8 Inspiring Small Italian Homes Under 60sqm 645sqft

The clients ask us to improve this small space, trying to maximise the elements of everyday life. We wanted to create a space that is characterised by fun elements like the floor. The challenge is to not make everything smaller when designing a small apartment, but try to make all the elements work in a small space. It means to achieve the coexistence and overlapping of things. I'm Bianca Maggi, I'm an architect and I'm a collaborator for Studio Atoma. This was an apartment that had a subdivision and this is the space left. This apartment is 21 square metres. It's the smallest that we have ever designed. The building is located near the centre of Milan, next to Piazza Cinque Giornate. This area is super cool because it's a super nice residential area. There are lots of shops and around the corner there is the European Institute of Design. It's really different how people live in Milan. Houses are different, the way of life is different. You usually use your house just to sleep actually because Milan is working now. The clients came to us and asked to design a space for their daughters to live in. The client really trusted us and asked to do whatever we want. The first thing I felt was that it was super dark because you enter in a small space that is also full of things. It was a kitchen with storage, a table, the door of the bathroom. So it was a mess and super dark actually. The first thing that you could see when you entered the apartment was the bathroom door. It was not a functional apartment. We removed the walls to create different areas for the apartment but well separated. We created a real entrance illuminated by natural light. We moved the bathroom to the darkest spot of the apartment. And then we created a real sleeping area that was separated from the living area. The entrance in this case is well defined by a small step that has been created for technical reasons. But also to define better the space. On one side there is a bespoke cabinet for shoes and also it hides the washing machine. And on the other side there is a full height mirror that also expands the space. That hides a door for cabinet. In the lower part it hides the bathroom door. The kitchen is actually pretty generous. It's made of a curved walnut wood finish. In the lower part is the dishwasher and a small fridge. We chose an induction stove for the kitchen. You can close the backsplash and it hides the disorder of the kitchen. The backsplash and the top of the kitchen are in stainless steel so it's super easy to clean. We tried a hydraulic system to make the opening easier. The top is foldable so that you can close all the cover of the kitchen. The two shelves help to improve the storage space. And we integrated LED lights in the shelf. We created handles that were like a continuous line of steel. When you close the covers of the kitchen you can use this space also to work. So overlapping of functions is for sure something that we wanted to achieve. The living room is the place to rest in the house. There are shutters that black out light. Foldable curtains that help to manage the light inside. The bench next to the window helps to put things on. The two central parts are modular elements that you can move actually to make the space more flexible. To sit on the dining table, to use it as a coffee table or as a bench to rest your feet while you're on the sofa. And also extra seats for the friends. We created these holes on the benches for cable management. There is a small sofa that also becomes a second bed if needed. On the central part of the wall we put a foldable table. When it's on the wall it works like a white canvas for the living room. When it's unfolded you can see walnut wood finish. On the opposite side of the living room we built shelf storage unit so that the client can display objects on top. In the lower part there are more storage rooms. As handles we use these holes that help save more space. One of the three drawers is a step that helps you to go on the bed. The headboard has also more storage space in it and it's deep enough to put objects on it. There is also another shelf to put things on. In the sleeping space we painted all the wall in dark blue so that it gets more intimate and cozy. The bed is raised up from the floor so that we can use the space under the bed. There is spacious working wardrobe. We designed it so you can stand in it. We used the space above the bathroom to have storage space to put luggage, suitcases and also technical elements. The warm light is adjustable so that you can fold it for ambient light or open for reading. The bathroom is covered in ruby silice tiles from Morocco. We chose floating elements so it doesn't look so heavy and also to see the floor all over the bathroom. We decided to tile the wall from the ground to the top because we wanted to create a different world in which you can relax. We designed curved furniture because it's such a small space. We used white tupperware to create contrast with the colour of the tiles. The mirror above the sink becomes transparent in the upper part to make natural light to enter the bathroom. We created a little window above the shelves of the kitchen. What is nice is that at night it looks like a lantern. The floor maybe is the thing that we are more proud of. It's not an ordinary floor. These tiles come from Mosaic