Continuing our ongoing series with Bulgari, in celebration of the designs that inspired their Octo watch line, we’ve delved into the past, present and future…
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Italian architects Scape have modernised an apartment in one of Rome‘s oldest neighbourhoods by adding faceted ceilings and a boxy wooden staircase.
The residence occupies the uppermost floors of a detached house on Oppian Hill – one of the seven hills that forms the historic centre of the Italian capital city – and is positioned just east of the Colosseum.
Scape were tasked with rationalising an incongruous interior created by numerous extensions and renovations, but were bound by strict planning laws governing the historic architectural fabric.
“Not only was it a situation that was functionally and spatially compromised, but added to this were the difficulties related to intervening architecturally in a city where the law tends to protect pre-existing elements that are easier to control, thus unfortunately often ignoring aspects of quality that might be improved upon,” they explained.
The interior is arranged around a double-height living room, above which the architects have installed a system of suspended ceilings with angular facets, intended to emphasise the joints of the roof.
“The objective of the project was that of reconstructing the interior of the dwelling to produce a spatially coherent and unified entity while taking advantage of and enhancing aspects of the house,” added the architects.
A separate kitchen and dining room is also located on this main floor, alongside a pair of bedrooms with en suite bathrooms.
New wooden storage closets have been added along the walls and match up with the wooden staircase that ascends to a guest bedroom on the mezzanine floor, as well as to a smaller level above.
Located in the building’s turret, this top floor now functions as a study room and opens out to rooftop balconies on two sides.
Photography is by Francesco Mattuzzi.
Here’s a project description from the architects:
Renovation of an apartment in Rome
The transformation of the two top floors of a freestanding house in Colle Oppio is a project that, as is often the case working with the ancient fabric of Rome, involved numerous complex factors.
The apartment, measuring a little over 200 msq, was distributed over three levels; two main floors and a mezzanine, the fruit of numerous interventions that had been carried out in a disorderly and incoherent manner over the last twenty years.
Not only was it a situation that was functionally and spatially compromised, but added to this were the difficulties related to intervening architecturally in a city where the law tends to protect pre-existing elements that are easier to control, thus unfortunately often ignoring aspects of quality that might be improved upon. Finally, the building had static problems that forced the owners to carry out a considerable consolidation of the floor slabs and roofing.
The objective of the project was that of reconstructing the interior of the dwelling to produce a spatially coherent and unified entity while taking advantage of and enhancing aspects of the house such as the high ceilings in certain areas and the presence of several outside spaces, which, although small, are on different levels and provide splendid views of the city.
Two main structural operations dictated the organisation of the various areas of the house: integrating a large body of wood for the internal staircase to connect the various levels and all the cupboard and storage space necessary for the easy running of a house, as well as the homogenisation of the ceilings that were arranged with layered roofing that was interesting but compromised by irrational and disorganised load-bearing elements.
The first operation allowed the redistribution of the various living spaces in the house. On the first floor, the living room takes advantage of the building’s high ceilings and the best views of Colle Oppio.
The sleeping quarters on the other hand are smaller spaces: two bedrooms with their respective bathrooms. Large four-metre high cupboards introduce a connecting element between these two areas of the apartment.
The new positioning of the staircase presented the possibility of introducing visual interaction between the various levels. The mezzanine, which comprises a small area dedicated to the ironing, the guest bedroom and the boiler room, faces onto the living room on one side and the kitchen on the other, bringing to the fore qualities of height and shape in the spaces.
On the top floor, the landing at the top of the stairs links the two upper terraces, one on each side, and the splendid altana or large turret room that will be used as a study.
The second considerable alteration involved the roofing. A new system of false ceilings accentuates the articulation of the joints in the roof, highlighting the movement and interaction with the spaces beneath. It was an intervention inspired by the existing shapes of the roof while strengthening and reinforcing those shapes in a contemporary way.
The post Rome apartment modernised with
faceted ceilings and minimalist staircase appeared first on Dezeen.
Italian architect Antonino Cardillo used roughly textured plaster to create lumpy brown surfaces across the upper walls and ceilings of this apartment in Rome (+ slideshow).
Using the geometric ratio of the golden section, Antonino Cardillo designed House of Dust with a horizontal division that separates living spaces and furniture from the coarse plaster walls and ceilings above.
