When the clients, a young couple with a mutual love: France, contacted our firm, the exteriors of the house, a building realized in the beginning of the twentieth century, have been already completely renovated in French style, and so the realization of a new four pitches roof attic. The airy space is characterized by several arched windows with different sizes that bring a lot of light inside the rooms despite their orientation, following the composition of the facades of the building. The roof is supported by a wooden structural system along the perimetral walls, beams and three pillars randomly placed inside the space.

The wish of the clients was to divide the space in three main zones: a lounge room where to relax and party with friends organized around a 360 fireplace, a studio where the husband can work till late time without disturbing the other members of the family and a bedroom for the elder son.

Even though, besides the exterior facades of the building, all the interior spaces of the house have been realized in French style, the clients have decided to follow the personal taste of the husband and requested us to conceive the project of the lounge room and the studio finding inspiration in the midcentury American Modern design, while creating a raw loft space for the son.

Since the very beginning we have worked by looking for a connection between the new project and the rest of the house in order to establish a common sense of place.

Although we have adopted different materials, colors and atmospheres, we have sawn the two parts of the house by intertwining elegance and compositional rigor with architectural and furniture refine details and finishes.

Climbing classic white stairs with dark wood steps, nestled between tall grey walls decorated with white moldings, we land on the attic floor, in the corridor molded in the same French style.

Tall and wide transparent glass doors invite to enter into the lounge room and allow to peek the space through a central system of wooden pillars that has been designed with the intent to dissimulate the irregularity of the structure of the roof and preserving a certain intimacy and privacy of the main space.

Beyond the pillars there are two cozy sitting zones organized around a 360 metallic fireplace and surrounded by custom-made storage wall system where the clients can display their books and design-objects. Beside led lights strips to enlighten the shelfs and what is exposed on them, the system is fitted randomly with self-illuminating matte-glass vertical dividers, with different heights and depth, that softly light up also the space, creating an intimate atmosphere.

A sculpted bespoke bar counter, realized in arabescato orobico marble and wood, protrudes from a niche of the wooden volume that house a small but refined bathroom.

Another little wooden volume suspended on top of a transparent glass wall follows the set of pillars located in the center of the room, on the opposite side of the sitting zones, hosting a lavish wine cellar with floor and the background wall are cladded with slabs of arabescato orobico. The same marble is used also on the floor around the fireplace and to realize windowsills and baseboards.

Special stained oak boards of different widths and lengths cover the floor and the inclined surfaces of the ceiling. The same wood has been used also for cladding some walls and to realize the custom-made furniture. In order to create the right tone that could play harmoniously with the natural light of Sestroretsk without appearing too dark in any time of the day and of the year took long time and numerous attempts by the knowledgeable artisans with whom we have happily collaborated in order to find the right combination of products, finishes and work to gain the right result.

The walls are painted with a decorative plaster especially realized for this project in collaboration with an Italian artisan.

Their vibrant and slightly reflective bespoke beige surfaces change constantly while moving inside the space, creating a calming but lively place where to enjoy the company of a book or of some group of good friends.

Although midcentury modern is the main inspiration also of the studio several details of furniture and finish reveal a more classical style, in order to create a deeper connection with the rest of the house.

The parquet boards used in the lounge room have been replaced with a Versailles parquet, and some moldings, even if minimal and modern, appear on the furniture and on baseboard making the space more formal.

The dark and textured plastered walls are a reinterpretation of a classic wooden boiserie and the tone has been chosen to enhance the concentration.

The austerity of the room is broken up by the outstanding original vintage Terni executive desk designed by Luisa and Ico Parisi’s for MIM Roma in 1958 situated in the middle of the room.

The kid bedroom has been thought as an independent space, without no relationship with the rest of the spaces of the house. The elder son had his own wishes for his room: a lofty place where spending time studying, reading, playing with computer, alone or with some friends, and exercising.

Rough timber, concrete plaster, grey and black colors are combined to realize a raw but comfortable room for a teenager.