Factory, a Spanish brand that makes all the tiles by hand. Our inspiration came from Japanese furniture for sure. They are a big inspiration because they usually live in small spaces. As a designer I believe it's really important to understand the needs of people. I hope people can feel the house as a safe place, a cosy place in which they can relax and feel safe from what's happening outside. The apartment is located in Eva Marina on the Ligurian Riviera, more or less two hours from Milan, not distant from the Cinque Terre. This is a summer house for clients of ours, a couple in their 60s and their two daughters. The brief was super simple. We wanted to get two rooms out of the 35 square meters in the apartment. Eva Marina is a hybrid between old Ligurian architecture and new architecture from the 60s and from the 70s. This building was built in the 70s and has always been a residential building. The apartment was a studio apartment as it was designed in the 70s. It was nothing more than a big undefined room. The change of the floor plan was little. We opened the door to the bathroom facing the entrance and we created two sleeping rooms in the corner of the apartment, one on top of each other. The nautical culture was fundamental for the developing of this project. We visited the Salone Nautico, an important nautical fair, and we measured how people live in sailing boats. At the entrance, on the right-hand side, we have a walk-in closet and storage room from top to bottom. We designed a waterline of the multifunctional wall that leads you from the entrance to the living area, the core of the apartment, and it mimics the waterline of a boat. The wall is made of otme, also called marine plywood, and is laminated in white and blue. And the continuity between the hull and the sky is interrupted by the wooden waterline. We designed the living room as an open space in order to maximize the natural light coming from the window, so the living area is bright and light. Following the waterline all around the apartment, you reach the kitchen. We combined the kitchen and the living area as a gathering place for the family. The kitchen is small but fully equipped, with hot plates, oven, refrigerator, and everything that is needed. The kitchen has been designed with customized IKEA pieces in order to keep the budget low. Instead of using cabinets above the kitchen, we designed angled floating shelves in order to maximize the light coming from the small window. The master bedroom is accessible through two large doors, and its interior is imagined almost like the inside of a whale's rib cage, bound by structural wooden ribs. The master bedroom, like a sailboat cabin, contains the essential, a double bed, and a minimum storage space. At the end part of the wall, through a small door, you reach the second sleeping area, climbing up steep stairs as if climbing onto an attic of a small fisherman's house. We purposely designed the wall so that you can tell which is a door and which is a window, to minimize the visual clutter, which is important when designing a small space. We also included some open shelving in order for the client to bring their personal touch by displaying their items. We followed through the nautical concept in the bathroom as well, by using blue tiles, wooden diagonal shelves, and for the floor we used tiles inspired by the decking of a boat. We also placed a laundry at the bathroom entrance. A balcony completes the apartment, and can be used to dine or just relax while looking at the Ligurian hills. We believe that every apartment should be tailored for people who live in it. We need different spaces to do different things, and good design dining apartments are those that allow the owner to live in them in a complex and complete way. We love color. Our project is characterized by color. We love color. I think the most important thing when we design a home is to create an atmosphere, to create a space where the people feel good. We think of a house like a story, like music. From the beginning we wanted a home where we could experiment, draw, and create design objects. My name is Julie. I'm French. I'm from Paris. And I'm Giuseppe. I'm Italian from Naples. We are partners in life and work. We are partners in La Photosynthèse. It's an architectural studio based in Naples. I love all the homes, but I think the entrance. I love it. It's a nice place. I don't know. You are in the middle of the house. You can see all the high ceilings. The bedroom in the morning is like the best place in the world, I think. I don't like morning, but since I live here, it makes me love morning. It makes me love waking up. When you are on the bed in the morning, you see the sun. It's really nice. If you go to Naples, you see a lot of beauty, a lot of the city that is abandoned, but it's under the big sun. I think that Naples has been the start of this home. Naples has inspired us. So the idea for the project, we put a lot of history because Naples is a historical city where there is a little bit of modernity. We keep the old floor and we contrast with a little bit of modernity. Furniture, the lamp, the kitchen. We were walking in the street because we were visiting another home close to this one. And saw this house that had been abandoned for years. And then when we got home, we saw on the internet this house, so we went to visit it and we had a crush. The floor plan