cultivating passion, the M greenhouse by lapo ruffi harmonises architecture and nature

resting on the tuscan hills of the italian city of pistoia, M greenhouse presents an architecture capable of preserving the richness of a place while quietly inserting into a landscape. designed by architects lapo ruffi and venessa giandonati, the purpose of the space ranges from more pragmatic objectives to wanting to provide an oasis within nature.

all images © lapo ruffi

cultivators for passion, the client requested a new service building which would be able to contain a room for tree winter rest and a storage room for agricultural tools. so lapo ruffi and venessa giandonati realised the project which replaced an old greenhouse already occupying the location with a newly designed structure that could accommodate the collection of citrus trees as it grows during the colder months.

alongside this motivation was also a desire to create a space for silence and meditation among the plants.

 this design reveals the mechanism that simultaneously enhances architecture and nature: the contrast between the artificial character of the former and the organic traits of the latter.

built using natural larch wood, the main building comprises façades made of rough sawn wooden slats, which are attached to the inner wooden structure along with polycarbonate. in a bid to interrupt the landscape as little as possible, the slope of the roof is designed to be a continuation of the façade, maintaining the integrity of the volume.

besides meeting some pragmatic functions the project developed to become a study on transparency and translucency. during the day it becomes translucent while polycarbonate panels diffuse sunlight, and at night, the pavilion become floating sculptural lantern in the hills’ horizon.