Studio di architettura Simona Venturini

Complete renovation. Project year: 2010

Private Client

An ample living area, a large kitchen and a third bathroom: these were the requests made by the
Client to transform an apartment in a 1960s building into a modern-sized residence. The large octagonal entrance hall and part of the hallway were removed so that the kitchen could be expanded and in order to create a living area where as many as four different functions can coexist in one single area. This whole area flows in a continuum of space, from the entrance to the living room, to the dining area, to the relaxation area, where each function has its own defined area yet can enjoy the full extent of the overall space. The centrally placed columns could have disrupted the unity of the space, but they have instead been used to create a backdrop with internally lit open alcoves. As well as providing somewhere to display the Client’s collection, this solution allows light and the eye to travel from one area to the other, creating the perception of unity of the whole space while shielding the most intimate dining and relaxation areas from the view of those entering the apartment.
A Bordeaux red colour was chosen as the backdrop and echoes the choice of sofa covers; the other walls are cream, echoing the custom-designed furniture in the living room area. A feature of the dining/relaxation area is the wall of bookshelves designed around two alcoves, lit from above, where paintings and a period sideboard that the Clients already owned are displayed. In the relaxation area the Clients wanted to give prominence to their  period furniture and a corner unit.
The extremely modern kitchen furniture is made in natural aluminium, black stone and fiery-red lacquered glass alongside dark wooden shelves where the Clients’ private collection of brass objects is displayed. 
One of the two existing bathrooms was transformed into a laundry room and the other given over to the exclusive use of the master bedroom. As the Clients requested a third bathroom, it was created by taking some space from what was originally a very generously-sized third bedroom. The remaining part was transformed into a study. The master bathroom also benefited from this transformation, making it shorter but wider than it was originally meaning that the wash-basin and other bathroom fittings are now located opposite each other.
The light, warm colours favoured by the Clients in choosing the materials for the bathrooms serve as a background for extremely modern fixtures such as metallic trim and state-of-the-art taps, giving an extremely attractive and elegant final result.
A fitted wardrobe was built in the sleeping area hallway which the Clients chose to have in the same cream colour as the walls in order to make it blend in better. The ceiling on the other hand was painted dove-grey and this contributes to defining the overall size of the space, when viewed on a horizontal plane, as does the oak flooring.
Once the work was completed, all the furniture in the sleeping area, the study and the bathrooms was custom-designed by craftsmen who then saw to the building of it.

Work carried out in 2010-2011