Italy

White Oak Residential Park

Castiglione del Lago

Luxury residential gated park on about 40.000 sqm, in the region Umbria, province of Perugia, the green heart of Italy. The lot is on the southern side of Lake Trasimeno, in the territory of Castiglione del Lago, one of the most beautiful medieval towns of Italy, still preserving its ancient charm. Ten one-family villas, about 400 sqm each, with garage, swimming pool, private garden of 2000 sqm, surveillance service all year round, tennis court. A double level of privacy and security, allows to chieldren to play under surveillance also outside the private gardens, inside a common gated park.

Blue Leaf

Roccadaspide

Luxury villa in Roccadaspide, province of Salerno, a few miles from the Archaeological Park of Paestum and inside the UNESCO marvel of the Cilento National Park. About 200 sqm of residential area, inside an estate of about one hectare of hilly land projected on a breathtaking landscape. The roof design was inspired by a lime tree.

2017-2025

Villa AM, Palermo  |  Attic Riviello, Salerno  |  Villa Filograna, Lecce  |  Villa Bamonte, Salerno  |  Villa DeSantis, Frosinone  |  Apartment Quaracchi, Firenze  |  Villa Colaprisca, Roma  |  Primavera Park, Napoli  |  Villa Di Naro, Napoli  |  Villa Dramisino, Salerno  |  Attic Onore, Napoli  |  Villa Miagor, Salerno  |  Apartment Falcone, Salerno  |  Villa Cypress, Salerno  |  QB Residential Park, Salerno  |  Villa Migliaccio, Frosinone  |  Villa Perrini, Frosinone  |  Villa Finsinger, Terni  |  Villa Ricci, Padova  |  Villa Zanè, Roma  |  Villa Diaz Della Vittoria Pallavicini, Roma  |  Castle von Liechtenstein, Brescia  |  Villa Beretta, Brescia  |  Medical Center AstraMed, Frosinone  |  B&B Cannella, Salerno  |  Studio Palumbo, Salerno  |  Studio Mascolo, Salerno  |  Clinic Fonte, Salerno  |  Hotel and Restaurant Mojo, Salerno  |  Hotel Paradiso, Salerno  |  Hotel and Restaurant Collespinoso, Frosinone  |  Hotel and Restaurant Raphael, Salerno  |  Church Sacro Cuore, Napoli  |  Other Size Gallery, Milano  |  Garden Fiocco, Roma  |  Lightness Garden, Roma  |  Garden Miagor, Salerno  |  Ciku Bamboo Park, Roma  |  Garden DeSantis, Frosinone

New Nursery School "Gianni Rodari"

Massalengo

client > Town of Massalengo, province of Lodi, Italy    __    funder > European Union, Funding Program Next Generation EU    __    funding project > National Plan for Recovery and Resilience (PNRR-M4-C1-INV1.1)     __    project > HPDB/DBING + R3Architetti     __    general contractor > Sabino Dicataldo Costruzioni    __    wooden roof design > White Oak Arkitecture and Nuove Architetture    __    wooden structures construction > Nuove Architetture, Nov 2024 - Nov 2025    __    roof area > about 1500 square meters    __    volume of timber > 140 cubic meters for pillars and beams, 100 cubic meters for structural walls, 80 cubic meters for roof    __    total cost > about 6 million €

drawing by R3Architetti

under construction

A N T I S E I S M I C   R E S E A R C H

Dancing with the Earth

In 1980, the Irpinia earthquake damaged my family's house. It was one of the most terrific earthquakes in the history of Italy. Hundreds of thousands of houses collapsed like sand castles on a rainy day. Even concrete buildings were severely damaged, shattering their common mythical consideration as the eternal material. Two years of work before we could go back home. I was nine years old, and since that experience I have been obsessed with antiseismic systems.

Core mission of White Oak Arkitecture is to take occasion of any new project for developing always more innovative solutions for contributing to safer houses, preventing other children from experiencing earthquakes in the same sad way I did.

I will never forget the horrific sound of the house cracking all around us in the darkness of the night, while my brother, my parents, and I, all together in just one hug, were protecting each other, just waiting for the end of the earthquake. Years later, remembering that experience, when I needed to decide which high-school to start, I had clear that I wanted to become a good-houses builder, because only bad-built houses can kill people, earthquakes can only invite the well-built, to dance.

Furniture

Medieval Archetypes

Our furniture are designed and produced by White Oak Arkitecture with the highest quality of Northern America and Northern Europe timber, mainly white oak and ash. Inspired by medieval archetypes, mixed with golden proportion and arboreal geometries, our furniture aim to reproduce not only the aesthetics of ancient shapes and proportions, but also the soul, the spiritual meanings of the middle ages, with a sacred care to details, do not neglecting those will be hidden to the sight. From the Norway Table to the Oaklight Wall Lamp, from the LimeTreeLeaf Chair to the Oak Floors Collection, all of them are characterized by prime quality timber, and as less as possible screws and nails, glues and preservatives, but using dry-joint systems and natural oils.

Table Norway is very minimalist, but based on a complex sequential dry-joint system, self-standing, without any support of metal plates and screws. Made of prime quality of American hardwoods, without any paint, just natural oil spread by hand, this table is the essence of our design vision and mission. The structural system is inspired to a medieval sequential overlapping and hooking joint system, reported in the Norwegian langhuser and stavkirker. All the elements are in massive timber, building the whole table in sequence (posts>beams>top), and desmantling it in the reverse way.The table can be customized in size and materials, up to a size of 400 x 400 cm. The top can be customized, in wood, crystal, with tarsia, with Italian ceramic tiles.

The Luxury of Wood

In December 2011, my first meeting with Paolo Portoghesi happened by chance. We were on the same flight back to Italy, I from New York, and he and his wife, Giovanna, from Frankfurt. We were seated in the same row, with Paolo by the window, Giovanna in the middle, and me on the aisle. Recognizing Paolo, I introduced myself, honored to be in their company and to meet in person one of the European masters of organic architecture. We spoke about wooden architecture, trees, medieval spirituality, and archetypes. Paolo recalled my name, appeared into an interview by his magazine Abitare La Terra, six years earlier, an article about me as theorist of the tree-centric architecture. Hours passed like minutes, and we only stopped talking because the aircraft was landing in Rome. We met again months later at their home in Calcata. He wanted to see the prototype of the joint system that I used for the Norway Table. We talked all day about wooden architecture and my theory about tree-centric architecture as the foundation of sustainable architecture. And before I left, Paolo said, "It is strange, Thomas, that at my old age, after so many projects, books, conferences, I still have regrets... and one of them now, talking to you, is that I underestimated the potential of wood, used so rarely compared to the illusions of concrete and steel. Architecture needs more wood, because it needs more humble architects, too much focused on noisy ego, while architecture should be silent beauty."