Continuing the brand’s expansion beyond high-end retail, Dsquared2’s headquarters in Milan saw the addition of a luxury spa and gym. It was the latest stage of an overarching restoration of the Milan historical Enel building. Spa and gym occupy three lower levels, one of which is underground. Guests discover a grown-up air of opulent simplicity that harks back to the 1930s heyday of the building and espouses a fuss-free approach to health and fitness.

Instead of the lurid colours and plastics so familiar to the patrons of contemporary gyms, Storage Associati’s design has the pared-back brutalist look of a space that’s been reduced to the bare essentials. All the mechanical systems were hidden and relied on materials to achieve a sense of elegance. All non-loadbearing walls were removed from the cavernous gym area, which is dominated by Ceppo Lombardo stone. Flooring is made of black sprung rubber. The muted palette continues in teal-tinted glass, as well as in window and door frames in black-painted steel.

Much of the gym equipment was supplied by Italian wellness giant Technogym; bespoke pieces range from wooden Olympic rings to bodyweight setups. Expensive details in brass and hand-dyed okumè wood are complemented by basic materials such as raw concrete.