Kaizen: A Rooftop Genova Apartment Renovation
Kaizen is a rooftop apartment renovation in Genova, Italy by Ministudio Architetti, set among slate roofs and church towers in the old city. The project opens a once-fragmented dwelling into a fluid sequence of rooms, where interior portals, built-in furniture, and a generous terrace gather daily life around light and long views. Warm wood floors, tailored colors, and a mix of contemporary and vintage pieces give the home a calm, personal rhythm.
At the level of Genova’s slate roofs, light slips through tall windows and tracks across herringbone wood. A long concrete bench runs beneath, pulling the eye toward the terrace and the city beyond.
This rooftop apartment, Kaizen, is a 2023 renovation by Ministudio Architetti in the dense fabric of the old town. Once cut into small, closed rooms, the dwelling now turns around fluid interiors, where color, built-in elements, and carefully chosen furniture guide movement more than doors. The focus rests on how each room feels in use, from morning coffee by the terrace to quiet evenings under the angular roof.
Opening The Rooms
The remodel begins by dissolving the previous compartmentalized layout into a continuous living and dining volume. Openings in the walls, internal windows, and pass-throughs create visual links between kitchen, lounge, and terrace so that activities overlap without crowding. A pale envelope of white walls and ceilings catches daylight and makes the long room read as one, while the rhythmic grain of the herringbone floor leads movement from one end to the other. Every threshold feels deliberate yet easy.
Color As Anchor
Color works as a quiet structure in the apartment rather than decoration alone. In the bedroom, a saturated blue headboard wall with patterned surface grounds the bed and hides a niche with shelving and outlets, so function tucks into depth and tone. The kitchen relies on deep cabinetry paired with a pale marble counter and backsplash, a contrast that sharpens the geometry of the pass-through opening to the dining room. Across the home, white backgrounds allow these stronger hues to read clearly without weighing down the rooms.
Living With Objects
Furniture choices bring warmth and a lived-in character to the bright shell. A soft, rose-colored modular sofa sets the mood of the living area, low enough that it never interrupts the horizontal line of the bench or the terrace view. Nearby, a mid-century-style wooden sideboard and mirror, along with framed artwork propped casually along the bench, lend texture and personal scale against the smooth walls. Transparent dining chairs lightened by their material sit around a solid wooden table, balancing weight and lightness at the center of daily meals.
Terrace Above The City
Beyond the living room, the terrace extends the apartment into the open air. Hexagonal paving underfoot and a simple reed pergola above set a relaxed tone, filtering daylight and framing views of neighboring facades and shuttered windows. A green metal dining table and chairs echo the potted plants along the railing, giving the outdoor room its own color story while staying connected to the interior palette. Here, the long concrete bench inside aligns with the threshold, stitching together interior lounging and outdoor dining.
In the bathrooms, material choices refine smaller rooms with the same care. One arrangement pairs a sculpted concrete counter and vessel sink with warm brass fixtures, leading toward an arched niche clad in vertical green tiles that focus the eye. Another compact shower room uses slim vertical tiles, black-framed glass, and a simple wall-mounted shelf to keep the narrow plan feeling tall and orderly.
By the time evening reaches the rooftops, the apartment glows gently from within. Light grazes the floors, picks up the grain of wood and the weave of textiles, and finds its way out to the terrace. Kaizen stands as a quiet study in how color, furniture, and built-in elements can reshape an old urban dwelling into a clear, generous home.
Photography by Ph. Barbara Bacigalupo
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