Location_Alzaia Naviglio Pavese, Milan,Italy
Year_2014
Area_35 sqm
Client_private
Services_Project + handcraft realization
Who said that architecture is just for rich people?
For every pocket there is a response, as in all the others sectors of market.
For this small apartment at the sixth floor of a residential block built in the ’60 and located along the Pavese Canal in Milan we realized a really low-cost refurbishment.
The project operation started from the totally empty rooms of a modest rented apartment.
A space like many others, absolutely neutral and without any distinguishing marks, even though from the terrace you see the Duomo’s Madonnina, far away, really far away!
The project aims to create an environment tailored to the needs of the clients, but with minimal cost, considering the possibility that they might change home quickly, as often happens in metropolitan life style.
Lightweight materials are empoyeed to construct furniture removable and reconfigurable elsewhere, without giving up the virtues of the tailor made and the handicraft.
Living
The entrance room, too big compared to the total area of the apartment, has been transformed into a living and dining area.
A large painting of Michele Brembilla is located in front of the entrance door, beneath it a suspended bookshelf made of plywood library remark the new function of living room.
The bookshelf is designed as a modular element replicable in other parts of the house as the collection of books grows.Unlike a normal shelf does not need bookends, it protects the books from dust and is easily repositionable: in case of move, allows the transportation with all the books inside!
The dining area, too small to be set up with a normal table and chairs, it’s furnished with benches on wheels and a table cantilivered from the wall.
The material used is 22mm thick plywood in form of structural boxes.
The table is suspended to allow the easy handling of the benches and quick cleaning of the floor.
The inner faces of the boxes have been painted with zinc varnish.
A plexiglass vessel contain soil for indoor plants to allows the growth of decorative plants, such as ivy, along the supporting cable.
Kitchen
The small kitchen is designed with two facing blocs, using two stainless steel banks by Ikea.
One of the two countertop has been pierced out to install an induction stove.
The oven was bought at a factory outlet and in the absence of the traditional container unit has been mounted on wheels.
Bedroom
We decide to occupy an entire side of the room with a custom made closet.
A low-cost technology allowed to set up an extremely large closet maximizing the capability space up to the ceiling (h. 300 cm), at the same price of a standard Ikea wardrobe 2 meters high.
The structure is made of steel tracks that allow extreme flexibility.
The shelf brackets are like trapezoidal steel blade, unusually elegant for this type of shelving.
The shelves are again in raw plywood.
The cabinet doors are sliding panel whose upper basilar rail system it’s clad by a band of aluminum.
The material of the doors is a non-slip mat, normally used as an under-carpet, that becomes a perforated surface of great suggestion.
Despite the negligible cost of about 2.5 euro per sqm has a beautiful ivory color and an interesting chess geometry.
The bed was custom built with panels of plywood.The element is characterized by an headboard that runs along the wall and incorporate bed lights behind two slit.
As in all the other furniture of the house, we use plywood 22mm thick, an extremely cheap but very durable material.
As nightstands we decide to hacker an Ikea furniture that look similar to plywood panels, the integration with the handmade bed it’s obtained through the simple elimination of legs and handles.