Alzaia Terraces

Project details

Location: Milan, Italy
Category: apartment
Surface: 80 sqm
Floor: 6th
Intervention: interior renovation
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Balconies: 3
Living room
Kitchen
Hall

Alzaia terraces

An exciting apartment refurbishment in Milan, Italy, where we transformed a dated and not functional space into a modern and comfortable home, freeing all its hidden potential.

Project description

This apartment is approximately 80 sqm big and is located on the 6th floor of a residential building in a lively, characteristic neighbourhood in Milan, Italy.

The building was constructed in the late ’80 and the apartment was never refurbished and therefore needed a deep renovation. Aside from the original wood floor, we decided to renew all finishing, windows, and tiling. Entering in the apartment in its old layout, you were greeted by a small and claustrophobic sort of vestibule, with no natural light, three doors and no purpose. The kitchen was small, and its walls could barely house all the doors and windows. The layout of the two bathrooms was illogical and led to more waste of the available space.

That said, the floorplan had a lot of potential and the displaced volumes of each room opened to three balconies, each facing private gardens, on both sides of the building. We wanted to allow this space to express all its personality and enhance the connection to the outside.

We adopted then a radical approach. Took down the walls between the entrance, the kitchen, the corridor and living room. We enlarged the kitchen, allowing to set the furniture on the new, longest wall. We moved the door to the secondary bathroom in a more central position, to house a shower on the right and enable a better use of the narrow space. We shortened the corridor, creating a niche to hide a bit the tv and the furniture and at the same time opened the entrance to the living room, creating a bright and seamless space that welcomes you into this home.

We placed a cosy sofa with chaise-long, so that it is cornered by two windows and sitting there, you almost fell like you are outside. The dining table is extendible, to host more people, just when needed, and for the everyday small meals, we have also been able to put a small table (also with view) in the kitchen, for a friendlier, convivial feeling, allowing to enjoy more this space.

The main bedroom and bathroom can now be separated from the rest of the apartment, so that they can be used like a suite. We also changed the organization of the furniture in the primary bathroom, to take more advantage of the space and house a bigger, proper bathtub: to reduce the feeling of a long and narrow space, we separated the volume with a half-height wall, that creates two separate areas and a more welcoming space. Since there is no storage room, we created a minimalist custom closet, for the whole extension of the wall, which features three massive sliding doors.

The original floor was restored and together with the wood frameworks around the windows contributed to set the material and colour palette for the whole project, giving it lots of personality.

The apartment was transformed. It became more functional, enjoyable, bright, and spacious. We took the wasted space and put it where it could make a difference. We removed the chaotic and old appearance and allowed the personality of the space to express itself, creating a little gem in the heart of the city.

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