Renovation of a private home by Federico Delrosso Architects
A large flat on the 14th floor of a 1960s building and a family of four who love art and contemporary design. In his renovation, Federico Delrosso aimed to create a space simulating emptiness, in order to create the ideal setting for the passions and daily life of a family. It is functional emptiness, however, which comes to life when the study desk, kitchen appliances, make-up area and a bookshelf emerge from the cupboard walls… and returns to silence to become the perfect ambience for works of art and design.
“Only the outer walls and external window frames have remained of the original flat”, says Federico Delrosso. After completely eliminating the original partitions of the space, I created new volumes and diversified the different areas of the flat using a continuous system of cupboards into which, not only the functional volumes have been built, but also the floor‑to‑ceiling doors used to access the various rooms. Meanwhile, the audio and lighting systems have been built into the ceiling”.
The continuity of spaces and walls creates an almost maze-like version of the new home, which ends in a large living area overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. A balance between the icy-cold modernism of the interior and the natural elegance of the outdoor area transforms the terrace into a cohesive extension of the living room, in spite of its colour palette opposing that of the interior. Its natural finishes, made from reconstituted wood chosen for the flooring and panelling, partly recapture the primordial mood of the resin that covers all the floors in the flat. Playing once more on the maze theme, this resin inverts the horizontal view of the surface by becoming a highly tactile vertical wall in the technical areas of the kitchen and bathroom.
Details
project: Federico Delrosso Architects
year: 2011-12
location: Montecarlo
surface area: 200mq
Furniture: Henrytimi furnishing for the kitchen and terrace. Knoll furniture for the living area.
lights: Davide Groppi
photo credits: Luca De Santis
Federico Delrosso – biography
“Architecture must have a soul – it’s own soul that is echoed in every detail. Light and shadow must be delicately balanced to reach the unique and magic point. It should have an independent voice from the people who made it and those that live in it – created by man and for man. This is my mission…” F.D.
“I believe that true architecture cannot stop at the surfaces of a home, but should also develop without a break, like a Moebius strip, from the outside to the interior. In my project the exterior always finds its “natural” homolog within. But more than a simple correspondence (the void that reflects the solid) I enjoy working on two fundamental links: light and natural materials.F. D.
An architect with an international range (France, Switzerland, USA, Montecarlo, Turkey), but with a solid Italian grounding, Federico Delrosso (born in Biella in 1964; graduated from the Milan Polytechnic in 1996) within a few years has gained wide experience in the design of a very wide range of types of architecture: private housing, restaurants (for the catering industry), a rehabilitation centre, office buildings … numerous projects of interior design but also industrial design.
His early experience in the field has consolidated a talent and a distinctive sensibility for spaces, perceived in his projects as an intangible quality which Federico Delrosso calls “the emotional fourth dimension”. In other words, in his interiors as well as his architectures, the result of the masterly relationship between three-dimensional spaces and the elaboration of surfaces is always a sense of pleasant balance, typical of fine architecture.
In 2008 and 2012 his design for the interior of the Restaurant Notime in Monte Carlo and CafèB restaurant were among the finalists in the category Hospitality/Restaurant/Casual at the “Best of Year Award”, organized by Interior Design magazine (USA).
From 2009 to 2011 his project for a private residence Twin Loft (Milan) was a considerable media success, with publications in the major international print and online journals.
In September 2011 (a very special date for the United States) Interior Design USA magazine published on its cover his project for the interior of CaféB in New York.
He is guest speaker at design conferences all over the world (Egypt, Turkey, Italy)
The design
“I came to the design through furniture made to measure which I introduced into my projects for interiors, because I always contextualize the object in the architectural detail. That’s how my Mima wall lamp was invented. It’s an object that literally disappears into the walls because beyond being a wire, it is painted with the same mural as the walls. When it is off you only see a fleeting trace of it. It was appreciated for these features by Davide Groppi, who put it into production in 2006, and by the ADI, so it was entered in 21st Compasso d’Oro 2008 award and added to the ADI’s historical collection.”
In 2011 Federico Delrosso was invited by Doğtaş Mobilya, a major manufacturer of furniture in the Middle East, to design the Cinquanta furniture collection.
In 2012 Federico Delrosso Architects Studio has opened a new office point on 54th Street – right in the heart of New York.
