A penthouse, located in an 18th century building in Padua’s historic city center, just a few steps away from the Eremitani church and the Scrovegni chapel. The client is a fifty-year-old entrepreneur from Padua who decided to buy the apartment to have a space, or perhaps better a refuge, which would allow him and his daughters to fully enjoy their home, able to dedicate themselves to their interests or leisure activities while always staying together. Architect Giuseppe Tortato breaks the mold and surprises with new volumes of glass and greenery, taking advantage of the double-height spaces and different levels of a “vertical” penthouse—the result of a patchwork of connected spaces created at different times.
It was no simple task: the penthouse extended over three levels and any potential charm was marred by a cursory renovation that was done in the 1980s. The apartment consisted of a group of potentially interesting but disjointed rooms. A comprehensive vision was lacking, emotion was lacking.
Giuseppe Tortato eliminated the superfluous additions, bringing the existing wooden structures to the fore, bringing light back into the spaces, creating order from chaos with a new “narrative” which, from the entrance, leads into a kitchen featuring a set of volumes and “suspended” platforms that amplify the potential of the original double-height spaces and different levels.
The goal was to create a peaceful family refuge but also a dynamic environment that could welcome guests and take advantage of the different heights to create special locations and spaces that were visually linked to each other and overlooking the great room, the fulcrum of the entire project. Conceived almost as a central “town square”, flanked and overlooked by discrete environments. Natural colors and materials dominate. The black parquet features a sawn finish, the sand-colored walls are plastered with natural clay.
Everything finally finds its own space: there is a wall garden at the entrance, suddenly a tree rises to the roof, soaking in light from the new rooftop skylight; next to it is the piano. The study overlooks the living room like a discreet jewel, a glass case that becomes the father's "tree house" set in the original wall, suspended and projecting towards the piano and the fireplace, which allows the parent to enjoy sharing the space with his daughters, who are perhaps intent on playing in the room below. Ascending to a suspended platform you find yourself in the fireplace area, fronted by an open, sectional sofa in the center of the room, which faces both the antique fireplace and the new built-in unit, on the opposite side, which contains the TV and the technological hub that manages all of the home systems.
A final large platform contains the dining area, onto which the kitchen opens, separated and at the same time joined to it by a large glass wall: the light from the two rooms co-penetrates, amplifying the spaces and enhanced by the natural wood of the ceiling and the wall surface treatments, inspired by natural clay tones and designed with Matteo Brioni.
On the left, a hidden staircase leads up to the loft sleeping area: a small balcony, jutting out into the double-height space of the living room. A small ‘teatime terrace’, surrounded by low glass walls, which visually connects the upper floor with the central ‘square’, A place designed for relaxation, to read and listen to music, but also to entertain guests on special occasions.
A house that embraces those who live there and their guests, which surprises and excites, as warm as the earth and the light that it always manages to capture.