has remained mostly unchanged. There was a wall here and there was the kitchen and here was the bedroom. We changed the function of the rooms in order to create a large living room with an open kitchen and a comfortably sized bedroom. We wanted to preserve a large entrance, something we always try to include in our projects. We also had a mezzanine that contains a study area. We designed this desk that can be put away to create a guest room. We have another set that goes to the terrace. The entrance is surprisingly spacious for this type of apartment. The floor features a pattern of original tiles from the era. We feel they give a lot of character to the home. The closet in the entrance is an original one. We bring it from the windows. There were two guys here on the balcony that took the top and I pushed them down. The chair in the entrance is from Anonima Castelli. They chose this for the key and we designed it. Original pallet doors, over three meters tall, open into the living room and bedroom. The custom kitchen is a very simple, clean, horizontal element where all the functions are integrated. It's really, really, really compact. But functional. Super functional. And then this door on the left, you can find all the products to clean. There's the bin, the washing machine, we have all the stuff to cook. The refrigerator was placed under the mezzanine and hidden away. During the renovation, we removed the wallpaper and uncovered the original colors of the time. We kept the color because it was nice to mix the past and the modern. We love this color because it's really linked to the color of the outside of the garden. In the living room, the couch is vintage from Hedra. And we found it in Florence, Florence. It's the Homme et la Femme, the word women and men, it's called. Because this is women, there is another, there is men. We need a coffee table, but there are a lot of stuff in this apartment. So we decided to make something clear that it disappears. We liked the contrast of the new windows. It was super modern with the context. Yeah, because there was a normal window split in two. And so we saw this beautiful panorama, so we wanted just one window to make like a painting. When we started Naples, we were so surprised that there are a lot of craftsmanship. And so we started to have fun, we started to design a lot of things. In the living room, we designed this console and we designed this table. We love nature, so we bring a lot of plants. You know, this one, it was on the big road. There is a man that sold the plant. We take with us the motorbike and we drive through Naples with this big tree. And I was behind Giuseppe with my hand, I hold it, and I was like... Behind him, it was so funny. We found the light in our house. We wanted something very simple in contrast with the light. And then the man that did the orange part decided without telling us to do this. And so we were like, nice, okay, it's okay, it's nice. The living area is paved with vintage cement tiles. To match the original green of the walls, we painted all the frame and the bottom of the walls. And the bottom of the caustic with the sage green. In the bedroom, the red applique was designed by Herstad Leuchten in the 1960s. And it's the applique that I prefer in the house because it's the first one that we bought. It's a symbolic one. The entrance and the bedroom is connected. And so that's why we decided to put our clothes in the entrance and to make it functional. So we found a red painting on the wall. We found also a little heart. There's a little graved heart in the wall. It was covered by paper. It's a religious sign. We keep the color and then we contrast with this red Pompeian color of the floor. The green coat hanger, we found it in a vintage store. We bought it because it was nice. It was funny. The bathroom is hidden under the mezzanine. It's a little space, so we prefer to have a big shower. To make the bathroom more natural, we chose to have a floor with stones. We mixed with some vintage stuff like the basin that we found. Generally, when we have a small space, we like to have some big furniture in a small place. The bright metal orange staircase leading to the mezzanine is a bold cultural feature in the room. Because we want another contrast with the apartment, so we put these orange stairs in steel. It's really nice to work upstairs because you have the landscape, you have the light of the terrace. It's really quiet. It's really nice. And you feel elevated. We designed this desk that can be put away to create a guest room. We have another set that goes to the terrace that we chose to make white to have more contrast with the orange one. The terrace is one of the best parts, I think. We spend a lot of time in the morning because we have a hot shower. You can see the mountain, the volcanoes, the sea. And also all the historical parts of Naples. You see all the churches. In small spaces, not everything has to be functional. This console, for example, that we put here is absolutely not functional. So it's a gift that we made to ourselves to have furniture in a small space that's not functional. And these things feel like the space is bigger, I think. It's like some objects that make you happy. As well as a spectacular archive of stickers and labels telling stories of design histories. And it also features the 100% definitive and scientifically proven principles