On the piano nobile of a majestic early 18th-century building, 160 square metres of pure elegance reveal the fragments of a past able to perfectly coexist with modern history.
How much beauty is hidden under layers of badly-told history, or under disruptive fashion pages that sometimes erase even the noblest marks that the past has left us!?
It also happened in this living space that we now see roaring and bright; a place full of charm, as well as chromatic and stylistic refinement.
The flat – located in one of Turin’s most beautiful buildings – was previously an office, divided into many small narrow areas marked by dark corners, due to the maze of rooms and corridors.
The renovation, signed by architect Denise Vilardi – Studio Officina 8A –, focused on eliminating everything that clashed with the real shape and size of the flat, since what made it unique and “noble” had been completely hidden and sacrificed under layers of practical modernity.
The period details had been covered up, as well as frameworks, arches and decorations; the floor had been suffocated by carpet: only one room had been spared, revealing the original flooring.
There was nothing left to do but to align past and present, by creating optimal spaces in harmony with the customers’ expectations – a couple with grown-up children, who no longer live with them –, merging the previous history with modern comforts, for a new architectural and life project.
The living area is marked by great fluidity, “open” with flexible closures. The delicate colours used for the furnishings match perfectly with the ancient frescoes that decorate the ceilings, creating a refined stylistic balance.
The wainscoting that adorns the walls seems to embrace the entire volume.
The mezzanine relaxation area peeks into the living room through pre-existing glazed arches, thus creating another area, secluded and full of charm.
Below the mezzanine level, the open kitchen was designed as an independent white block, marked by light furnishings and great simplicity, capable of enhancing the features of the living room, which is the star of the house.
The chromatic contrast of the walnut floor offers a velvety reference to the past, since it has been recovered and integrated by some fragments dismantled from noble buildings, in order to have a material that is coeval with the period of the structure.
The staircase that leads to the mezzanine level boasts simple and minimal cantilevered steps, which blend into the environment with refinement and discretion. They emphasize the pre-existing features rather than adding superfluous elements, which may clash with the new mood, created for this classic and monumental context that dialogues harmoniously with the interiors, between frescoes, wainscoting and the ancient wooden flooring.
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