MONTEVERDE APARTMENT
The project consists of a full refurbishment of an apartment located in a Villino, a typical Roman building type from the early twentieth century situated in the Monteverde district just next to the Janiculum walls erected by Pope Urban VIII.
Despite the traditional appearance of the building, it was built with a mixed structure of load-bearing walls and a reinforced concrete frame dating back to the early ’20, years in which this kind of construction was not yet fully mastered by local builders for this kind of small-scale interventions.
The apartment consisted of a rather cloggy arrangement of small rooms, resulting from various changes to the original plan which occurred over a century.
The new organization of the apartment, located on the two upper floors of the Villino, is essentially defined by two design choices: the demolition of all the partitions on the lower floor and the relocation of the staircase connecting the two floors. The new staircase is strategically positioned on the perimeter of the space to make room for the free arrangement of the living area. It revolves around a 5m tall yellow perforated steel bookcase containing the client’s – a psychoanalyst – book collection. This element, with its bright coloring, is the focal point of the whole house, contrasting with the use of raw materials like the exposed concrete of the structure and dark terracotta tiles on the upper floor pavement.
Unlike the open space on the lower floor, the upper floor is designed with an increased degree of intimacy going from the studio – which still has a mediated visual connection with the stairs through a big Priva-lite window – to the main bedroom.
The terrace was conceived as an outdoor room in continuity with the interior thanks to a new sliding pocket door.
Its surfaces, entirely covered in white terracotta tiles are an abstract background for the vegetation and the roman hills landscape in the distance.
