For The Box, architect Cristian Minerva of the Colmanni + Minerva firm, in collaboration with Studiopepe, has designed and coordinated an interior design project that is a design manifesto and a representation of creative skill.
The renewed space in an 18th century building in Piazza Bertarelli 4 in Milan synthesizes, in just 200 sq m and 7 rooms, an intervention that embraces architecture, facilities and home automation, with wood and metal artisan works, sartorial décor, a materials library and a careful selection of furniture and complements, both from the catalogue and custom-designed.
The aim of the place and of the partnership, which began in April 2016 and developed with Spotti, with Arper as the main sponsor, USM, Viabizzuno, Kerakoll Home design and Oikos, is to “create a physical place that serves as a hub of professionalism, a melting pot of ideas, tools, materials and services for the design and creation of interiors in the contract sector.”
In order to respect existing period features, the considerable restoration work was above all philological, with the reclamation of marble tile floors, wooden door and window frames and exposed beams; it was also decorative, integrating a second skin consisting of a complex system of partitions made from roasted and milled cork, slatted wood paneling and custom-designed hidden cabinets, treated wooden ceilings as parquet floors, connecting doorways between one room and another made from bronzed brass plates and reclaimed oak floorboards.
Even the choice of colors returns to pre-existing colors: intense green, petrol blue and terracotta, grays in warm and light or dark and deep shades, as in the materials library.
Photo credits: Giorgio Possenti
