380 square feet) between two existing farm buildings is so small and cozy, it could actually be mistaken for a wardrobe. And with the omnipresent wintry landscape, who knows? This could be Narnia.
Photography by Marcello Mariana via This Is Paper.
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Above: A view out into the wintry alpine landscape.
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Above: Scaramellini used silver-gray paints to echo the existing aged and weathered wood of the surrounding rural buildings.
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Above: The natural tones of the wood warm up the new construction.
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Above: The scale and material of the wood-lined bedroom is similar to the inside of a cedar closet.
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Above: Scaramellini uses the vertical and horizontal grains of the wood to create abstract geometrical compositions.
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Above: The wooden panels in their closed position.
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Above: The wooden panels offer different levels of transparency.
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Above: The wooden panels open in the morning (L) and return to their closed position in the early evening (R).
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Above: A plan of the ground and first floors illustrating the narrow insertion.
Warm and cozy on your mind? See our photo gallery of Swiss design. Also don't miss, 12 Wood-Paneled Alcove Beds, Winter Edition.
N.B.: This post is an update; the original story ran on February 4, 2013 as part of our On the Mountain week.
