On the first floor of the historic Palazzo Ravera, on the border between Porta Palazzo and the Dora River, a young performing artist purchases a 75-square-meter apartment.
The aim is to turn it into his home, which will also serve as a leatherworking and tailoring workshop, a gym, and a place to host visiting friends, gatherings, and parties.
The budget for the renovation is extremely limited.
The building is one of the most beautiful in the neighborhood, built starting in 1879 on commission from Luigi Ravera on what was then Corso Ponte Mosca.
From our initial site visit, we realized that – as is often the case – numerous and inconsistent alterations had been made to the apartment over the years, radically transforming its spatial layout and original characteristics.
In the three-room apartment – comprising a kitchen, living room, and bedroom – the proportions of the spaces have been significantly altered by the presence of a suspended ceiling made of a mixed structure of steel profiles and even brick-and-concrete. There is no trace left of the period-style framed interior doors, and beneath the 1980s ceramic tiles, the original floors are no longer present.
After the initial disappointment and frustration, the project’s first steps began:
Step 1
Remove everything that had been added and reveal the original structure.
In addition to removing the false ceilings, wall coverings, and elements added during recent renovations, it was decided to also remove the false vaults and infill walls that conceal the building’s load-bearing structure.
Step 2
Assess the situation after demolition, which reveals a completely different space on which to work.
Two large vaulted rooms – one twice the size of the other – overlook Corso Giulio Cesare, while an L-shaped service area extends around the stairwell.
The pleasant surprise is that all the rooms are connected by numerous arched openings that reach almost to the ceiling, just as the niches along the perimeter walls are also arched.
The bad news (but we already knew this) is that the budget is practically gone.
Step 3
Highlight the original structure, with its generous ceiling heights in the vaulted rooms and beautiful arched openings.
In terms of layout, virtually no partitions are added: the elements inserted to define the spaces are kept to a minimum, leaving the original structure of the spaces visible.
Between the living room and the utility area, two smooth-finished concrete volumes are added, which articulate the space and accommodate specific functions: the raised kitchen block, with a worktop that serves as a DJ stand during parties, and the staircase leading to the loft, which houses a space for storing the fixed-gear bicycle indoors.
In the rooms facing Corso Giulio, two mezzanines built with steel beams rescued from demolition and wooden formwork planks make use of the generous ceiling heights to create two sleeping areas.
Between the bedroom and the bathroom, a few lightweight masonry partitions, reduced in height to 240, delineate the walk-in closet and the bathroom area.
The interior windows and doors—whether fixed or movable—are all made of angular steel profiles and cellular polycarbonate.
The arches are emphasized by a smooth, gray-colored finish.
The other surfaces of the existing walls are largely left in their raw state to reveal the traces of the finishes and interventions that have been applied and layered over time.
The self-leveling radiant floor screed is left as the flooring, with a dust-proof finish.
Step 4
Building work is completed, and the client moves into the new home just before the first lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As always, there are still a few elements left to be completed.
So, by ordering materials online and finalizing the design details with us remotely, the owner takes advantage of the lockdown to make the wooden elements himself: the platform connecting the living room and the raised kitchen area, and the storage staircase in the bedroom.
