Viale Parioli 40 - Roma
project image
casa O
Roma
THE INTERIOR DESIGN OF CASA-O by ALVISI KIRIMOTO + PARTNERS The renovation project of CASA-O, developed by the architecture firm Alvisi Kirimoto + Partners in Rome has been completed. Set in the Villa Bonelli district in the Italian capital city, the apartment features the typical Seventies construction style. Every detail of it has been reviewed and redefined to create a perfect place for a family with two small children. The renovation project was developed by an “all-women” team of the Alvisi Kirimoto + Partners firm. The architects Junko Kirimoto, Arabella Rocca, Chiara Quadraccia and Carolina Ossandon exploited their feminine instinct and great expertise to interpret the demands of the whole family. CASA-O develops on a single, 150 square metre level. Main feature of the interior is the clear division between the sleeping area and the living area dedicated to conviviality and socialization. The bleached oak flooring extends all over the apartment. Together with the white walls, suspended ceilings, and most of the furnishings – many of them tailor-made and custom-designed by the Alvisi Kirimoto + Partners firm – it delivers visual continuity and harmony to the two areas. The whole living area is located round a central parallelepiped structure in corten, which is the main protagonist of the house, with its changing visual impact on the different environments that surround it. The parallelepiped cube is conceived as a 5 metre long and 1.5 metre wide, demountable container: The side facing the living room features a large niche in white back-painted glass, cutting out corner of the container and revealing the inside. This part of the cube hosts the hi-fi and home entertainment appliances. A folding wing on the side facing the dining room hides large storage units; the side facing the kitchen reveals once again the milky white 'soul' of the parallelepiped. It hides electric appliances behind wings and drawers, specially designed to meet the various demands. The fourth side facing the entrance holds the guest bathroom. It is a small green space inspired by the colour of tarnished iron. The architects’ team carefully supervised this process to colour the corten panels covering the parallelepiped in the same tone. Besides, corten can be found all over the apartment, even in the sleeping area. Here, the white wall-flush doors feature a square hollow holding a door-flush corten handle designed by Alvisi Kirimoto + Partners. The living area is dominated by a large living room. In addition to the equipped wall with storage units and niches for the hi-fi and video equipments, the living room features suspended bookcases of sober lines and style. Their lightweight look further enhances the bright space. The living room is directly connected to the dining room equipped with a large table and a suspended bench extending along three sides of the space. This sober interior with a Japanese touch features also a large and wide sideboard, suspended at the same height as the bench. Sliding, ceiling-high doors, realized with opal white glass panels, lead from the dining room to the kitchen. The kitchen is conceived as a white volume, set just beside the corten parallelepiped. It features cabinets embedded into the cube, as well as an L-shaped composition of containers with a wide top. The sleeping area consists in a master bedroom and two bedrooms for the children, divided by a vestibule with shoe cupboard and laundry, surrounded by wall-flush doors and walls in white lacquered wood. The vestibule leads to one of the three bathrooms of the house, which are all different in order to offer both owners and guests a private and unconventional interior. The first one is used by the children and is based on the chromatic contrast between white and chocolate tones. It is dominated by a DuPont™ Corian® band vertically expanding from the ceiling to cover the walls, turning into a shelf and washbasin and then sinuously forming the bathtub. A large mirror entirely covers one wall and extends even into the bathtub area. Sanitary fittings and accessories feature the same fluid forms. The master bathroom is directly connected to the master bedroom. Walls are clad in snow white Kerlite, in contrast to the African black marble shower and washbasin. The tour around CASA-O, renovated upon a project by Alvisi Kirimoto + Partners, ends near the corten parallelepiped holding the third bathroom, recalling the ones on yachts. The small space is entirely clad in green DuPont™ Corian® and equipped with a tailor-made, cylindric washbasin realized in Corian®. A round mirror and some funny accessories confer a vivid atmosphere to this small space. The big L-shaped balcony that runs along the exteriors of the living room and the second, smaller balcony of the owner’s bedroom are floored with teak-planks that perfectly match the brick facade. The lighting, the hi-fi appliances and the video surveillance equipment are incorporated in the suspended ceiling. To guarantee both privacy and good transparency from the inside to the outside, Alvisi Kirimoto + Partners have chosen some white, light and ceiling-high sunshades covering even the parapet. When closed, the sunshades are hidden inside the new suspended ceiling. The renovation project for CASA-O conceived by Alvisi Kirimoto + Partners pays attention to every single detail, turning it into an harmonious and bright interior characterised by lines and details typical of the minimal Japanese culture and by archetypes of the Italian lifestyle. Client: O. family Site: Rome Project: interior restoration Surface: 180 sq m Architectonical project: arch. Massimo Alvisi, arch. Junko Kirimoto, arch. Arabella Rocca, arch. Chiara Quadraccia, arch. Carolina Ossandon – Alvisi Kirimoto + Partners, see profile of the firms and personal resumes below The companies: Furniture in wood, corten and corian: Devoto Arredamenti SPA Frames and doors: Festucci Srl Outside curtains: Louverdrape Italia With gratitude to Metamorphosi Roma for all special furnishings