Imagine being on the slopes of the hills of Settignano, taking a walk between the olive trees, surrounded by the impressive Renaissance villas. Something you didn’t expect that caps what you did expect is going to happen: hiding behind a XXth century facade, there is an impressive surprise for visitors: it’s about the amazing view they can discover from second floor windows and from the cut-away roof terrace. Simone Micheli’s project is made of this amazing view reflecting on multiple mirrored surfaces.
The architect says “I designed this House as a free, flexible, sheltered place. My focus was the everyday life so I’ve worked on an hospitable space made to meet friends in an unconventional way. I tried to represent the meaning of life for me and my wife Roberta: I’ve worked on white surfaces liven up with some bright green and orange walls.
This house is a metropolitan refuge made of light, where ancient and contemporary interact through colors, surfaces enhancement, and lighting design.” A clash between two centuries: the union of two small apartments with very different characteristics through a difficult demolition work (plasters, floors, false ceilings, part of a floor and some portions of the partition walls).
A courageous structural engineering plan has allowed Simone Micheli to create a unique, bright space, and has exceeded the limits of the building’s solid walls and the recent anti-seismic regulations. The result is a bright outdoor environment connecting all the rooms in a spacious open space. The original wood door was dismantled and reassembled on an armored door. On the other side the door has been decorated with a laser cut quote over a mirror back panel.
Now the house is on three levels: the overall height was used in order to create a sort of joke making intermediate floors: solids and voids, bedrooms and living room. Living room, dining room and kitchen are part of the same area: the idea is to mix these spaces to share actions and functions. This main round floor is directly connected with a bath and also with the guest room: both of these rooms are characterized by white doors with silver chrome handle.
In some parts of the house the beautiful ancient brick wall is revealed in order to remind the techniques of the medieval architecture. A veil of white lime plaster allows now to perceive the geometries, the connections and the different degrees of roughness of each stone. Furniture and furnishings are all designed by Simone Micheli: the project is really consistent, balanced and originally essential.
Simone Micheli was born in Tuscany, Viareggio (Lucca) in 1964. In 1990 he founded the architectural studio and in 2003 the company Simone Micheli Architectural Hero based in Florence, Milan and Dubai. Professor at the Poli. Design and the Scuola Politecnica di Design in Milan. He works as editor of the theme exhibition named contract as well of the major international exhibitions in this field. His professional activity moves in different directions from architecture to interior design, from design to visual design going throught mass-media and social media; his creations, ecofriendly and oriented to nature, are defined by a strong identity and uniqueness. Many accomplishments for public governments and major private commissions related to the world of residential and community, make it a major player in the European dimension of the project. Here follow some of the awards he recently received of the International Design Award 2008 – Los Angeles as “Interior Designer of the Year”; “Best of Year 2010” Spa Category – Interior Design Magazine, New York with Atomic Spa Suisse; Annual Club Space Award 2010_Modern Decoration International Media Prize – China with Atomic Spa Suisse; “TrE number one award 2011”- Venice for interior design and “Contemporary Spa Award 2011” in the “Best Future Spa” category – Bologna
with “Marina Verde Wellness Resort” project – Caorle, Venice; “Best of Year honoree 2012” Hospitality
Category – Interior Design Magazine, New York, with B4 Hotel Milan. His works have been presented in the most important exhibitions and has lectured at international cultural institutes, organizations and institutions of various cities around the world. Many are publications of his projects on italian and international magazines, TV – interview dedicated to his projects and monographs, the last one “Simone Micheli From the Future to the Past”, edited in 2012, represents his 20 years architectural making selection. www.simonemicheli.com
Info and images courtesy of Simone Micheli
