The residential project Gardenhouse (discover here the whole architectural project) sets out to create a small community, half urban, half rural. With ongoing indoor-outdoor transitions, all the dwelling types of the complex created by MAD architects – Garden Flats, Row Houses and Sky Villas – offer the space and privacy of a customized home and the advantages of a close-knot residential community. The units stand out for their use of furnishings by Visionnaire, the very Italian meta-luxury brand that has given each apartment its own concept of contemporary beauty, with lively experimentation on materials, volumes and motifs.
“For Visionnaire, the insertion of an individual product in a space is far from random, and is part of wider-ranging design thinking that sets out to guarantee the wellbeing of the inhabitants, a concept that is connected with ‘true luxury’ or ‘meta-luxury.’ This neologism, which indicates the attitude of going beyond the product as an end in itself, proposing intrinsic values that are narrated to the client – who will then have a special, direct relationship with the products for many years – is a fundamental factor to understand how Visionnaire thinks about contemporary luxury. A luxury that is not artifice, but constantly comes to grips with nature, not just in terms of sustainability – in the selection of the materials and the reorganization of processes of fabrication – but also in terms of inspiration and reflection on the relationship between natural and artificial”, tells us Eleonore Cavalli Art Director and Head of Global Marketing & Communication of Visionnaire.
“Nature is a structural part of architecture in Gardenhouse. A project in which we are closely involved, given the value nature represents for our brand. For us, nature has been a great source of inspiration: starting in 2017 with the Greenery collection, all the way to the present with the Beauty collection, through an investigation of its value in design. Nature becomes a symbol of escape and regeneration for contemporary humans, who are all too often overwhelmed by the incessant, rapid pace of everyday life.”
Garden Flat Collection One & Two
Focusing on the outdoor living experience and configured with large spaces on a single level, in a perfect balance between windows and walls available for artworks, this type has been given a casual-chic look. The dining room of type One features the Camden chairs designed by Mauro Lipparini and the Talos mirror.
Inside the Garden Flat Collection Two the theme of nature is reflected in the Conway carpet, inspired by the ocean, the Marty table and the Rebel chandelier in chromium-plated metal, with diffusers in onyx and steel, designed by Alessandro La Spada and placed above the Opera round table.
“Our work is to create visions and dreams that start from details. Our design is tailor-made for bespoke luxury, and it can only be practiced in Italy, thanks to the master craftsmen working there, active in various districts, who turn out sophisticated products that conceal a very high level of complexity, as one-of-a-kind objects. We want to create an idea of lifestyle, not just of décor, for a luxury that replaces the desire to possess with the desire to feel good, emphasizing quality over quantity.”
Row House Collection
The absolute protagonist of this exclusive trio of residences facing Charleville Boulevard is the Beloved Art bed in each master bedroom, enhanced by work with botanical motifs by Michele Astolfi, set into the headboard.
Sky Villa Collection
The Sky Villas offer an appealing encounter between residential interiors and sweeping views of the city. Each two-story unit with three bedrooms stands out for its high ceilings and sculptural staircases connecting the levels. The living area features the Davis sofas and armchairs, which echo the vertical height of the ceilings in the thick quilted sections of the back, connected in this case with bands of marble.
“Our design approach focuses on the relationship that is created between the product and its user, the client: apart from their intrinsic ‘functional practicality,’ the objects that surround us now should have an ‘emotional function’ completed by an ‘affective function.’ A part of our attribution to a place of the value and title of ‘home’ depends on the degree of attunement we are able to establish with these inanimate presences.”
The partnership with MAD Architects and Palisades (developer of Gardenhouse) celebrates a new chapter of the Made in Bologna design: “For us it has been extremely stimulating to come to grips with such a unique reality, capable of expressing in architecture the values that Visionnaire reveals through its interior design solutions and products: technological research and development to formulate unique, sophisticated objects that are as sustainable as possible, sensitivity to environmental heritage, the ability to interpret the culture and way of life of many countries in which we have the good fortune to operate, while keeping our own stylistic signature intact.”
And it also demonstrates the strong presence and appreciation of the brand inside the US Market: “Our presence in the USA is a recent development: in 2018 we opened our first flagship store in Los Angeles, in the heart of the vibrant Design District in West Hollywood. We have also renovated and opened a showroom in 2019, in Miami during Art Basel, hosting the installation The Garden of Beauty made in collaboration with Marc Ange. It has been a crescendo, involving us in many residential projects of great prestige, and today we are often inserted in very innovative business opportunities, such as the Gardenhouse project or the penthouse of Arte Surfside, recently completed. We have been pioneers in this sector, which is why we are now involved in new opportunities that have arisen precisely over the last few months.”
