We are inside the Torre al Parco, the 20-story residential building designed by Vico Magistretti and Franco Longoni in Milan in the 1950s on the edge of Sempione Park: on one of the tower’s high floors is the apartment of a young professional couple (and art collectors) completely redesigned by architect Flaviano Capriotti, also the author of some of the custom furnishings.
The original finishes have been mostly preserved, in dialogue with Magistretti’s architecture and the idea of a refined bourgeois home: it is a noble material such as marble that traces the various domestic rooms, alternating with herringbone parquet flooring, leveled and sanded.
The entrance is configured as a small art gallery with the works in the foreground and is characterized by a very soft diffused light obtained thanks to the oval ceiling breakthrough, conceived by the architect as a citation of Lucio Fontana’s Spatialist movement.
Next to the entrance is the studio lined by a bookcase in light brushed elm with cherry red lacquered backs that contains a collection of early literary works, a series of small sculptures, books, and design objects, such as the iconic Eclisse lamp by Vico Magistretti for Artemide. The table is by AG Fronzoni for Cappellini while Luisa, designed by Franco Albini for Cassina, was chosen as the seat.
The large and bright living area, divided from the dining area by a thin-profile oak casket door, has neutral tones alternating with darker details that recall the veining of the marble.
Along with the contemporary works of art on display, Italian design by the Masters remains the common thread in the apartment: from the moss-green D.151.4 armchairs to the D.555.1 glass-topped coffee table, designed by Gio Ponti and reissued by Molteni&C; from the sofa by Antonio Citterio for B&B to the Tolomeo Maxi lamp by Michele DeLucchi for Artemide.
In the dining room, the light elm striped paneling contrasts with the warmer, darker tone of the Cab 412 leather seating by Mario Bellini for Cassina and the table made by Molteni&C, designed by Gio Ponti, who also signed the multicolored chandelier for Venini.
The kitchen, with clean and essential lines, plays on the alternation of black and white. The master bedroom is enhanced by a wall covered with Rubelli’s Principessa Kocacin wallpaper, while lamps by Michael Anastassiades for Flos rest on Kelly nightstands, made by Emmanuel Gallina for Poliform.
Completing the home is a guest room, a wardrobe area, and four bathrooms, among which stands out the one featuring Hermès wallpaper with a floor and washbasin in honed Travertino Navona marble that gives a soft effect to the entire space.
The result is a Milanese apartment with refined charm, balanced between bourgeois memories, design icons and works of art, between past and contemporary age.
