In Milan, the contemporary version of a 1950s apartment

The intervention focused, in general throughout the house, on a more fluid circulation that would make home life continuous (and luminous): a variation made possible, in the living area, thanks to the strategic use of large sliding marble partitions which, like retractable walls, reveal or obscure, if necessary, some areas of the living space.

Also in line with this 'modular' approach, even the previous large but hardly usable entrance was equipped with capacious retractable wardrobes, so that it opened onto the living room and that one could also obtain a small study corner.

The kitchen, which in some moments takes part in the daily fluidity while in others (such as when the property receives guests at home) becomes a place of privacy, appears and disappears at choice and according to the arrangement of the marble walls . It has also been equipped with a large island entirely covered in marble. A choice aimed at maximizing the spectacular view of the city.

In addition to being connected to the living room, the kitchen also opens onto a hallway-laundry room, which in turn leads to a guest bathroom and a practical ironing room-multipurpose room. Always underlining the interaction between environments.

What differences between living styles have required the greatest reinterpretation effort?

"We had to consider different actors in this project, each with their age, habits and profession (the parents, the children, the service person, the guests…) and each of them we paid particular attention.

Starting from this consideration, the living area has become the protagonist of the intervention, since it is where all these realities intersect, and has undoubtedly required the greatest interpretative commitment from the point of view of the flows before and of the choices of materials and furnishings then.

One of the major challenges in this sense was to minimize the use of the expedient of the corridors, which we considered a waste of space, and make sure that of distribution and activity intermingled".

In a resolutely contemporary interior design context, classic pieces with a remarkable character emerge. Why?

"The owners owned a series of family antiques that they were fond of but whose placement in the contemporary context of the intervention was not easy to imagine.

In approaching the project, we transformed the question into a starting point: going to design a space that responds to the contemporary and future needs of the family but which is also a stage for its history.

Thus antique pieces become POP and are inserted into the project like refined cameos that make an appearance here and there, becoming the protagonists of special walls and corners that frame them like a scenography.

How did you make the environments flexible?

"The entire living area, object of the intervention, has been redesigned to be flexible and adaptable to the various needs of its inhabitants.

The living room looks like a large living space, the heart of the home, designed to be enjoyed by the family at any time of the day. Opening onto it, with a fluid circulation but which allows each space to be isolated from the others if necessary, are the study, the kitchen, the service hallway with guest bathroom, the ironing room.

The kitchen/service area in particular has a very direct visual and functional connection with the living area but can be completely separated from the rest of the house with independent access from the outside via the secondary entrance into the hallway.

This flexibility has been one of the clients' main requests from the outset, desiring a space that could suit both a quick breakfast before going to work and a large representative event.

Precisely in this sense the kitchen becomes a fulcrum capable of changing the perception of the entire living area of the house.