BEACH HOUSE IN THE SOUTH EAST SICILY
Design: bureau69 architects
Place: Augusta, Sicily (Italy)
Design Leader : Max Strano
JML House is a house project in Augusta (Siracusa), a small river side village in the East of Sicily, conceived as a composition of autonomous parts, distinct yet deeply interdependent. The project originates from an articulated domestic programme, where the need for independence, privacy and family life is translated into a sequence of separate architectural volumes, capable of belonging to one coherent spatial idea.
The house is not designed as a compact single volume, but as a small built system: three architectural presences in dialogue through paths, thresholds, voids and views towards the sea. Separation is not fragmentation, but measure; it does not divide, it organises. Each volume has its own functional identity, while the intermediate spaces become places of relation, transition and contemplation.
The reference required to classical architecture is not used as a formal language or stylistic quotation, but as a search for order, proportion and permanence. The motif of the arch is used as a filtering element between the external landscape and the intimate spaces of the house. Its proportions are deliberately expanded, and it is never repeated, becoming a reference to classicism that is transformed by a more contemporary understanding of space and proportion.
The project works on the relationship between solid and void, built mass and horizon, domestic intimacy and openness to the landscape.
JML House interprets the villa as a composed organism: an architecture in which the parts maintain their autonomy, yet find meaning only through their reciprocal relationship. A house project in Siracusa built around the balance between distance and belonging, individuality and unity, measure and landscape.
Max is a genius. He took my vision and inspiration, meticulously took into account every environmental and financial consideration, then turned it into something completely unexpected and beautiful. But he then worked with me, listening, adjusting, suggesting, creating, until we had the most unique and magnificent project which was the result of a genuine synergy between client and artist. I thought I knew what I wanted, until Max showed me the full extent of our vision. His English is perfect. His communication prompt. His pricing transparent and planned. His flexibility and availability exceptional. Thank you Max.
