00:03The apartment is located in Deva Marina on the Liguria Riviera, more or less two hours from Milan,
00:16not distant from the Cinque Terre. This is a summer house for clients of ours,
00:24a couple in their 60s and their two daughters.
00:32The brief was super simple. We wanted to get two rooms out of the 35 square meters to the apartment.
00:58Liguria is a region squeezed between the mountains and the sea with a strong sailing and fishing tradition.
01:09Deva Marina is a hybrid between old Ligurian architecture and new architecture from the 60s and from the 70s.
01:24This building was built in the 70s and it's always been a residential building.
01:31The apartment was a studio apartment as it was designed in the 70s.
01:40It was nothing more than a big undefined room.
01:51The change of the floor plan was literal. We opened the door to the bathroom facing the entrance
01:58and we created two sleeping rooms in the corner of the apartment, one on top of each other.
02:08The nautical culture was fundamental for the development of this project.
02:14We visited the Salone Nautico, an important nautical fair, and we measured how people live in sailing modes.
02:27At the entrance, on the right hand side, we have a walk-in closet.
02:38And storage room from top to bottom.
02:45We designed a wood line on the multifunctional wall that leads you from the entrance to the living area,
02:52the core of the apartment, and it mimics the waterline of a boat.
03:01The wall is made of occume, also called marine plywood, and it's laminated in white and blue.
03:08And the continuity between the hull and the sky is interrupted by the wooden waterline.
03:18We designed the living room as an open space in order to maximise the natural light coming from the window,
03:25so the living area is bright and light.
03:30Following the waterline all around the apartment, you reach the kitchen.
03:38We combined the kitchen and the living area as a gathering place for the family.
03:47The kitchen is small but fully equipped with hot plates, oven, refrigerator and everything is needed.
04:01The kitchen has been designed with customised IKEA pieces in order to keep the budget low.
04:10Instead of using cabinets above the kitchen, we designed angled floating shelves in order to maximise the lights coming from
04:20the small window.
04:25The master bedroom is accessible through two large doors and its interior is imagined almost like the inside of a
04:35whale's ribcage, bound by structural wooden ribs.
04:42The master bedroom, like a sailboat cabin, contains the essentials, a double bed and a minimum storage space.
04:58At the end part of the wall, through a small door, you reach the second sleeping area.
05:06Climbing up steep stairs as if climbing onto an attic of a small fisherman's house.
05:16The small openings that bring light to the little space have been thought as windows that overlook at the sleeping
05:24area and facilitate the airflow.
05:31We purposely designed the wall so that you can tell which is a door and which is a window to
05:37minimise the visual clutter which is important when designing a small space.
05:44We also included some open shelving in order for the client to bring their personal touch by displaying their items.
05:55We followed through the nautical concept in the bathroom as well by using blue tiles, wooden diagonal shelves and for
06:08the floor we used tiles inspired by the decking of a boat.
06:15We also placed a laundry at the bathroom entrance.
06:23A balcony completes the apartments and can be used to dine or just relax while looking at the Ligurian Hills.
06:38We believe that every apartment should be tailored for people who live in it.
06:44Small spaces need to have their complexity.
06:48We need different spaces to do different things and good design tiny apartments are those that allow the owner to
06:57live in them in a complex and complete way.
07:09user-based linkage
Comments