A family that wanted a space where each member could be in contacts with others. A family that wanted to live in a place where each one could “feel” the presence of others even if they were in another place of the house. A family that wanted to have a space built around themselves, shaped for their lifestyle. These were the ingredients of this home located in a part of Genova where the city ends and the landscape starts.

The space was about 250 square metres divided into two storeys. To follow the beautiful way of living of this family we decided not to use a traditional layout with the living area on the lower level and the private rooms in the upper floor. On the contrary, we made a whole fluent space going from the lower to the upper level connecting a number of different spaces: living, dining, kitchen, distribution, relaxing and the little pool. This continuous space links all the places where the members usually stay while doors have been put just to divide sleeping rooms and bathrooms. The result is an extremely dynamic space that follows exactly the habits of the couple of young parents and their two marvellous little girls.

The main theme of the interior space comes from a peculiar “historical” presence. The building was built on the ruins of an old oil reservoir. In the basement of the building these ruins were still visible, and their rounded shape was completely understandable. Now this area of Genova has changed from its historical industrial settings, but working on this project we thought that it would have been interesting not to forget the past, to remind it by using this rounded element as the architecture theme of the house. So we reused this rounded wall and we built the space around this element, finishing it with an exterior plaster, with a texture used in the basements of last century buildings. This gives the space an interesting atmosphere and it reminds us that something existed here before this family.

Functionally, this wall contains the master bedroom with private wardrobe and bathroom. A double shower with a wooden base made on purpose by a carpenter, has been “carved” in the floor. On the other side of the “ancient” wall, the fluent space has been realized with no-time materials like the “quarzite” stone for the steps, the glass mosaic for the pool and kitchen, the natural oak for the flooring. These materials have been used in a mostly natural way while some other walls have been finished with a strong orange colour to create a contrast not only based on materials but even on chromatic experence..