A joyful Milanese apartment comes alive through colour and shape
In a refresh by Paolo Frello & Partners, clever use of colour brings the post-war building’s interior into the 21st century
Set within a post-war residential building, this Milanese apartment was in need of a refresh when Paolo Frello and his team were called upon to orchestrate a complete redesign. The project, set in the north Italian city's Arena neighbourhood, allowed the local architect and his namesake firm to play with surfaces and colour in a way that transformed its interior completely – bringing a joyful tone and spatial diversity to the generous, 160 sq m home.
Step inside this colourful Milanese apartment
The reworked apartment sits within a mid-20th-century building designed by Asnago Vender. Architecture duo Mario Asnago and Claudio Vender played a key role in the city's modernist residential development and helped define the look of its central district's housing stock – the typical, large-scale apartment buildings many of us know and love in the Lombard capital.
In its contemporary iteration of the modernist interior, Paolo Frello & Partners worked with colour 'not as a finish but an architectural device', the architects explain. The original 1950s layout had been changed beyond its primary intention during a previous refurbishment, so the space required a sharp redefinition to amend its flow and address a fragmented internal arrangement.
‘Material and colour converge to create a dense and deeply contemporary living experience’
Paolo Frello & Partners
Blending surface treatments, textures and colours, Frello sought to create a 21st-century interior that caters to the new owner's lifestyle and love for entertaining. References to 1970s nightclub imagery and modernist design abound – yet they are playful and seen in a fresh light. The aim here was for any historical nods to be 'not nostalgic, but interpretative', the architects explain.
Openness underlines the new interior, which feels unified by continuous dark oak herringbone flooring. Architectural elements in the form of curves and block-colour built-in features – from storage to the monolithic stainless steel kitchen – help divide the space and provide much-needed functionality throughout.
Bespoke details further elevate the home. Soft, patterned or colourful upholstery provides background texture or bold accents as needed. The architects conclude: 'The result is an interior where material and colour converge to create a dense and deeply contemporary living experience.'
