Interior renovation of an apartment in Milan near the Parco della Basiliche with glass, wood and cement tiles. Ù
The clients, a young couple, asked the architects to renovate the house for them and for their two children.
The request was to open the living area without upsetting the original structure of the apartment, finding solutions to recover space and storage in an elegant way. A desire was also to insert a sunny and Mediterranean character in the decorations of the house.
As often happens in Milan, the care and materials present in the common areas of the building were an inspiration, in particular the verde alpi marble at the entrance and the striped glass in the service areas.
Quoting Caccia Dominioni himself who has drawn a lot in the neighborhood:
I don't like direct entry into the living room because it holds no surprises, while the architect's task, I believe, is also to arouse a succession of emotions ... My entrances, my stairs, even the furniture are urban solutions.
One of the key points of the project was to open the view of the kitchen from the entrance by rethinking the shell and creating striped glass walls that would bring light and air towards the entrance. The custom kitchen table appears in a glazed volume in which the internal space reminiscent of a laboratory and a greenhouse can be sensed. Iron shelves for plants and Sicilian glass plates are also integrated into the wall.
The living area is designed as a large free space delimited on one side by the full-height bookcase designed by the co.arch studio which also becomes a cabinet of curiosity for the whole family, on the other by the area there is the table and the light. Tooy pendant NABILA in blown glass and brass, in the center the living area.
The kitchen is technical and functional, with matt white lacquered base units and wall units and matt black worktop and a ceramic coating made with Biscuit Collection by the Italian brand 41zero42. It is made ironic and fun by the hexagonal striped cement tiles by Mosaic Factory that design a large geometric carpet, have a light green base with white stripes and a star-shaped installation. The same motif is used in the bathrooms: the service bathroom also open to guests has a cement tile with a dark blue base and white lines that gives a strong and playful image, including the matte navy blue Galassia shower tray. All the taps and shower glass are in matt black, Ritmonio Diameter 35. The entrance to the service bathroom also hides a well-organized laundry contained in the wardrobes.
The glass doors designed by the architects is handcrafted with striped flutes glass and serves both to delimit the kitchen and the sleeping area and the most private areas of the house. We decided to use new cement tiles to combine with the Italian herringbone parquet that runs throughout all the rest of the house. The bathroom in the sleeping area has the same tiles with a more restful blue-gray base and the detail of the Ritmonio matt black taps. In the master bedroom, the Aim lights by Flos separate the bed area from the wardrobe area.
The corridor is marked and designed by the glazed wall which becomes the motif of the passage spaces, and is organized with large full-height custom-made wardrobes and houses some works of art of the family such as a beautiful painting by artist Mario Schifano, all the doors are flush with the wall to emphasize the cleanliness and simplicity of the spaces, the handles are the historic LAMA designed by Gio Ponti for Olivari in the black version.