48 WORKING/LIVING Office and home in Turin
Located in the centre of Turin, this small apartment has been renovated and turned into both a home and an office.
The space is designed to be versatile so as to adapt to the duality that characterises working and living in the same place.
Domestic and professional activities coexist in harmony thanks to the demolition of the pre-existent dividing walls and the creation of a single large room.
The floor plan is a collage of integrated operations thanks to the strategic use of mobile pieces of furniture. A system of sliding components and a series of visual connections not only enlarge the real space, but also convey a feeling of greater spatiality.
The installation of mirrors reflecting the context both in the washbasin area and in the hall contributes to lending a sense of airiness.
The space has been radically changed in order to benefit from direct light to make the office-living area brighter and more spacious; all partition walls have been removed and the space has been adapted to the needs and lifestyle of the new owners.
The bathroom, which obviously calls for a greater level of privacy, has been designed as the only closed space, a “magic box” that creates an ever-changing play of lights, shadows and multi-coloured reflections multiplying all around, thus embellishing the room.
The translucent glass doors allow natural daylight to filter inside; the photographic film with floral motifs enclosed between the two clear glass panels has a degree of transparency which allows the light to filter through and create hazy visual effects, indefinite shadows and iridescent reflections, like a silk or Chinese paper lampshade. The shapes beyond the glass lose their solidity, becoming evanescent. Petals and colours are reflected in the large mirror which is all one with the projecting basin, thus expanding the space.
The illusion of continuity is accentuated when the sliding door and the large hinged door are both open: the bathroom becomes a passage accessible from both sides.
A curved wall separates the living area from the more private areas - bathroom and sleeping area - via a rotating structure: a 200 square cm cube containing a specially designed bed. A room for night-time looking onto different areas: the TV set, the study-living area, the kitchen. A revolving room that can join up with, or be separated from, its surroundings. A small snug versatile place that meets the need for more or less intimacy depending on the occasion, by means of its possible appearance or concealment behind walls of expanded metal.
All the pieces of furniture are tailor-made creations with a view to optimising this small apartment.
Translucent sheets of lilac Plexiglas act as top for the specially designed L-shaped table-desk, and are set on a robust though lightweight structure made of American larch.
Three laser cut pantograph MDF panels cut to design, modelled on the outline of the image from “Encyclopaedia of Flowers” used for the bathroom windows completely shut off the kitchen, the appliances, the pantry, the cabinets and the bookcase, creating a continuous space that changes depending on the use intended. The floral decorations are the leitmotif of the house, a tribute to the installations of the two Japanese botanists and artists Makoto Azuma and Shunsuke Shiinoki, much loved by the owners.
The shades of the purple flooring juxtapose and continue on the walls up to a height of 200 cm, whilst white dominates the higher parts. The materials and various shades of colour of the horizontal surfaces define the functional areas: natural jute for the front door mat, the micro concrete, respectively purple-brown and wisteria-purple for the kitchen-corridor area and for the office area, and finally an intense eggplant purple resin for the bathroom.
The plan of the office/home has been designed with a view to creating flowing space between the different areas and activities and on the whole, the design of all the elements has the same spirit so as to convey lightness and fluidity to the whole environment.
TECHNICAL DATA:
Location: Turin;
Year: 2015;
Activities: office/home;
Floor area: 50 sq.m.;
- Structures: Idea 011 (Turin)
- Safety: Architect R. Iandolino (Turin)
- Plasterboard works: Soluzioni Decocreative (Rivarolo Canavese, Turin)
- Construction works: Traba (Coazze, Torino)
- Wiring: Fratelli Zanchetta (Turin)
- Heating/plumbing/air conditioning system: DBF impianti (San Mauro, Turin)
- Decorations: Arcobaleno (Rivarolo Canavese, Turin)
Entrance:
Jute mat: Masera moquettes (Turin); mirrors: Cristal King (Turin); lamps Reggiani Ione from Zanino Temaluce (Turin); cupboards designed by architect E. Enrietto made by Boschis (Caselle, Turin); fixtures and finishings: Sikkens.
Corridor:
Micro-cement floors: MadeinTo (Turin); bookcase, cupboards and laser cut pantograph panels with floral motifs, designed by Architect E. Enrietto, made by Boschis (Caselle, Turin).
Dressing room:
Wall unit with 4 doors, designed by Architect E. Enrietto, made by P. Testagrossa (Turin); mirrors and glass windowsills: Cristal King (Turin); washbasin: Duravit Scola and taps: Ditirambo M&Z from Sprea (Turin), lighting: Artemide, Dioscuri, Michele De Lucchi from Zanino Temaluce; fabrics: Pelassa (Turin).
Bathroom:
Curved wall: L.A.R. (Beinasco, Turin), marine phenolic plywood coating; glass panes with floral decorations designed by Architect E. Enrietto, made by Cristal King (Turin) with Eurocolor (Turin); glass shower panel: Cristal King (Turin); resin floors and walls MadeinTo (Turin); sanitary fixtures: Ceramica Cielo Mini Smile and taps Ditirambo M&Z from Sprea (Turin); lighting: Fratelli Zanchetta (Turin); fixtures and finishings: Pelt Farrow & Ball, Rezina (Turin); bathroom furniture: Lineabeta and Colombo Design from Fissore Ceramics (Moncalieri, Turin); fabrics: Fazzini Home.
Bedroom:
Calculation for the revolving bed structure: Idea 011 (Turin); metal structures and expanded metal: L.A.R. (Beinasco, Turin); mirror-like Plexiglas finishing: Adeglas (Turin); container bed and wooden bed-side table designed by Architect E. Enrietto, made by P. Giogliotti (Turin) and P. Testagrossa (Turin); canopy designed by Architect E. Enrietto, made by Pelassa (Turin); lighting: Fratelli Zanchetta; fabrics: Blow Fazzini Home.
Kitchen:
Kitchen and laser cut pantograph panels with floral motifs designed by Architect E. Enrietto, made by Boschis (Caselle, Turin); scullery glass: Cristal King (Turin); sink: Franke; taps Ditirambo M & Z from Sprea (Turin); Kitchen top: Okite from Sprea (Turin) with Dalgo marmi (Turin); lighting: Fratelli Zanchetta.
Office area:
Drop-leaf desk designed by Architect E. Enrietto, made by P. Testagrossa (Turin); lilac Plexiglas desk top designed by Architect E. Enrietto, made by Adeglas (Turin); chairs: Kartell, Talya, Patric Jouin; lamps: Flos, Aim, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec from Fratelli Zanchetta; fabrics: Pelassa (Turin); glass windowsills: Cristal King (Turin); fixtures and finishings: Sikkens; micro-cement floors: MadeinTo (Turin).
I wish to thank R., my teacher and, above all, friend.
