Ca’Mattei

Source active living 12/03/15

Ca'Mattei is the holiday home that architects Sigrid Custers and Barent Bulcke, together BBSC Architects. built and decorated. Authentic outside, hip cosmopolitan inside, but the big star is the view. "When I'm at the pool, after three days I'm on page twenty of my book, there is always something to see," says Barent.

Like many people, Sigrid and Barent often looked at the display case of the local real estate agency during holidays in Italy. Until they decided it wouldn't just be a dream. During an autumn break a few years ago, they drove to the Marches and made a series of appointments with local estate agents, up to eight a day. "We saw a lot of ruins then, until the real estate agent said: I think I have something for you," says Sigrid. It was an old farm in which a German lady had taken up residence 14 years earlier. After the death of her husband, she wanted to return to Germany. “The house had already been remodeled, with a new roof and all amenities, but the layout was not what we wanted; the kitchen was upstairs for example.

On the ground floor there was a painting studio and guest house. Sigrid and Barent turned this into a bright open living space with an open kitchen. Also on the ground floor was 'the studio': a small living room, bathroom and bedroom. Upstairs there are four more spacious bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, and a large living room, furnished in a hip cosmopolitan style, so that the house also has a comfortable place to relax in winter.

“We call it the Ardennes of Italy here.” “When we were looking for a house, we made a ten-point list.” One of the points was a sloping site because we wanted an infinity pool: a swimming pool that overflows into the landscape.” Other points were that the sea could not be more than half an hour away, and that there were shops nearby. "We wanted peace and a beautiful landscape, but didn't want to spend an hour in the car to go to the bakery."