San Salvatore is nestled amongst a grove of cypresses on top of a hill in rural Umbria. The trees are perhaps a century old, yet are peculiarly distinct from the surrounding landscape – a new addition. Pierre d’Avoine Architects’ renovation of a chapel into a home has integrated itself with the existing structures on this plot in much the same way – noticeably different, but containing a common understanding with its context.

The house itself consists of a trinity of parts: the historic building, holding five bedrooms, kitchen and social areas; the newly built pool and associated buildings to the east of the chapel; and the landscape, extending from domestic to agricultural. Each part is tied to – and references – the other; the landscape is viewed from the house, and the new interventions follow the topography whilst also maintaining a material relationship with the stone and render of the existing house. “It was never a consideration to pull everything down and start again” says Pierre d’Avoine, explaining the decision not to demolish, but to retain and add.

The site has had a series of uses. Sitting amongst a larger estate of olive trees and vineyards, the ruins of an 11th century castello are dissected by the local road, with only the vaguest outlines of its previous footprint visible. Later, a modest barrel-vaulted chapel was built on the site with associated accommodation, followed by a campanile. Whilst the agricultural element endured, the chapel was deconsecrated in the 1980s.

“Things were removed rather than added” explains d’Avoine, referring to the decision to strip the chapel back to its original fabric. The client’s wish to bring together a series of new uses for the space – centred around entertaining within the house and garden as well as retaining the historic qualities of the existing structure – formed an interesting brief.

Originally the complex consisted of accommodation set around two sides of the chapel. The chapel is still the centre of the house, but it now houses the main social space. A pair of glazed sliding doors affords a view east over the Tiber valley – a view reflected on the western internal wall in a fresco depicting the house amongst the undulating olive groves. The altar dominates the room, and within the house various statues remind you of the building’s history. At one point, a statuette of Christ watches you ascending the stairway – but he has lost his crucifix, an ironic metaphor for the way the chapel’s use has mutated – assuming a different function and meaning but maintaining recognisable forms.

In a house where the connection between landscape and living spaces is key, the windows must be a central consideration. The window proportions vary depending on their use. Most retain their original size and chestnut timber frames, while new windows and shutters are made of Corten steel. Newly cast and chamfered window sills recall, but are not intended to replicate, the traditional stone sills found elsewhere.

This approach of comparative history is celebrated throughout the scheme on a larger scale. The northern elevation contains three ages of the sloping site – the ruined stone castle, the rustically plastered chapel, and most recently the board-marked concrete that forms the pool and associated pool room and studio.