In Milan’s storied centro storico, SOLUM Studio executes a masterclass in architectural alchemy with Prima Casa, transforming a subdivided apartment into a luminous testament to contemporary design harmoniously layered upon historical fabric. This Milan apartment renovation navigates the delicate balance between preservation and innovation, where every intervention speaks of precision and intentionality.
The project’s defining act is the insertion of an astonishingly lightweight mezzanine structure, a mere 4 cm thick (1.57 inches), soaring within the volume to maximize vertical space without visual burden. Its support hinges on a meticulously integrated HEB steel beam, carefully aligned with the apartment’s original ceiling projections and intricate stucco work, ensuring the historical restoration elements remain undisturbed protagonists.
A single, strategically rotated steel pillar becomes the project’s pivotal orchestrator. Angled at 45 degrees, it performs multiple duties: structurally reducing the beam’s required thickness, subtly demarcating the fluid transition between entrance, living area, and kitchen, and crucially, anchoring the dialogue between old and new. Positioned precisely at the junction of the apartment’s original flooring patterns, it physically and visually underscores the coexistence of eras.
SOLUM Studio reconfigures the plan with strategic boldness. The broom closet-sized bathroom is relocated near the entrance, liberating its former space. Here, a seamless new resin floor flows like liquid terrain, now defining the minimalist kitchen zone—a stark, smooth counterpoint to the heritage textures elsewhere.
Above, the steel and wood mezzanine, embodying structural lightness, dramatically cantilevers 70 cm (27.5 inches) beyond its primary supports. This feat of engineering amplifies the perception of the structure floating effortlessly within the historic shell. Access is granted not by an afterthought, but by a key architectural element: a graceful semicircular iron staircase. This space-saving staircase designascends as a sculptural object, intersecting the mezzanine plane. It functions simultaneously as a vital structural component, a necessary safety guardrail, and a minimalist aesthetic statement, its design rigorously stripped of any superfluity.
Prima Casa stands as a compelling argument for intelligent space optimization within sensitive heritage contexts. SOLUM Studio demonstrates that contemporary additions need not compete with history, but can instead engage it in a clear, respectful, and dynamically beautiful conversation, resulting in a modern Milan home that is as efficient as it is poetically resonant. The interplay of robust steel structures against warm wood tones and the soft sheen of resin flooring creates a tactile and visual journey, celebrating both the weight of the past and the lightweight innovation defining its future.