Studentato S4 is a newly refurbished ENEL office building located on Piazza Indipendenza in the 19th-century area of Florence, Italy. Mappern Architetti’s rehabilitation added more terraces and renovated the travertine cladding and frames on the building’s facade to highlight significant architectural elements.
Students’ rooms range across five levels, organized for privacy, while common areas on the remaining four levels include a lounge, gym, and study rooms. A spiral staircase connects these elements vertically.
To maximize the building’s potential, lighting highlights key architectural elements, and the original travertine cladding and frames have been restored with respect for their original character. The addition of several new terraces, meanwhile, better provides rooms with outdoor access. A spiral staircase is The focal point of the new common areas.
The existing hall serves as the new building’s bridge between the city space and the student residence, functioning as an internal square and meeting point.
Common areas are distributed vertically from the basement, where there is a gym and a cinema; to the ground floor, which offers the reception, lounge areas, study rooms, kitchen, café, and a small garden courtyard; and the first floor.
Furnished with a skillful blend of furniture and colors, the areas strike a balance between the spaciousness of the area and the need to create more intimate spaces.
At the center of the hall connecting these spaces is a spiral staircase, which serves as The focal point of the new common areas. The staircase rising from the basement unifies and, since the sleek, spiraling glass volume is visible from students’ rooms, vertically connects the building from the basement to a terrace on the first floor.
Positioned above the first floor, the terrace serves as a glass volume lead to by the spiral staircase and guiding students into their rooms, organized on the building’s remaining four levels. The rooms at the front of the building, meanwhile, are spread over the four levels from the ground floor to the third floor and organized to ensure maximum privacy.
By redecorating the old building and restoring the travertine cladding and frames on its facade, The S4 residence repurposes the former office building for more modern usage while highlighting the building’s significant architectural elements.
Dressed in the colour grey, the students’ rooms are framed by highlights in green and blue.
Surrounded by lush vegetation, the courtyard on the ground floor leads up to the terrace and garden, ushering students from the outdoors on the ground floor up to their rooms.
