Credits
From KICK.OFFICE
We are in a 70 square meter apartment in the Milanese district of NoLo. The original layout is very traditional: five different rooms, rather small in size, are accessible from a unique space that serves as both entrance and hallway.
The main goal was therefore to break this rigid distribution by enhancing the spatial continuity and maximizing the brightness, a potential given the double exposure of the building. A highlighted sign of the space enlargement is the beam-column structure in exposed, rough concrete. This brutalist gesture generates a loud contrast with the precious existing floor: a polychrome palladiana marble which becomes the inspiring motif of the entire chromatic palette.
Both visually and physically permeable, the centerpiece of the house is the rust-colored varnished ‘box’ that clearly separates the kitchen from the living room. The dialogue between these functions is allowed by two arched openings, which connect the entrance to a small reading corner by the window; and by the porthole that looks directly onto the living room.
A forest-green resin floor was chosen to homogenize hallway, bathroom and bedroom areas. This choice mitigates the rhythmic pattern of the palladiana in order to enter a more intimate and peaceful dimension. A last space pops up from the bathroom: a shower covered in a texture of powder-pink ceramic tiles.