“Our job? To make architecture, which means designing spaces rich in meaning in simple buildings, spaces that change across the arc of the day and are activated by emotions, the sensual nature of materials. Intimate yet open spaces that establish a relationship with the nuances of natural light…”

These are the thoughts of the founders of MORQ (an acronym based on the names Matteo Monteduro, Emiliano Roia and Andrea Quagliola), an international architecture firm with solid roots in Rome, but a reach that extends as far as Australia.

A voyage that has permitted MORQ to widen its professional horizon and to gain many international prizes and honors (the latest being the Marshall Clifton Award for Residential Architecture for the Boranup House, in Australia).

On these pages, we see a recent work made in Italy that sums up the approach of the studio with offices in Rome and Perth: an apartment in Rome, redesigning the upper level of a 19th-century building, between St. Peter’s and the Olympic area of the Foro Italico.

The architects have managed to transform a limitation – the rigid layout typical of the period of construction – into a starting point for the project: by shifting the original corridor towards the north side, the new layout creates a second longitudinal passage running towards the south, generating a lengthwise band that contains a series of new services (a bathroom and closet spaces).

The two passages border a new multipurpose open space on a raised platform: the relaxation area can easily be transformed to make a guestroom thanks to sliding panels to control the level of privacy.

Finally, the game of heights of the sloping ceilings (housing climate control system) masterfully shapes the natural light, creating infinite shadings, emphasized by the pale lime walls and the delicate wood flooring.

The result is an intimate, serene space of infinite potential.

Photos Giulio Aristide and Simone Bossi – Article Laura Ragazzola