Project Description

This house owners are true design lovers and its design is just a typical example of interior design project management.

During the building stage, in the early 90’s, the owners contacted the office where I worked to customize their home, the design of which was ordinary: at that time the project was handled by Donatella Lami, one of my most important work guide. Later I managed the following project stages until the described one.

Analysis

The flat is composed by a large living area leading to a terrace on to a breath-taking Tuscan countryside landscape and by two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Underneath is a large garage that actually was never used to park the car but rather as deposit. A few years ago I was charged to design a new function for this space as living/study area for the owners’ teenager son.

Design

The works should not produce any change to the living area and this meant the two levels connection stairs had to be placed in a little triangular shaped section in front of the entrance door: I found that a winding stair was the only way to connect the two levels in such a small space.

The lower floor was provided, in addition to the living area, by a wall unit screened area with a bathroom, a laundry and a deposit.

The stairs irregular shape would make very difficult a tiles or wood cladding: so it was decided to dress it in resin that was also used as basement floor and bathroom wall covering, providing a finishing homogeneity which I consider is a design representative feature.

As concerns the furniture a custom design was provided for the living area bookcase, for the cabinets placed along the stair (that are used as handrail, too) and for the sink hanging cabinet, while the desk, the chairs and the curtain are standard products.

Outcome

This realization is a good example of my approach to interior design: the project fulfillment is divided in several steps, mainly according to budget or time availability. Once a masterplan is set, each step is independent from the others and postponing any part can confer many advantages, for example meeting owner new needs or using new materials that were not available.

In the shown case the resin that is used for the stair and the floor was not available when the apartment was built.