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      Casa ai Bailucchi is a two-level apartment overlooking Genoa port

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      Italian studio Llabb has combined two apartments in Genoa, creating a quirky home that combines nautical references with contemporary art.Casa ai Bailucchi is the home of a young creative couple – one is a gallery owner and music lover, the other is a freelance graphic designer.

      The L-shaped upper level contains the kitchen and living spaces
      The two-level, 135-square-metre apartment is located on the upper levels of a building overlooking the port, so the design was heavily influenced by the huge machinery that can be seen occupying the waterside.
      Locally based Llabb, led by designers Federico Robbiano and Luca Scardulla, planned the layout to take full advantage of the views and also peppered the interior with very subtle maritime references.

      Nautical details are combined with vintage furniture and contemporary artworks

      These references include a staircase with a rope handrail, a porthole window, and a colour palette featuring shades of blue and yellow.
      Other details include a mix of custom-made and vintage furniture, decorative tiles, large plants and a variety of artworks from the clients’ personal collection.

      The upper floor leads out to a 100-square-metre roof terrace
      The starting point for the design was the addition of a staircase, connecting the two previously separate apartments. With four metres of height between the two floors, it was a challenge to fit this in.

      Studio Venturoni warms up Rome apartment with earthy hues

      Robbiano and Scardulla’s solution was to create a staircase that winds up in several different sections. As well as the blue rope handrail, it features oak treads and a steel frame with open risers.

      The nautical-inspired staircase features a rope handrail and a porthole window
      “The result is pretty dynamic and allows the visitors to see the apartment from different views,” Scardulla told Dezeen.
      “It guides you, almost like the stepping stones in Japanese gardens.”

      The bedroom features plaster walls and terrazzo flooring
      Both levels have their own character. The lower level is more compartmentalised, with two bedrooms, a study room, and a bathroom.
      Original terrazzo floors have been preserved in these rooms. There are other nods to the building’s history too, for instance, the master bedroom features an arched window and exposed plaster walls.

      Patterned tiles feature in both the bathroom and the kitchen
      The upper level is mostly open-plan. The L-shaped floor plan naturally separates the lounge area from the dining space and kitchen, with the space further subdivided by cutaway walls.
      “It was a big challenge to manage the long and narrow living space on the upper floor; the risk was to have a ‘corridor effect’,” said Robbiano.
      “We used different layers of perceiving and living the space, making it more interesting to explore.”

      Studio workspaces can be found on both floors
      The apartment contains two work-from-home spaces. As well as the study room on the lower level, there is a “studiolo” on the upper floor, which the designers liken to the cockpit of a crane.
      The living space also opens out to a 100-square-metre roof terrace, which the owners have filled with even more plants.
      Photography is by Studio Campo.
      Project credits
      Design: LlabbDesign team: Luca Scardulla, Federico Robbiano, Linda Consiglieri, Laura Davite, Riccardo Gelmini, Martina Pisano, Floria BruzzoneConstruction: Zena CostruzioniCarpentry: Carlino SantoMetalwork: Metal ProjectTiles and sanitary ware: NobiliFlooring: Effebi parquet

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      Studio Tamat creates casual interiors for Rome restaurant Tre De Tutto

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      Studio Tamat hoped to create the feeling of a casual local bar with its design for Tre De Tutto, a restaurant in the south of Rome.Although the restaurant only recently opened, its interior is designed to feel lived in, with its simple tiled walls, humble furniture and peeling plaster.
      These are contrasted by bold contemporary details that include geometric lighting fixtures, a neon sign and a yellow suspended staircase.

      Details include arched windows, vintage metal chairs and geometric lighting

      Tre De Tutto is located in Garbatella, a neighbourhood with a distinctly 1920s character. The space was previously a bakery, but had been abandoned for some years.
      Studio Tamat’s design follows the concept proposed by restaurant owners, to create a space that takes inspiration from the local neighbourhood traditions and culture.

      Blue majolica tiles are contrasted by coral-coloured mortar
      “Owners Mirko Tommasi and Daniele Notte proposed revisited classics of Roman cuisine, taking inspiration from one of the most authentic neighbourhoods in Rome,” explained studio co-founder Matteo Soddu.
      “In the same way, our goal from the beginning was not to distort the pre-existing space, but to enhance it and at the same time, bond with its clientele,” he said.
      The neon sign offers the same message, reading “Quanto é Bella Garbatella”, which means “How beautiful Garbatella is”.

      A marbled bar counter is made from Liquid Cosmo, a surface by Diesel and IrisCeramica
      The restaurant is divided up into various rooms, with some at ground level and others set half a storey below.
      The triangular upper level consists of three rooms that are usually reserved for breakfast and aperitifs, including a bar and a lounge area. The lower level contains two dining rooms, along with the kitchen and storage areas.

      A coral-coloured “staircase tunnel” leads downstairs
      Both levels have a slightly different design character, with a colour palette designed in collaboration with consultant Sabina Guidotti.

      Spacon & X creates casual diner for Noma’s burger spinoff POPL

      Upstairs rooms have a bold colour palette, with blue majolica tiles set against contrasting mortar, plus a marbled bar counter in vivid shades of orange and purple, and three grand arched windows.

      Dining rooms feature Grid, a graphic wallpaper by Texturae
      A coral-coloured “staircase tunnel” leads downstairs, where rooms feature pale blue walls and wallpaper with cartoon-style graphics.
      The yellow staircase features on this level, connecting one of the dining rooms with the street.

      A suspended yellow staircase provides access to the street
      Humble finishes and timeless elements feature throughout, including a resin-topped concrete floor, vintage metal chairs, leather-like upholstered benches and large pot plants.
      “We left the rough walls, with the original layers of plaster, to dialogue with the contemporary design of the architectural elements that characterise the space, from the clean-cut counter that dominates the bar, to the exquisitely pop staircase of the restaurant,” said Soddu.