of timeless design. Disclaimer! Not 100% definitive or scientifically proven. Wait! There's more! There is a salami factory turned art museum. And there are very un-kitcheny kitchens, laundries, legacies, mythology and some seriously hot pots. Oh my! Get your copy now! The apartment is located in Barazze. It's an old town on the Mediterranean coast in Liguria. This is the summer house of my client. The client wanted an apartment to be used by 2 or 4 people that could enjoy the space and the privacy. I like the idea to use a few defined multifunctional architectural elements with the purpose of maximizing the space. I'm an Italian architect and I specialize in interior and furniture design with big interest in multifunctional and flexible spaces. Barazze is famous for its old churches, for kilometers of sandy beaches and beautiful promenade. The building has been built in the 40s. It has always been a residential building and it has been recently renovated. Beside the restaurant on the ground floor, the building is occupied by permanent residents and tourists. The attic building stands in front of the shore. You have a fantastic view over the Mediterranean Sea. When I first found the apartment, it was one big studio with a bathroom. I didn't make any change to the floor plan. I just added one custom-made furniture that integrates all the functions and works like an architecture piece that divides the bedroom to the rest of the apartment. The entrance is exactly in the middle of the apartment and is featured by the presence of a multifunctional table. When the table is closed, you have a generous lobby that is connected with the balcony and with the sea view. When the table is open, you have a dining room. The table is from Company Clay with a rotating mechanism and a befold opening system. The living area is very cozy, very bright thanks to the presence of a skylight. We have two elements that characterize the space. A lower white lacquered furniture located at the base of the pitch roof that provides a TV rack, storage space and a bar. And in front of it, a dynamic wall featured by the integration of storage, a walnut bookshelf and a fold-down transforming bed. This system allows, in the daytime, a big living area for guests. In the night, there is a real double bed always ready to be used at any time because it's fast and easy to open. The bed is opened and closed using a handle positioned on the front shelf. When open, the front shelf pivots to become a support of the bed and you don't have to remove any object from it. The kitchen is a full height block that follows the pitch roof lines. The kitchen is fully equipped with refrigerator, hot plate, oven and dishwasher. It has a lot of storage space that is covered by white lacquered doors. I put a floor to ceiling mirror at the end of the corridor between the door of the bathroom and the door of the bedroom to enlarge the prospective space. The sleeping room is the most complicated part of the apartment probably because it's where the two pitch roof are meeting and they live in very few square meters available. It has a king bed that has a storage underneath. Then we have a lower block based at the end of the pitch roof provided in the TV rack and plenty of storage. The wardrobe has a back part of the centerpieces that divides the bedroom from the rest of the apartment. Through the other sliding door you can access to the bathroom that has very light finishings. There is also a skylight on the roof and a big mirror that also enlarges the prospective space. It has a built-in basin with a washing machine hidden underneath. We installed a bleached oak on the floor throughout the apartment to give continuity to the space. I used a lot of indirect light to emphasize the architecture structure. I combined it with many small spotlights all around the flat. There is no reason to let your square meters limit both the aesthetic and the functional potential of your home. Good design allows you to experience a small unit not as a compromise but as a lifestyle choice. I challenge myself to find a purpose for every single square meters of the apartment and to avoid any waste of space. The apartment is located in the Madonna di Campania district which is in the northwest of Turin. On the street you can find coffee bars and several Italian delis. The building was built in 1957 and it has never been renovated since then. My name is Davide Minervini. I'm an Italian architect from Turin, a city in the northwest of Italy. I'm also the owner of this apartment. The apartment was in very poor condition. The configuration of the space was not functional at all. There were also several structural mistakes that I tried to eliminate or at least hide during the renovation. The room on the right was the bedroom while the room on the left was the living room with the kitchenette. The first things I did was to switch the bedroom and the living room around so you are in the living room when entering the apartment. I demolished the entrance corridor. It was a terrible waste of space. I then increased the size of the bathroom by extending the bathroom walls. The old kitchenette was turned into a walk-in closet and the kitchen was moved to the living area into a custom-made wooden wall which stretches across the entire room. There is a small entrance as you enter the apartment. Here you'll find a storage wall which separates