SRC Reimagines a Compact BnB
SRC transforms a newly built apartment in Syracuse, Italy into a compact BnB that favors clarity, warmth, and ease. Archventil reshapes the layout around a multifunctional core, then leans on custom furniture and saturated color to balance efficiency with comfort. Guests step into a clear sequence of entrance, living, and sleeping areas that still feels relaxed and quietly generous.
Light draws guests from the entrance toward the living room, sliding across herringbone parquet and catching the edges of pale satin cabinetry. Terracotta tones, dusty blues, and clean-lined furniture calm the compact plan and give each room a distinct mood without visual clutter.
This apartment is planned as an urban BnB, and every move serves that brief while guarding a sense of ease. Archventil reworks the layout into three clear realms: a defined entrance, an integrated living and kitchen area, and a protected sleeping zone for rest. The story centers on how color, materials, and a few decisive built elements organize daily rituals for short-term guests.
Shaping A Clear Core
The plan pivots on a central partition that acts as a compact hub rather than a heavy wall. One side hides the bedroom and carries the television, giving the living room a focal point that feels purposeful. On the other side, the volume keeps passageways open so guests move easily to and from the sleeping area. Light curtains can slide across those side paths when privacy is needed, so the apartment shifts from sociable to secluded in a few simple gestures.
Linking Kitchen And Living
In the main room, a single block stitches kitchen and lounge together without crowding the floor. The sofa and counter align as one composition, so the worktop doubles as dining surface and everyday table, cutting down on loose pieces of furniture. Guests cook, eat, work, and unwind around this shared element, which keeps activity concentrated while leaving the rest of the room calm. Sleek satin-finished kitchen fronts sit next to the softer texture of the sofa, so hard and plush surfaces play off each other in a measured way.
Color Threads And Textures
A restrained palette ties the apartment together and sharpens its identity as a small BnB with a clear character. Dusty blue and terracotta tones repeat across rooms, while the herringbone parquet flooring brings material warmth underfoot and sets a steady grain through the plan. Custom furniture stays essential in volume, so color and proportion do the work rather than decorative excess. In the living area, an artwork by Sanda Skujina animates the TV cabinet, adding a single strong note that plays against the quieter planes around it.
Rooms With Distinct Atmospheres
The bedroom leans into narrative rather than neutrality, with Fornasetti wallpaper filled with architectural figures and motifs that deepen the wall and give guests something to study. That graphic layer sits against otherwise controlled furnishings, so the room stays orderly while the pattern brings depth and character. In the bathroom, contrast drives the composition: a veined marble countertop anchors the basin, set against white ceramics and terracotta tiles from Iris Ceramiche for warmth. Gessi faucets and Flaminia sanitaryware keep the fixtures crisp, while the material mix makes a compact room feel deliberate instead of purely utilitarian.
Lighting is kept legible and practical, with pieces chosen for clarity as much as form. The Tolomeo wall lamp by Artemide, for example, provides flexible task light and a recognizable silhouette that many guests will know. Across the apartment, the combination of tight planning, tailored furniture, and controlled color turns a small footprint into a clear, welcoming sequence for short stays. As daylight fades across the parquet and terracotta tones, the rooms hold a steady, contemporary calm that suits the rhythm of urban BnB life.
Photography by Alessandro Santi
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