CASA LIVIA
A collaboration between the architects Paladino and D’Alessio to design Lorenzo Paladino’s (the architect) sister house, located in Guglionesi, a small town in the south of Italy.
Casa Livia is a refurbishment project stemming from the need to express fluidity at the most intimate scale of living. Over one floor, the 140sqm three-bedroom apartment contains two bathrooms, a living room, kitchen and a small studio.
The traditional function of doors and corridors, normally used to define and separate daytime and night-time living, is abandoned to pursue complete freedom of movement and function, to redefine interaction. What could be characterized as 'Functional Furniture' instead becomes the spatial organizer that dictates invisible and permeable boundaries within the space in continuous evolution.
Living and sleeping areas revolve around a Central Volume; the house centrepiece and primary 'Functional Furniture' designed to accommodate kitchen, storage and studio elements. The living room is a large open space that overlooks the outdoor terrace, along which, the solid bench with fireplace acts as an intermediary between the indoor and outdoor space. The ‘Functional Furniture’ here, embraces the concrete column in a suspended volume, thus defining an ethereal boundary between the kitchen and the living room.
Concrete, brushed oak, grey resin and white finishes evoke an oriental atmosphere, capable of transporting and infusing the calm and tranquillity of the surrounding landscape.
Multiple wall units, the bookcase, the studio niche and small elements of furniture are the main characters of a bespoke design, aimed at achieving an architectural continuity, whilst individually responding to specific spatial and functional needs.
Small details, lights and shadows celebrate the identity and uniqueness of Casa Livia. The dining table is the emblem, an artistic reproduction impressed on the 900x1900mm oak top.
Simplicity, experimentation and clarity are the key identities of the two bathrooms, which, although adopting similar materials, are extremely different in their design solutions. A cylindrical washbasin, ceiling tap and slidable wooden slatted partitions are the key characters of the first bathroom. Suspended elements, a walk-in shower with built-in shower tray Tatami and XL-format tiles are the fundamental features of the second bathroom.
Finally, the bedrooms are the embodiment of calm, aiming to transgress the renunciation of excess and the search for the essential, which is symbolised in the few elements that fill the space. A built-in wardrobe under the existing beam, combined with the wooden bed and integrated bedside tables, let the panorama of the countryside be the defining hero of the room.