the entrance from the bathroom to create some privacy. For the living room I wanted to create two different areas despite it being only 18 square meters. A living room on one hand and a kitchen and dining on the other hand. Along one side of the wall I created a custom floor-to-ceiling integrated storage unit. For the inside I chose to use MDF with an oak laminate. It contrasts well with the white and makes the inside feel warmer. The TV is mounted on the wall and it is linked to the storage unit on the left. This is where I keep my PS4 and Amazon Alexa. There is a compact grey two-seat sofa that makes a natural separation between the living and the kitchen and dining area. I painted the ceiling black to enhance the white of the walls even further. The floor in the entire apartment is a light natural wood. On the other side of the living room is the kitchen. It sits by the balcony so it receives a lot of natural light. The kitchen appliances are cleverly hidden away behind some holding doors when not in use. This way the room can be transformed from time to time according to its use. There's a sink, an induction hob, an oven and a dishwasher. One of the drawers is oak just for a bit of fun. I chose to have the splashback finished in a bright blue which really pops against the white of the kitchen. The dining table is from a local furniture shop. The table can be extended when I have guests over. Last Christmas I had 14 friends over for dinner in this room. Above the living area there is a ceiling lamp that lights up the sofa and the ottoman. In the dining area there is a custom triangle light that points to the dinner table. It is made from wood and polycarbonate. I designed it just for this space. Along one wall of the living and dining area I installed four IKEA pegboards in a row. It is really handy to be able to hang items or store them in small containers. Plus it's really cheap. The hallway divides the living room and the bedroom. It is deliberately as small as possible. It houses my washing machine. The bedroom is a 15 square meters room. This room used to have a kitchenette which I turned into a walk-in closet. It is quite a luxury for a small apartment. Beside it is another custom storage unit and a large mirror. The walls in the bedroom are painted in the same bright blue as the kitchen's flashback. It creates a visual link between the rooms, especially when the doors to the living room and the bedroom are open. By the window there is a large wooden desk for when I work from home. There is a niche by the desk with shelves. I added a translucent door to keep my personal belongings. It also functions as a light. To make it easier to access the bay window when it needs a clean, I designed the top of the desk to open up like a bar counter. The original bathroom had a strange corner by the window. It was not functional at all, so I made a translucent partition made from wood and polycarbonate. It became the place I used to hide the boiler without losing the natural light from the window. For the finish, I chose to use a black floor resin with black elegant wall tiles and black paint for the rest of the wall. The ceiling and shower walls are white, which gives it a three-dimensionality to this small room. Small spaces can be as elegant, fun and comfortable as bigger apartments. Tiny living spaces must find their quality and distinctive features. To be attractive and comfortable for the majority of the people who live in cities like Turin or even bigger. The flat is located in the center of Florence. We think it was built in the 12th century. I wanted the house to be a precious corner of tranquility in the city. A place where people could find and express themselves. It's right in front of Palazzo Pitti in a residential area which is called Santo Spirito. It is the most authentic part of the city where among the narrow alleys you can find many workshops of restorers, carpenters, lute makers and blacksmiths. My name is Claudio Peratelli and I'm a partner architect at Peratelli Architettura Studio in Florence. The building is residential so there are different kinds of people living in there including me and my partner. This flat was a part of a bigger apartment of my parents' house and I decided to divide it and make an independent entrance and create completely a new style and a new atmosphere inside. This portion of the house was originally a living area with a bathroom. I realised a new kitchen and realised new made-to-measure interior furniture and changed the materials and the colours. To help the flat breathe I didn't want to have furniture all over the place and restrict the freedom of movement. I wanted to have an open space, free and easy to use. It was important for each of the areas to flow from one room to another. I chose white as the main colour for the walls and the cabinets with wood floors, blue feature walls and black accents. As you enter the flat there is a bright window which brings in a lot of natural light to this narrow space. I also added a simple bar to hand coat. Walking further in the area surprisingly opened to a double height space. Here you can see right through the arch to the kitchen and up the stairs to the loft bedroom. This added contrast between the vertical double height and the horizontal living area. The living room is down three steps of stairs. It has two different heights due to the loft. The