We were asked to refurbish an existing attic in the city. The main requirement from the client was to design a space for a living and for display his personal collection of paintings. On the other side, we wanted to evoke the feelings of a suburban house and take them into the city.
The refurbishment was made on an existing penthouse that was affected by strict regulations that impeded to modify the alignment of the façade walls. So, as an evolution of the previous layout (very closed, with corridors and room on both sides), we proposed a system of habitable bubbles by covering and breaking the existing outer walls, that, thanks to the space that surround them, blur the boundaries between the inside and the outside. Each bubble host a different use: dining, living, main bedroom, children bedroom… while the space in between works as service and circulation.
We proposed a small number of materials, making sure that they were as durable as possible.
In this way, the bubble’s walls were cladded with opaque white glass. Apparently contradictory with the creation of an art display system, this constructive solution gets very suitable when integrating three lines of flush-mounted rails for hanging paintings. The floor that surrounds the bubbles, that means the terrace as well as the circulation spaces, is paved with long slabs of grey phyllite stone, while their interiors are finished in different solid wood flooring.
In the circulation spaces, these materials were complemented with a continuous perforated gypsum ceiling, in order to counteract the acoustic behavior of the glass.
Finally, we paid special attention to lighting, solving three different levels of use: daily use lighting, by downlights and recessed LED strips around the perimeter; art display lighting, by cardan spotlights; and signalizing lighting in the outside, by LED strips under the glass walls that make bubbles float at night.
