The renovation project of a rustic villa in the province of Como, developed by parentesi.studio, is the result of a careful reflection on the dialogue between preservation and renewal, and of a search for balance achieved through the use of a limited yet refined palette of materials, along with thoughtfully selected furnishings.
More specifically, the project involves the transformation of an early 20th-century gatehouse, located at the entrance to the main villa, into a home for a young couple.
On the ground floor, the layout is clearly defined by the presence of a long corridor that runs through the house from one façade to the other. The decision to remove the partition walls in the right wing makes it possible to introduce a large living hall in which three distinct areas remain clearly legible: a central dining zone, flanked at both ends by two living areas. The left wing accommodates the kitchen, a bathroom, and, along the central axis, the staircase leading to the sleeping quarters on the first floor.
The project involves the transformation of an early 20th-century gatehouse, located at the entrance to the main villa, into a residence for a young couple.
The sophisticated floor treatment on the ground floor repurposes the traditional hexagonal cement tiles, now restored and reconfigured in the form of three carpets (exactly coinciding with the three spaces of the living area) set in a new mantle of grit flooring.
The large bathroom is organized in short, intimate spatial sequences, while the kitchen is minimalist: a central island and behind it a custom-designed pantry wall.
The roof structure has been entirely replaced with a system of important white-stained rafters, thus making the large attic usable, while the original roof tiles have been recovered and maintained.
White is taken up on the walls of the entire villa, which are thus transformed into neutral and luminous canvases where the furnishing elements stand out, conceived as true sculptural forms, and in the presence of which the ancient fireplaces, thresholds, handrails, ceiling vaults, and all those traditional episodes, respectfully maintained and orchestrated in a graceful balance with modernity, remain silent observers.