first half is higher so I installed a white lacquered flooring shelf that goes right up toward the ceiling. The highest shelf can actually be reached from the loft. Below the shelf is a lacquered wooden bench that stretches across the length of the wall. It forms the base for the larger made-to-measure sofa with a cushion on one side and on the other side there is a built-in planted box. Since the walls of the apartment are not parallel I decided to design the sofa with one side shorter than the other to make the room more symmetrical. We kept the area under the staircase simple where there is a wall-mounted TV, my bike and a statue. A round arch characterized the space giving depth and proportion to the area. The arch becomes a scenic backdrop framing both kitchen and living room. Through the indigo arch is the kitchen. The cabinets and appliances sit along the back wall in white lacquered wood. It is fully featured with a large sink, an articulating tap, an induction hob, an oven, a hidden dishwasher, fridge and a washing machine. There is also a white marble splashback in the back of the kitchen. Since I wanted the kitchen to be as clean as possible I decided to put the air extractor in the false ceiling on top of the sink. A small floating dining table sits across from the kitchen. The floating design frees up space underneath so we can comfortably seat two people and the chairs can be pushed all the way in when not in use. Up a step and through the door of the kitchen there is a walk-in closet and the bathroom. The bathroom is compact but has everything you need. A tub with shower, wash basin, a toilet, a bidet and some shelves. The sleeping area is up the cantilever staircase which was originally there and I just changed the colours and the finishes because I really loved the fact that it is floating and not wasting so much space. We wanted to keep the loft minimal so it is simply furnished with a double bed and a bedside table. The jewel of this flat is the tiny window at the bedroom through which you can admire the dome of the Renaissance Church of Santo Spirito. The glass bellows allows light to enter the room and harmoniously keep the flow throughout the rooms. The loft has access to a large walk-in closet and more storage for all of my things. It makes up more than half of the side of the loft. It helps me to keep the overall space tidy and uncluttered. The floor throughout the apartment is a French herringbone parquet. Its light natural finish and semi-reflective surface helps illuminate the whole flat. Usually when we design a little apartment we decide to bring as much light as possible inside. It will make the space feel bigger. Living in the city has a lot of advantages because you have everything you need just around the corner. You have your family and your friends close to you and you can also live the life of your neighbourhood. If you're sleeping on a sofa bed right now it's largely because of this family. Multifunctional furniture as we know it was pioneered by Campeggi, a family business and brand founded in 1959 halfway between Milan and Lake Como. If you don't know the name Campeggi, you should because we have a lot to thank these godfathers of what they call convertible furniture. We take convertible furniture for granted these days. Walk into any luxury showroom and you'll find sofas that become beds, beds that become lounge sets, lounge sets that split and divide, cell-like, into chairs, chairs that morph back into sofas. Flexibility is a core principle of modern design. But Campeggi were making multifunctional furniture before the industry even had a name for such things. Our current favourite is Brando, produced by Campeggi and designed by the award-winning Giuseppe Aresi, a collapsible camp bed that resembles a giant upholstered centipede. Part chair, part recliner, part poof. Brando looks delightfully like it's about to crawl out of the living room door. The apartment is located in a downtown neighbourhood where tradition and innovation meet. The building is a residential building constructed in the late 19th century and completely refurbished in the 90s. My name is Caterina Pilar Palumbo and I'm an architect. I live and work in the apartment. I wanted a multifunctional space that is both a place to live and an architect's office. When I first saw the apartment, the first room was a living area and a kitchen. There was a door to a narrow and gloomy corridor. Up this corridor, there were three more doors. I also wanted to increase the light coming into the apartment, so I removed all the unnecessary doors and small walls and converted the storage room into a kitchen. I added the blue mezzanine and I created the subdivision between private and public areas. Since the space is multifunctional, it's important to create fluidity between the different areas. Entering the apartment, you see the dining room, meeting room with a round table and transparent folding chairs around it. There are a lot of display shelves on the walls full of materials and samples. Looking up, you see the bookcase and the sliding blue step ladder that is used to read the books in my library and also to access the mezzanine. The kitchen is small and minimal, but it's carefully designed. There are two cupboards with flap doors, a small fridge, some drawers and a range hood. The benchtop is deeper than usual because there are three hidden storage