02A studio’s newest project in Pigneto, a neighborhood with a rich history as a working-class area and now a hub of Rome’s nightlife scene, is a bold tribute to the power of color.
“We talked at length with the clients,” says Marco Rulli, founder of the firm with Thomas Grossi, “going over their history, the houses they lived in and the ones they loved, so that we could get as close as possible to the way of life and taste they were looking for, and then translate them into an interior design they felt was truly personal.”
“A new element that we had never been confronted with before,” Marco Rulli continues, “was the fact that one of the two clients had an altered perception of colors, due to color blindness, so we identified shades that were sufficiently perceived by one but could also be calibrated to the tastes of the other, while also thinking about potential guests. It was fun and resulted in a somewhat quirky design but one that I find fully reflects the personalities of its owners.”
Already in the entrance of the house, the features of the restyling carried out by 02A studio are evident, and they act as a common thread throughout the project, in which the unprejudiced use of color and minimal graphisms define a style that is both sophisticated and fresh, under the banner of joie de vivre.
Here a small hallway precedes the large living area, put in communication with the kitchen area thanks to a major structural work. As evidence of the transformation, which gave a radically different connotation to the spaces, the beams were left exposed and, indeed, highlighted by a deep blue hue, thus becoming a tangible and vibrant sign of the intervention.
To the right, a large window, whose metal profiles are traversed by bright yellow hues, offers an unexpected view of the kitchen. The latter is a creative space that the use of color connotes in a decisive way, transforming objects and functional parts into furnishing elements with a strong sign: the kitchen cabinet with teal lacquered wooden doors develops in a horseshoe shape in a work area facing the entrance, and then extends toward the dining area through two columns of refrigerator and oven, thought, by virtue of their exposure, as if they were furnishing elements. Similarly, the powder-coated sheet metal cladding of the hood is thought of as a playful, décor element that transforms a built-in appliance into an origami.
Above the sink is a light steel hanging cabinet with integrated shelves and drainer, made to the studio’s design, a solution that is an original coup de théâtre and allows the view and light to be extended beyond the wall, through the glass.
Also on the ground floor, the guest bathroom consists of an initial area with a sink on a large steel shelf while the bathtub and fixtures remain hidden and isolated within a dedicated area covered with tiles depicting dense tropical vegetation, a reference to the outdoor garden.
From the ground floor on the left is the staircase body that allows you to continue to the guest bathroom with laundry room and ascend to the upper level, where the second bathroom, bedrooms and study are located.
The chromatic continuity with the dominant Vanadium yellow of the ground floor continues on the upper level, in the sleeping area, where we find the master bathroom with a the back wall, which, as if it were a sharply delineated mullioned window, consists of two arches that accommodate the shower and sink inside them.
The familiar and carefree dimension of the intervention hides within it a technological soul thanks to the hot/cold radiant floor, humidity control and solar panels to make the cottage energy self-sufficient.
The outdoor garden consists of a driveway access, an area paved with fragments of old grits, and a beautiful urban vegetable garden separated from the neighbor’s only by a slender metal gate, “Which evokes,” Marco Rulli concludes, “true luxury, made up of simplicity and trust in the community of which one is a part.“