An 80-square-metre apartment located on the third floor of an early postwar bâtiment on Viale Beatrice D’Este in Milan has been the subject of a careful refurbishing intervention designed by Depaolidefranceschibaldan Architetti. The renovation celebrates the building heritage by preserving the original partitions while introducing a hyper-contemporary element with a functional box containing the kitchen and services, creating a dynamic and contrasting environment.
The project grew out of close collaboration with the clients, a creative couple in search of a Milanese pied-à-terre. Based on an analogical and reflective approach made of conversations, exchanges of opinions and insights, the long concept process allowed to accurately define the spirit of the intervention, orienting it toward very personal solutions with a distinctive character.
The renovation, started in 2021 and completed two years later, is developed through two opposing and complementary architectural codes, which coexist in the dwelling perfectly supporting each other. The first code celebrates the heritage of the building, preserving the original partitions and enhancing the twentieth-century atmosphere in the rooms and living room.
An Independent Functional Box As Hyper-Contemporary Element
The second, on the other hand, introduces a hyper-contemporary element: an independent functional box, with a satin-finished metal shell, is grafted in place of the old entrance and contains the kitchen and services. The two styles, with different materials, colors and brightnesses, generate a play of counterpoints and dissonances that give rise to a dynamic, multifaceted and richly contrasting environment. The living, study, master bedroom, kitchen and bathroom spaces are distributed in the approximately 80 square meters of the house.
Dynamic Living Space and Informal Entrance Gallery
Entrance is through a gallery with a dark, lowered vault, reminiscent of the corridors of Villa Panza di Biumo and Portaluppi’s architecture. The gallery skirts the functional box of the services and the kitchen leading, with a clear and surprising change of scene, to the high ceilings and bright rooms of the living area.
In the living room, a few select pieces of contemporary design (mainly black USM modules in different configurations) cohabit with the vintage elegance of the rooms, emphasized by the herringbone oak floor and the original, restored white-lacquered fixtures. The sofa in blue-Klein shades fits in with the electric blue façade of the building in front, while the stainless steel bookcases echo the metal finishes of the kitchen box. The latter can decide whether to open its doors, connecting with the dining area’s rustic table, or to close discreetly and reservedly.
The study, conceived as a multi-tasking transformable space, becomes an additional room thanks to the fitted wall behind the dark curtain, which hides the cabinets and a hideaway bed.
The master bedroom, essential in its furnishings, is enhanced by bright orange USM cabinetry and a large canvas by artist Jaime Hayon. Meticulous attention to detail and customization of elements emerges in every room, even in the bathroom, where the wall tiles and terrazzo top were custom made, incorporating fragments of alps green marble into the gray paste, a nod to period wall tiles.