The architect wrote: “[I was] craving for primordial caverns, for Renaissance grotesques, for nymphaeums in Doria Pamphilj, for faintly Liberty façades in the streets off Via Veneto.”
Windows are sunken within deep recesses and together with a series of rectangular doorways they emphasise the line dividing top and bottom.
The architect also added a series of arched doorways, intended to reference fourteenth century Italian paintings, which conceal both rooms and cupboards.
One of these doorways features a pink glass doorknob that signifies the entrance to the master bedroom and bathroom, tucked away in the corner of the residence.
The rough plaster surfaces are missing from these spaces, where instead walls and ceilings are coloured in a pale shade of pink. There are also concrete washbasins and a cylindrical shower concealed behind a ghostly white curtain.
The kitchen surrounds the perimeter of the bedroom and can be screened behind a pivoting wall.
The living room is just beyond and features a wooden floor resembling a large rug. Furniture here includes small green tables designed by the architect, large grey sofas and a marble dining table.
Other residential interiors we’ve featured from Italy include a renovated house with honeycomb-patterned floors and an apartment with a rooftop swimming pool. See more architecture and interiors from Italy »
Photography is by the architect. The short film (below) was directed by Pasquale Marino and features a pair of boxers sparring in the apartment, while the ceiling above them appears to be crumbling away:
Here’s a project description from Antonino Cardillo:
House of Dust by Antonino Cardillo architect
In this house classical orders and proportions celebrate dust. The golden section divides the sides of the living room: a light grey base supports a ceiling of rustic plaster of the colour of the bare earth. Craving for primordial caverns, for Renaissance grotesques, for nymphaeums in Doria Pamphilj, for faintly Liberty façades in the streets off Via Veneto. A balanced sequence of compressions and dilatations makes up the space of the house.
On the walls, passages and windows appear, now dug out of the base, now like carvings in a baguette. A series of arches, abstract memories of fourteenth century Italian painting, disguise doors and cupboards. Among these, one studded with a pink glass doorknob introduces the intimate rooms, which too are distinguished by the palest pink on the walls: yearning for dawns and flowers, the colour of beauty, the colour of beauty that dies.
Design and project management: Antonino Cardillo
Client: Massimiliano Beffa
Date: September 2012 – March 2013
Address: Rione Ludovisi, Rome, Italy
Surface: 100 square metres – 1,076 square feet
Featuring ‘Triumviro’ tables designed by Antonino Cardillo
The post House of Dust by
Antonino Cardillo appeared first on Dezeen.
by Heather Stewart Feldman When artist, ceramist and fabric and fashion designer Giuseppe Picone passed away in 2008, he left behind a precious gift to Italian craft history. Picone’s invaluable artistic legacy and many contributions were key…
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London designers Doshi Levien have completed a Rome store for shoe brand Camper with faceted lighting clusters and a cash desk shaped like an old-fashioned television.
Shoes are displayed on stepped marble surfaces, against a background of blue and red.
A neon green lamp resembling a large eye surveys the room from a rear wall.
Other designers who’ve completed Camper stores include Jaime Hayón and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec – see all our stories about Camper here.
This is the first Camper store by Doshi Levien, but you can see more of their work here.
Here’s a little bit more text from Doshi Levien:
Eternal Summer / Camper shop. Via Baullari 18, Rome.
Our shop concept is inspired by the earthy, sun baked, solid architectural elements of the Mediterranean.
It has an authentic, monolithic simplicity of materials, with magical highlights.
It references the idea of an ETERNAL SUMMER and playfully re-appropriates everyday architectural and interior elements of the Mediterranean.
Marble steps, the water fountain in the Piazza, the ceiling fans in cafés, the sun faded colours of buildings, the flash of a bright neon light, a bright red dress or shoe, television watched outdoors by a neighbourhood together.
It feels like a shop that has been there forever; solid, sturdy, using materials that can be touched and washed.
Yet it is quirky; a rotating zoetrope in the window with animations entices you into the shop. The shoes have pride of place going up and down marble steps. Measure your feet on tiles by the floor.
Neon eyes watch over you. A mirrored fan gently cools the air and transforms itself according to the space.
Funny mirrors that take you by surprise by distorting your body proportions, defying pre-conceived notions of a perfect body! Making us laugh at ourselves and our vanity.
