00:02we were a couple looking for a house I got the telephone call from the bank and
00:10they said the mortgage has been accepted so you can come and sign and said okay
00:15and you watching music you are pregnant when we realized that this place was
00:25meant to be for three and not two you have a lot of stuff a lot of things to to
00:30think about as a designer it was a challenge a beautiful challenge we would
00:37like to have this kind of fluidity and openness also for our baby to pass through
00:42the space hi I'm Elenia and I'm Andrea we both are architects and we are living
00:50here with our son our apartment is 41 square meters we are in the north side
01:02of Milan in the Martesana River area it's green is open it's like living in the
01:09countryside we always say it would be nice to live here it's not so common to
01:17find a place like this near the center of the city we are really well
01:22connected we discovered a place which was small and dark and whatever but when
01:30we arrived here the first thing we said no it's incredible it's the openness the
01:36park and this feeling of nature instead of cars this is the entrance a small place
01:44but we try to to keep as a proper entrance this is the existing wall and it's one
01:52of the few things remains from the the old layout of the house all the Wi-Fi and
01:59internet connection electricity stuff are here the kids here everything throw in
02:05this drawer shoes here they are the ones we use in the season and then we have a
02:11place in the in the room where we hide the shoes for the rest of the the year
02:17and then of course all the the jacket and little stuff we need to storage here
02:22inside furniture lighting is useful also during the night if we are need something
02:29the wardrobe without switch on all the proper lighting you know the last thing
02:35you do before leaving you check out and then you go there are two paper works of
02:43Toppi which was an artist this is our guardian we like to say that and the
02:49other one is the guardian of our son there is a little window on top of the
02:54door in every door in the building for the cross ventilation it was a strong
02:59light coming in at night we didn't want to close it definitely no so we hide the
03:06living room is just next to the entrance this furniture is also used by a side
03:12table for the sofa we have which it comes from my partner of the office Cesare when
03:19he left to go to to Edinburgh we changed the color and we're still using we can
03:25change the position of this element it's a perfect bed for one person so sometimes
03:32happen that we have some guests my mother his mother that taking care of the baby so
03:40can stay here but of course sharing the concept of the house it's a open room we
03:48decided also to put a tree there the reason of the will is because of the light we need
03:53to turn a bit to give him the possibility to grow in all direction we
04:00brought some playfulness we painted in yellow the like a rising sun from the
04:07east side of the house we put it these two shelves there to have books and
04:13Polaroids and stuff but also to hide the air conditioning which is something that
04:20we use only in summer a couple of weeks or more so it's it's like easy to use the
04:28panel of the same sorts as Alpi wood is nice because we don't see this technical
04:36object inside now everywhere toys or parties around and around and around which is
04:46good he really loves to play in this area that are the most articulated with step and wine
04:56bottles but we are trying to educate him what to do what not in a way also this
05:03mirror he really likes to play with all the mirrors in the in the house but of
05:08course for us also it's a way to control him in some way because from the
05:13kitchen I can see this area I made this bookshelf when I was in a university for
05:21my room we painted in a different color that is a bit matching with the floor and
05:27all the colors we have in this room all the element can be moved to maintain also
05:33the stability of this bookshelf we have all the magazines and some books of course
05:40our radio station that we switch on every morning my notebooks I think is from the
05:49beginning of the university in general like in 2001 sketching is something daily
05:56really in our work life it's something playful we sketch with the with Aris we
06:04are stepping on an original floor you can see it in the entrance of the house
06:10downstairs the ground floor the date of the building is 58 59 I think it's real
06:17marbles in these concrete tiles very typical and very cheap at the time but now
06:23it's not so cheap demolishing everything and redoing everything tabula rasa we
06:29avoid tabula rasa it lose the taste of the house if there are some pieces that are proper of the
06:37building of the house you cannot find in another house and maybe with all the new
06:43furniture and intervention you will realize how to make it good-looking for for you this
06:51is probably one of the most important thing that lead us to buy the apartment the balcony here we
06:58stay here outside in the morning having a coffee or in the sunset is very beautiful the relation
07:06with the the waters running waters and the and the park is fantastic when the Sun is getting very
07:16hot on the three side we have these shutters we can sit here is not so hot during summer a
07:26lot of
07:26people want the kitchen to be closed and hidden for us no the kitchen most of the time is messy
07:33and
07:33whatever but it's not a matter for us it's it's good to have a lot of space to work and
07:39cook and put
07:41stuff we can do it in the natural light being also you know with the people if I'm here and
07:46Ilenia and Aris they are playing there we are together but we have a functional space the original
07:53kitchen was very tiny like 1 meter 20 and with a wall here and a wall here the other window
08:01there was 120
08:04centimeter bathroom so there were two spaces divided we worked also on the depth of this wall in order to
08:11have more space for the cabinet
08:14the feeling of the stained steel that you really can bring things without fear of ruining a beautiful marble or
