LOFT in Milan 2005

It is almost a cube, a square plan 10×10 ml and more than 9 ml. height, characterized by a great glazed ceiling, typical of the fifties industrial buildings.

This loft is a portion of a big project: the renovation of the Pirelli’s Cables Factory, designed by Giò Ponti in the fifties, run out since years, and now split in lots to realize spaces for creative clients as photographers and designers .

At the beginning there was just the outer “shell”, an empty interior , with a few strong elements: big concrete beams and a flood of light from above to testify its previous life.

The client, a photographer, wanted to create a flexible, open, and neutral space, to be rented as a location for photographic shootings and movie productions.

The project began digging in the basement, to obtain extra space underground to be used as storage room, lighted with daylight, coming through a thick sheet of half-reflecting, security glass we set in the floor of the ground level.

At ground floor we projected an ecological floor heating, that uses low temperature water combined with condensation boilers connected in parallel to safe gas and to keep the heat at men height , for a more comfort feeling. In this way it is possible to avoid radiators on walls.

The floor heating is hidden under a concrete floor (made to resist to heavy weights), coloured with black oxide during the polishing phase to be more lasting and less subject to usury .

At first floor , thanks to a 15° degrees project plan’s axes deviation, volumes and surfaces skip squared angle’s rule , obtaining a more dynamic visual effect.

Here part of the floor is made with iron sheets specially treated to obtain rusty tones; then the floor was cut in some parts to set bronze glass sheets to let light going through.

Foto Sandro Sciacca

Collaboratori: Samuele Bianchi