Built around 1650 and lovingly converted into an architects’ studio, the project incorporates a gallery and meeting spaces on ground floor; a workshop in the basement; atelier on first floor and a grand ‘sala nobile’ on second floor. This multifunctional space sustains presentations, exhibitions, lectures, informal meetings and library.

Existing elements such as floor-tiles and apertures were restored and re-instated. An entire structural floor was replaced, and its concrete surfaces treated on both sides: one as flooring and the other a cast-in-situ ceiling framing the flooring below. The main challenge, as in most old buildings, was the seamless integration of the services infrastructure, which was designed to achieve minimal structural alterations while being totally-reversible.

Taking almost three years from initial design to its present state, the project is still ongoing and is currently in its second phase. This will see the construction of a contemporary, two-bedroom penthouse setback on its rooftop; where the architect and his family will eventually move into. A true ‘casa bottega’ when completed, this project reconciles two vertical scales of history and privacy: from the oldest and entirely public spaces on ground floor; to the semi-public working areas on first floor; onto the state-of-the-art ‘sala nobile’ acting as buffer zone between work and home; and finally capped by a contemporary family household on its top two floors.