      Tre De Tutto is located in Garbatella, in the south of Rome
      Tre De Tutto’s menu matches its design, with a selection of drinks inspired by local history and “unpretentious” dishes that include pasta, panini and antipasti.
      Photography is by Seven H Zhang.

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      Retroscena is a colourful apartment renovation by La Macchina Studio

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      Italian architecture office La Macchina Studio has renovated a 1950s apartment in Rome, revealing original terrazzo floors and adding bold colours.Set in the Italian capital’s Appio Latino quarter, the mid-century one-bedroom apartment already had Venetian stone floors.

      The original terrazzo floors have been restored
      La Macchina Studio uncovered them and enlisted local craftsmen to restore the terrazzo, while the apartment was transformed into a “surreal set where reality and fiction coexist in a quasi-theatrical scene”.
      “With Retroscena, we wanted to enhance the irreverent and surreal nature of the architectural story,” said studio founders Gianni Puri and Enrica Siracusa.
      “It is inextricably linked to its photographic alter-ego by playing with colour contrasts, graphic motifs and unexpected incursions.”

      Pops of primary colour stand out against white walls

      Walls and certain elements have been painted bright white, to create a neutral backdrop for the graphic pops of colour.
      An arched doorway and a low, midcentury-style cabinet in the living area are painted a matching bright blue.

      A blue-painted wooden doorway leads to the bedroom
      A pair of zesty lemon-yellow fabric curtains can be pulled across to separate the living area from the kitchen diner and screen off the door to the balcony.
      The arching doorway juts out almost a metre from the wall, screening the kitchen furniture from the view of the hallway. The blue-lacquered wood marks the entrance to the bedroom.

      Yellow curtains can screen the living room off
      A red wall-hanging placed above the sofa marks another splash of primary colour.
      Another doorway set flush to the wall opens to reveal the two-room bathroom. In the first room, a bath and shower are all surrounded by square ceramic white tiles, set in dark grouting to create a graphic check mosaic.

      White square tiles form a check mosaic in the bathroom
      A pointy arched doorway leads to the second half of the bathroom, where a toilet and a bidet face each other across a sink, which is framed by the arch.

      Studio Strato creates cosy reading den in renovated Rome apartment

      Peacock-blue enamelled walls and a dimmable ring light mirror above the sink add to the theatrical styling of the bathroom.

      An arched doorway frames the sink
      In the bedroom, the floor has a ruddy hue, the result of a brick-red micro cement treatment applied by La Macchina Studio. A low-hanging orb-style pendant light and peach velvet curtains create a softer aesthetic.
      Pinkish cement flooring also differentiates the entryway. Built-in white wardrobes in the hallway conceal a hidden room that is used as a study.

      The bedroom has a micro cement floor
      La Macchina Studio was founded by Puri and Siracusa in 2013 and is based in Rome.
      More exciting Roman apartment renovations include a flat with terracotta-coloured walls and an apartment with a reading den visible through a porthole-style cutout.
      Photography is by Paolo Fusco.

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      Nendo completes Marsotto showroom in Milan with dimpled marble facade

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      Passersby can perch in the facade of Italian marble brand Marsotto’s new showroom in Milan, which has been designed by multidisciplinary studio Nendo.From afar, the front of Marsotto’s showroom in Milan’s Brera district looks as if it’s sealed up by blocks of veiny white marble.
      To achieve this, Nendo lined the entire facade – including the flush front door – in marble tiles, being careful to set them in line with the existing stonework on the building.

      Top image: people can perch in the showroom’s facade. Above: the facade appears to be sealed up with marble
      At one point the tiles dip inwards to form a small nook where passersby on the street can sit.

      “Because the traffic circle facing the showroom will soon be greened and turned into a small park, part of the facade was made into impromptu street furniture with a soft recess on it, in the hopes that neighbours might sit as if on a bench and rest for a spell,” Nendo explained.

      A flush-set door can be pushed back to reveal the showroom’s entryway
      Beyond the showroom’s front door lies a small white-painted entryway. Pale marble has been used again here to cover the floor and to form a screen which obscures the staircase leading down to the basement.
      The screen is made up of two overlapping slabs of 10-millimetre-thick marble, each punctuated with holes that measure 65 millimetres wide.
      “The partition’s tempered transparency and lightness reduce the oppressiveness of the marble constitution, softly drawing visitors to the basement exhibition space,” the studio added.

      A perforated marble screen hides the staircase to the basement
      Downstairs, the showroom has been divided into four different rooms. To keep a majority of the floor area free to accommodate different exhibitions, Nendo created three-sided display plinths that sit in the corner of the rooms.
      Each of them is backlit with bright-white strip lights.

      Products are presented on three-sided display plinths
      Some of the plinths dramatically curve inwards to form a half-moon shape. One of these has been used to present sample blocks of different types of marble that Marsotto offers.
      Stool seats in matching finishes are displayed in a row underneath.

      Steel and concrete steps cut through facade of Stairway House by Nendo

      Another room in the basement has been kit-out with one of Marsotto’s dining tables and wall-mounted shelves so that, when necessary, it can be used to host lunch meetings.

      Some of the display plinths curve inwards into a half-moon shape
      This isn’t the first time that Nendo has worked with Marsotto. For the 2016 edition of Milan Design Week, the design studio created an exhibition space for the marble brand that was half white, half black – furniture was arranged to match.
      Four years ago Nendo also came up with the Sway table for Marsotto. Designed to “provide a new expression of agility to marble”, the table looks as if it’s tilting to one side.
      Photography is by Hiroki Tagma.

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