boxes at the rear. The bathroom hasn't been relocated and its fundamental layout is unchanged. A sliding plexiglass pane conceals the storage area and also functions as a shower screen. The ceiling is fully illuminated and everyone who comes in for the first time asks if there is a skylight. It's actually a custom-made plexiglass panel with concealed LED illumination. There is the office and the living area with two cantilevered wooden desks where I work and a blue sofa for both working and relaxing. The sofa is a Japanese futon, so it can also become a bed for guests. I've designed a lot of cupboards on wheels that are used around the apartment for different functions. The one next to the sofa hides a projector, for example. The mezzanine intersects the two cubes, maximising the space and dividing the private area above from the public area below. The hand-raised structure is designed as a frame to let the light come in. If you look out, you see the bookcase and the geometry of the 12 lights on the ceiling. Close to the wall, there are four white panels that slide open to reveal storage, the heater and the sleeping area. On the right, there is a wardrobe and on the left, a bed with a side table. A lamp is hung on the blue structure. To enlarge the space and give fluidity, I chose to restrict the palette of materials. Terrazzo floor, blue steel for the mezzanine, half-white tiles with small blue dots and white panels for storage. Bergamo is full of old buildings that we need to maintain and use. I like the possibility that come from using new materials in antique spaces. Giving them new life is the most sustainable way to design. During the renovations, we discovered the beautiful frescoes underneath paint and render. We decided to make these walls a part of the apartment's design language. I'm Jacopo Rettondini, lead architect at Archiplan Studio. The building is located in the historical city center of Mantua, in the northern Italy region of Lombardy. The apartment is 36 square meters. The building was built in the 15th century and has gone through a lot of transformations since then. It used to be the apartment for the client's grandma, but now her grandson lives here. The client's brief was to divide the single apartment into two apartments. We decided to knock down the wall between the original rooms created a new entrance. Then we added a bathroom, a sleeping cube and a kitchen and dining area. All of this would be built around the cube that sits in the middle of the apartment. At the entrance there is a storage area where you can keep your keys and shoes. Just a few steps from the entrance, on the side of the wooden cube, is also an area to hang your coat. At one stage, the apartment resembled an archaeological site. We discovered the beautiful frescoes underneath paint and render. The walls underneath were scored and marked with signs of different ages like something you would see in a museum. The living room is a combined space with the kitchen and dining room. We designed and made a long oak bench to sit by the window. We decorated it with objects, but it can also be an area where you can sit. We designed a simple kitchen that sits along the wall. The materials we used were wood painted in light grey for the cabinets and a brass finish We chose to go with an induction hob that can be mounted to the wall and placed on a counter when required. This frees up much needed kitchen counter space in a small apartment. The dining area sits along the wall of the cube. There is a floating bench seat integrated into the wall which doubles as a seat for the dining table. The dining table can be extended to seat up to 8 guests and the bench against the wall can also be used as additional seating. The dining table can also be used as an office desk when working from home. Given the small size of the space and the particularity of the wall surfaces, it was immediately decided to create a central element or the bedroom cube. Since the ceiling is in the way to the ceiling this helps visually by letting you see around the cube but also helps with air flow around the apartment. Inside the cube is the bedroom. A double bed sits on top of a platform which has built-in storage that can be accessed at the end of the bed. There is an integrated bed head at the other end of the bed and there is access on the way up for additional storage. We made little circular cutouts through the cube to frame the walls on the outside and added two windows to allow visual relationship with the surrounding space. At the end of the bed there is a floor-to-ceiling wardrobe that can be concealed by a curtain. The curtain makes for a softer division of the space and makes it easier to pass outside of the bedroom entrance. There is a square resin sink which sits on an oak bench the same as the one in the living area. To keep things minimal we placed all the plumbing within the base of the sink. Through a sliding door is where the rest of the bathroom is. There is a shower, a bidet and a toilet. We placed the plumbing into the wall of the bedroom. We think it's important to make custom furniture for these small spaces in order to make full use of the space and keep the design cohesive. It is also important to maintain historical aspects of the building while introducing contemporary elements. The idea is to maximize and bring character to the limited space within the building.