A single-family house with a garden and a British-style brick façade, just a short walk from the Royal Palace in Monza, has been reconfigured by Icona Architetti Associati to permanently accommodate the owners—a couple who had previously used it mainly as a secondary residence during periods of work, sometimes extended, in the Far East.

The defining feature of the house is its single primary exposure overlooking a charming English-style garden set within a very deep courtyard. The residence thus takes the form of a three-level cube that receives light only from its main façade and from a skylight carved into the roof. Like a blade, this skylight cuts through the volume from above, allowing zenithal light to cascade down into the various interiors.

The clients’ brief was to transform the atmosphere of the house to meet new needs: to make it more comfortable, more contemporary, and above all brighter, by employing every possible architectural strategy to maximize natural light. At the same time, existing volumetric constraints were further complicated by the requirement not to alter the position of walls or the internal layout.

The concept therefore focused on the moodboard, identifying the most sensitive points at a granular level and organizing elements and strategies capable of amplifying natural light, while making the spaces more welcoming. The house was stripped of furniture, objects, and all superfluous decorative elements that interfered with its already limited lighting conditions. Very light tones were selected for surfaces and finishes, creating a white box that was then furnished with carefully curated pieces of international design and contemporary, often exotic artworks. Particular attention was paid to spacing and the rarefaction of furnishings, allowing light the greatest possible freedom to diffuse and reverberate.

On the ground floor, a large custom-designed bookcase acts as a filter between the entrance and the living area. Like the flooring, it is made of light oak stained in a very pale gray tone. Designed specifically for the project with interlocking joints and a slender, lightweight structure—almost dematerialized—the bookcase is echoed on the top floor in the study, with a similar module.

The presence of Eastern culture, dear to the clients, emerges subtly and quietly through measured yet consistent choices—for instance, in the use of rounded forms in almost all the furniture: in the conical-base table and in the set of ultra-light vintage chairs in the living room, which allow light to glide across their curved surfaces. It is also evident in the entrance, in the oval armchair by Gio Ponti and the custom-designed cerulean console, above which hangs a mysterious painting by Emilio Tadini.

On the staircase, wallpaper with a pale blue Japanese print accompanies the ascent to the upper floors. The walls create shimmering vibrations, balanced in their brightness by a large dark painting by Vermi, whose gold leaf inserts are subtly echoed in the delicate satin brass railing—a material also featured in numerous other details.

The bedroom is notably characterized by a striking green silk wallpaper and a bedside table that is a piece of traditional Eastern craftsmanship. On the top floor, the study forms a tranquil and complete retreat, with large windows shaded by Venetian blinds overlooking the terrace, and a workspace anchored by the understated Cappellini desk.

In the overall management of the project, strategies of rarefaction, selection, and desaturation successfully achieved the initial goal: to bring light and comfort to a habitat that previously lacked both. The subtle, delicate, and never ostentatious Asian nuance of the interiors—shaped by the clients’ personal history and taste—appears at times through understated references, at others through more explicit citations, yet always mediated and reinterpreted through a rigorous and contemporary language.

It is said that light comes from the East, as that is where the sun rises: perhaps it is precisely the photons of that exotic light that have been captured and harnessed by Icona’s expertise, to shine within the spaces of this small bourgeois residence, in the quiet of Monza.

Team:

Architects: Icona Architetti Associati

Design Team: Federica Poggio, Marco Orto, Domenico Cacciapaglia

Photographer: Paolo Riolzi

Materials Used:

Blackout

Penta Light: Glo

FontanaArte: Pinecone

Artemide: Tolomeo

Egoluce: Tappo

Foscarini: Tartan

Flos: Taccia, Ic light, Mini globall

Bega

Cassina

Bontempi

Ferrerolegno

Olivari

Desalto

Flou

Molteni

Art & Carpets

Mobile lavandino con Pietra Beige: Raimondi Marmi

Mottura

Cappellini

Unopiù

Fantini

Ceramica Cielo

Raimondi marmi

Italgraniti

Dedar

Milano Parquet