08:22something else we use it we use it and we use it and if there are scratches is part of
08:28the nature of the
08:29of the material we played anyway with with materials like these marbles we cut from an old broken table inside
08:39we
08:40have you know all the stuff that is needed for for a kitchen it's like drawing and drawer and it
08:49it's very useful
08:51instead of opening and going until the bottom to find the plate is more it's very easy to to use
08:58and actually we
08:59discovered that with the baby is more difficult for him to open and smash everything so it's fine at the
09:06beginning we use this
09:08sink like a bath for a Ferrari with a proper stool this part we use also for as a storage
09:16with all the proper
09:18thing to change him and this is like the place where we used to change him so here we gained
09:26one module that
09:27we use that in the beginning was the the fridge and we put the fridge in the side that is
09:36also storage for you
09:37know all the cleaning stuff also all the blinds here are automatic we we took away the original
09:44shutters that were in bad conditions when you have a baby in your arm and you cannot open the the
09:51shutters in this way yes you just push a button choosing and deciding things and as a designer for your
09:58own place it's easier in a way but when both you are designer it makes more you know an internal
10:07fight
10:08sometime not to to to fight the right balance but it was a kind of fluid process because of course
10:14we
10:14are with the same purpose same thinking about natural light about how to maintain the floor
10:23it's our first home together so it was really exciting we are still designing things and still
10:30arguing about how to develop the home stepping from the kitchen to the the bedroom we had a wall
10:39and it was very a pity because this is the west side and we have a very beautiful light when
10:45the the sun
10:46set and probably in those hours we are here working with the kitchen we are here cooking playing again
10:54with the same material as we did in the entrance of the bathroom we played with this two screens if
11:02we
11:02are here during the evening and our son sleeps there because we sleep in the same room we can close
11:07it we
11:08can have the privacy and we can have this but of course when you open lights and mood change completely
11:17no
11:17so you have openness you have the feeling of the four windows
11:24entering the bedroom we see the wardrobe this wardrobe is divided in three parts these are mine
11:33and andreas and then there is this one for aris the sliding panels becomes a huge mirror is useful
11:45as a mirror can be and also enlarge the the space of the of the room this is the new
11:53size bed of aris
11:55it's growing fast more than expected it's cool because we can move it around and
12:00uh probably one day we will pull him on the other room in order to have more uh privacy for
12:07him and
12:08for us we are just fine now having this area to sleep together when we bring aris to sleep
12:15we we just pass through and we say a goodbye to the to the sun which is setting so it's
12:21time to go to
12:22sleep and we close up everything here is the only upper storage above the head of the bed so it's
12:30not uh annoying the this uh under leveling there is the air conditioning we really love hiding it
12:40this is a kind of portrait of a family portrait because this eye is my eye this is me when
12:48i was
12:48pregnant and this is uh always before before uh coming to the world
12:59we worked with this full height panels that actually hides doors so you enter a bathroom from
13:07from this panel that doesn't look like a door because we want to emphasize the height of this
13:13uh the the ceilings and the lightness that brings inside this panel is actual wood the the structure
13:21but the the finishing is a pattern designed by Ettore Sozzas for alpi wood and is uh from the 70s
13:33the bathroom is quite small of course because we compress the space as much as possible it's a proper
13:39laundry so you have here washer dryer and all the stuff and the system for heating the water it's a
13:47built-in sink with a uh together with the
13:51with the shower we bought a concrete sink and then we built around a little slab to sustain it and
14:00then
14:00uh breaks and then waterproofing and then putting the the resin a drawer here which you can imagine is full
14:10of
14:10things that is needed in the bathroom the electricity system we tried with this horizontal mirror to
14:16emphasize and to enlarge uh the the size of the of the bathroom in this uh final part we have
14:25the bidet and
14:26uh the vc when we discovered that we were waiting a baby we designed this shower as a bathtub it's
14:35uh you
14:36know it's not that big but you can fill it up in the water until like 40 centimeters so it's
14:43uh maybe
14:44for an adult not that much but it's a proper bathtub for baby and this is the window that allows
14:52the the steam going out when we use the shower even in during the day this allows to bring natural
15:00light inside from west and from south
15:05sometimes people say ah you are now have a sun so you will have to change the the place as
15:13soon as
15:13possible and we are like no why i mean we are not in a rush the quality of space is
15:20the most important
15:21thing so for now this is the best we did but then see you in the next two years maybe
15:28there will be
15:29another baby or another a dog i don't know so we need to find how to manage the space and
15:36feel comfortable
15:37for everybody there there is room for changing and optimizing the space again there is a family here
15:46with the same apartment apartment and they are in six so they are living there so i think we can
15:55manage
15:56for a while being three or four higher by them when i was still pregnant and maybe sometimes during the
16:03night i woke up we saw the reflection of the water on the ceiling and it was fantastic that's amazing
16:12yeah and when you walk with a baby at three o'clock in the morning you have this perception it's
16:18not
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