This pavilion by Italian firm stARTT has won the first international edition of the MoMA/P.S.1 Young Architects Program and will be installed outside the Zaha Hadid-designed MAXXI museum in Rome this June. See this year’s New York installation in yesterday’s story.
As inaugural winners of the YAP_MAXXI award stARTT’s installation, entitled Whatami, will feature a series of mini hills around the concrete plaza with pools of water in between.
The artificial landscape will be littered with clusters of funnel-shaped canopies representing flowers.
WHATAMI will open in June this year at the same time as Interboro Partner’s winning design for their installation in the courtyard of the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Centre in New York. (See our earlier story)
See all our stories on past winners of the Young Architect Program »
Here’s some more information from The Museum of Modern Art:
stARTT SELECTED AS WINNER OF THE INAUGURAL YOUNG ARCHITECTS PROGRAM AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF XXI CENTURY ARTS (MAXXI) IN ROME
stARTT’s WHATAMI to open in the Courtyard of MAXXI in June
NEW YORK, February 16, 2011—The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1, and the National Museum of XXI Century Arts of Rome announce Interboro Partners of Brooklyn, NY, as the winner of the 12th annual Young Architects Program in New York, and start, of Rome, as the winner of the first annual YAP_MAXXI Young Architects Program in Rome.
Now in its 12th edition, the Young Architects Program at MoMA and MoMA PS1 has been committed to offering emerging architectural talent the opportunity to design and present innovative projects, challenging each year’s winners to develop highly innovative designs for a temporary, outdoor installation at MoMA PS1 that provides shade, seating, and water. The architects must also work within guidelines that address environmental issues, including sustainability and recycling.
For the first time, MoMA and MoMA PS1 are partnering with another institution, MAXXI in Rome, to create the first international edition of the Young Architects Program. stARTT has been chosen from among five European finalists to create an innovative event space in the MAXXI piazza opening in June.
WHATAMI by stARTT is based on the manufacturing of an artificial archipelago-hill, generating smaller green areas in the garden and potentially outside the museum. The hill works as a garden, injecting “green” into the concrete plateau of the museum’s outdoor space, allowing it to serve as a stage and/or parterre for concerts and other events, or as a space to rest and look at the museum itself.
The artificial landscape will be punctuated by large “flowers” providing light, shadow, water, and sound. The materials proposed for the installation involve a two-fold recycling process, the supplying of the materials for the construction (straw, geo-textile, plastic) and the dismantling of the “hill” (turf, lighting).
Opened in May 2010, MAXXI was designed by Zaha Hadid and awarded Royal Institute of British Architect’s (RIBA) Stirling Prize for architecture, and has already gained a place among the elite international contemporary art and architecture museums.
The other YAP_MAXXI finalists were Raffaella De Simone/Valentina Mandalari (Palermo); Ghigos Ideas (Lissone/Mi, Davide Crippa, Barbara Di Prete and Francesco Tosi); Asif Khan (London, United Kingdom); and Langarita Navarro Arquitectos (Madrid, Spain, María Langarita and Víctor Navarro).
Pippo Ciorra, Senior Curator of Architecture at MAXXI, explains, “We’re very happy with the results of this program for three main reasons. First, the collaboration with MoMA proved as effective and productive as we hoped, finally allowing us a surprising insight into the most recent research in terms of architecture, public space, and landscape.
Second, we were able to discover an unexpected positive quality of answers by the Italian and European young (under 35) architects involved in the project, all proposing fascinating, innovative and well developed proposals. Third, we’re delighted that we were able to choose a winning proposal which incorporates a MAXXI_specific approach to the issues of ecology, recycle, and public space.”
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| Holding Pattern by Interboro Partners | Afterparty by MOS at P.S.1 | Mexican Pavilion for Shanghai Expo 2010 by Slot. |
Un très intéressant travail de l’artiste Rub Kandy pour sa série “Anamorphosis”. Actuellement basé à Rome en Italie, il met un accent sur la perspective rappelant parfois le travail de Felice Varini ou de Georges Rousse. Plus d’images à découvrir dans la suite.
Architect Daniele Durante of studiobv36 in Italy has designed a new headquarters in Rome for the Italian postal service. (more…)
Photographer Luke Hayes has sent us a selection of photos of the MAXXI_National Museum of the XXI Century Arts in Rome by architect Zaha Hadid. (more…)
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