L.A. Modern | Carlo Donati Studio

LA modern is a 500 sq meters single family villa in the Italian country side facing to the Po riverside, located in a wide lot with a garden, closed on the outside and open to the south. The architectural language reminds of the lines and the atmosphere of the Palm Springs’ villas designed by Neutra, Frey, and Lautner, but it reinterpretates them using contemporary materials contrasting with the traditional context. The heart of the villa is the garden enclosed by the volumes of the building and by the pool. The three bodies of the villa define the courtyard and have different heights. At the first floor, the two story building has the master bedroom and the kids bedroom overhanging the ground floor where the relax and spa area is located. The huge living space is in the central area, the heart of the house, and it has a double height so that the mezzanine overlooks the studio and the living The kitchen is designed as a low volume with a long flat roof facing to the pool and crossed by a tall cork tree, and it marks out the courtyard and the walk inside the house. The façades on the main street have no windows, instead the ones facing to the courtyard are designed with huge sliding windows opening to the garden and the pool continuously creating and multiplying the views and the perspectives. The external patios with wooden floor and cork trees are thought as a sort of extensions of the living and of the kitchen areas. The chromatic and materic palette is the guideline of the project. The surface finishing of the facades are white stucco, corten steel and wooden vertical slats. The corten steel sheets have big sizes, they have been used to cover the roof, the kitchen volume and the ground floor with the spa area, in this way the overhanging volume at the first floor is emphasized. Circular holes in the façade enlight the walkway to the spa area. At night, the light coming out from the holes reflects in to the pool. The wooden slats cover the first floor wall. All the materials have been used as a compositive and chromatic game to underline the different levels of the architecture. The same wooden slats have been used for all the exterior floors and around the pool. Corten steel and wood have been used as interior finishing materials as well: the parquet on the floor is smoked oak and it dialogues with the green Brasilian stone that covers the see-through fireplace’s bench. The same green stone is the main theme of the villa and it covers the top of the bar at the entrance, we find it in all the bathrooms and in the big bath tub custom made by the Carlo Donati Studio. The corten steel is the material chosen to build the chimney, heart of the house. The suspended chimney has a contemporary minimal design and it separates the areas of the living from the dining, still keeping a visual connection. The kitchen was designed by Carlo Donati Studio around a big corian snack table, the materials are dark aubergine laquered and Palisander wood. Most of the furniture were designed by the studio and they are mixed with some production pieces such as the B&B Bend sofas, the Moroso Phoenix pouffs, the Tisettanta Carpenter table, all matching with a selection of vintage furniture like the Italian velvet chairs from the 50’s, the steel lamps, the armchairs and the wooden Eames chair on the mezzanine and the berberian carpets by Altai.