Apartment in Milan by Moitié Studio
Moitié Studio designed a 150-square-meter apartment in Milan, Italy, set on the fifth floor of a 1930s rationalist building by Giovanni Muzio. It pairs restored original details with a calmer plan and a lighter interior. The renovation brings memory, daylight, and daily use into closer alignment without losing the apartment’s Milanese restraint.
About Apartment
On the fifth floor of a 1930s rationalist building by Giovanni Muzio, the apartment carries the quiet gravity of cultured Milan: measured proportions, solid walls, and an elegance that asks for little but gives a lot. Moitié Studio turns a 150-square-meter home into a layered domestic narrative, where memory and modern life meet without friction.
Before the renovation, the apartment feels as though it is holding its breath. Gray surfaces absorb light, the original parquet remains only in fragments, and the entryway, paved in dated marble, interrupts circulation instead of guiding it. A bulky pillar and a beam cutting across the large windows complicate the plan, yet the original doors and the stucco ceiling molding remain intact, offering a clear link to the building’s past.
The clients ask for fewer partitions, more breathing room, and a pale palette that feels warm rather than severe. They also bring an emotional reference to London, not as a literal model but as a mood: classic, lived-in, and quietly composed. In four months, Moitié Studio works between openness and restraint, using subtraction as much as addition.
The entryway and living room become the project’s organizing axis. A large curved volume defines the arrival sequence and conceals storage and television behind brass-trimmed sliding doors, while twin walnut bookcases break up the mass and introduce depth. Across the room, a leather chaise longue, moss-colored velvet sofas, an ivory rug, and circular coffee tables form a seating area that feels grounded and relaxed rather than formal.
The pillar, once a hindrance, becomes part of the composition. Integrated between the sofas, it turns into a storage cabinet finished with stucco that echoes the ceiling above, extending a Milanese habit of carrying details from one surface to another. Nearby, the dining room wall takes on the same sculptural approach, setting off a black ash table topped with purple Calacatta marble and six Wishbone chairs.
A third volume, finished in extra-clear beveled mirror, reflects sculpture and a Castiglioni lamp while concealing the walnut bar and the passage to the sleeping area. The corridor to the kitchen becomes usable territory, with a niche bench, wall sconces, and textured artwork giving it a quieter domestic role. Light bounces further through the mirrored surface, making the transition feel longer and softer.
The kitchen appears through a marble-framed opening and reads as a compact room with a measured, almost neoclassical tone. Walnut, a central table, three armchairs, and a Gino Sarfatti pendant keep the composition restrained. In the bedrooms and bathrooms, the restored original doors return, while the main bedroom turns more intimate with dark wallpaper, a low upholstered bed, and focused lighting. The children’s room, by contrast, is lighter and more playful, and the two bathrooms offer paired variations on symmetry, marble, and color. Throughout, every built-in piece is custom made, and the apartment settles into a balance of rigor, warmth, and clear daily use.
Photography by Valentina Sommariva
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