Italy

Luxury. The timeless elegance of the essential.

Thomas Allocca

R E S I D E N C E S

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.

under design

R E S I D E N C E S

Villa Blue Leaf

Eboli

Luxury villa in Eboli, province of Salerno, a few miles at the border with two UNESCO marvels, the Archaeological Park of Paestum, and the Cilento National Park. About 200 sqm of residential area, 2000 sqm of garden with a giant bamboo grove, a swimming pool, and a cabana with jacuzzi. The roof of the villa is a giant blue leaf inspired by a local lime tree.

under design

P R O J E C T S   _   R E N O V A T I O N S   _   G A R D E N S

2017-2024

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

Beauty is always told in a low voice, whispered. And so, architecture should be. A whisper to Nature.

Thomas Allocca

B I G   S T R U C T U R E S

New Nursery School "Gianni Rodari"

Massalengo

client  Town of Massalengo (Lodi)  _  funder  European Union, Next Generation EU, PNRR M4-C1-INV1.1  _  architectural and structural project  HPDB/DBING + R3Architetti  _  general director  eng. Luca Lena  _  executive director  eng. Davide Besana  _  general contractor  Sabino Dicataldo Costruzioni  _  general contractor's director  eng. Ruggiero Lombardi  _  subcontractor for wooden structures, steel structures, windows, curtain walls  Prota Innovation  _  sub-contractor's coordinator for wooden structures  White Oak Arkitecture  _  wooden roof co-project  White Oak Arkitecture  _  sub-contractor's coordinator for steel structures, windows, curtain walls  eng. Gianluca Gaudino  _  sub-contractor's partner for wooden structures construction  Nuove Architetture  _  wooden structures cubic meters  about 400  _  roof area  about 1600 sqm, 17200 sqf  _  wooden structures construction time  November 2024 - January 2025  _  total construction time  June 2023 - December 2025  _  total cost  about 6M €

drawing by R3Architetti

under construction

Only bad-built houses kill people. Earthquakes can only invite the good ones to dance.

Thomas Allocca

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.

I N T E R I O R S   _   F U R N I T U R E   _   F L O O R S

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. A Lesson by Paolo Portoghesi

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."