The thread of the project is the connection between the respect for the identity of an architectural construction from the beginning of the 20th century and the desire for a confrontation with it using the instruments and tools of a contemporary architect.
The pavilion is situated in the heart of an area of Art Deco pavilions between the Villa Torlonia and the Termini train station. The task proposed by the client concerned the restoration of the existing building in order to bring it up to date to contemporary norms, and the realization of an apartment for his private residence.
On the ground floor and the second floor, the existing building was the object of a typical restoration, with the recovery of the original colors, the improvement of the vertical distribution, and the replanting of the large garden surrounding it.
On the other hand, the two upper floors and the terraced roof were completely rethought, in order to make place for a duplex destined as the client’s private apartment.
His principal requirement was to have an apartment where space allowed the inhabitants to interact easily with each other, and at the same time, allowed them to preserve their intimacy.
We therefore imagined a central nucleus clad in travertine, empty and luminous, containing the “events” of the apartment: the music room, the patio, the entry hall with the large stairway, and the kitchen. These elements constitute a single unified room, and span the entire space in such a manner as to filter the portion containing the bedrooms and the living rooms.
The two-storeys space of the entry hall and patio is the heart of the project. From there, the staircase, a typical element of buildings from the beginning of the 20th century, winds through the entryway, breaking up the rigid division between the rooms. It creates a promenade across the entire apartment, all the way through to the exterior, toward the suspended gardens and the roof areas, where one’s view can embrace the landscape of the city and the surrounding hills.
Client: Private
Architecture: SCAPE
Structural Engineering: Marcello Colasanti, Antonio Del Buono
Plant engineering: Italco
Site security: Romana Farinelli
Landscape Design: Letizia Carpi
Task: Complete (study and construction)
Chronology: 2004-2009 (delivery)
Principal apartment: 390 sq m
Terraces: 198 sq m
Guesthouse: 80 sq m
Terraces: 53 sq m
Budget: 1.100.000 €
Photo credits: Ernesta Caviola
