Verona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella

Verona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella - WindowsVerona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella - Image 3 of 40Verona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella - ColumnVerona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella - WindowsVerona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella - More Images+ 35

Verona, Italy
  • Architects: Bricolo Falsarella
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2019
  • Photographs
    Photographs:Atelier XYZ
  • Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project
    Manufacturers:  Fantini, RA, Serge Mouille, XERA
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Verona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella - Windows
Courtesy of Atelier XYZ

Text description provided by the architects. In our design project, to recover a space or a building always means to find in the preexisting structure the prompts for a new beginning. It is not an easy task. You need to look beyond appearances. You need to inspect and remove layers. Sometimes, you need to do that physically. This was the case for the restoration of the Verona Penthouse in the old town center of Verona.

Verona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella - Lighting
Courtesy of Atelier XYZ

We first demolished all of the plasters. We were looking for something true, something strong. We were looking at the past of the artifact to find some remnants for the future, and there we found them. By removing the plasters, a beautiful rough masonry resurfaced. Just by looking at the stonework, we could tell it was not meant to be left in plain view. It was imperfect, inexact but, for this very reason, authentic, carved by the humble and elegant expressivity of the poor things when they are true (and not the unfortunate result of misaligned narrative expedients). 

Verona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella - Windows
Courtesy of Atelier XYZ

In the freed space, the brutal force of the stonework pushed us to radicalize the architectonic translation of the functional program. We did not build new walls within the space structured by the masonry. Rather, we compartimentalized the functional program inside new grafts-like devices. Thus, the original walls entered into an intense dialog with the new elements, which were crafted using highly authentic materials capable of engaging with the poetic roughness of the stone.

Verona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella - Image 3 of 40
Courtesy of Atelier XYZ

A pitch-pine boiserie(minium-colored and burnt) crosses the spaces from the lowered entrance down the living and slides along to constitute a side of the bedroom. Inside it, we find the guest toilet, the laundry room, and the bedroom wardrobes. The surface is uninterrupted and the otherwise indiscernible openings are marked only by some read-lead handles of our own design.

Verona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella - Column
Courtesy of Atelier XYZ

The host bedroom toilet is inscribed within a black, uncolored, sheet metal volume treated with shoe polish. The volume presents different ploys: towards the bed, a big opening is ambiguously divided by a mirror and a polarized glass, which can hamper or offer a voyeuristic view of the bathroom. Towards the bedroom, a piston-driven remote control allows a hide-away TV set to come on stage. Finally, the door is concealed by a mirror that renders the movement between the volume and the boiserie all the more enigmatic. The entrance wall of the living is marked by the iconic presence of two slightly overlapping circles. They were made using different metals (brass and aged iron). This device too aims to conceal the invasiveness of the TV. Upon manual operation, in fact, a sliding mechanism brings the TV screen into view. 

Verona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella - Windows, Bedroom
Courtesy of Atelier XYZ
Verona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella - Image 28 of 40
Drawings
Verona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella - Image 37 of 40
Drawings

Other elements are characterized by a similar tendency to narratively break away with ordinary approaches and reinterpretations in architectural design: an iron gate structures the living back wall and contains a metal kitchen with burnished brass finishing touches. The false ceilings of the lowered parts are in black natural iron plates. Custom furnishings (tables, sinks, beds) are developed using industrial metallic profiles with visible joins.

Verona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella - Windows
Courtesy of Atelier XYZ

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Project location

Address:Verona, Italy

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Verona Penthouse / Bricolo Falsarella" 11 Jun 2019. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/917580/verona-penthouse-bricolo-falsarella> ISSN 0719-8884

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