We were asked to design a modern mansion for a family in Milan, Italy. The site of the project located on a steep hill of a mountainous area, with a proper gradient to south, potentially suitable for providing light and having a view from inside of the building project to the surroundings.
Based on the discussions with our clients, our design team started the design process by determining connections of the building to the outside, including entrances from the street and the garden.
Opportunities and limitations of designing in such high slope land, combined with the desires of the client, have a great impact on the ideas and concepts that form later in the design process, and the external connections between building and its surroundings become a crucial matter to specify.
Great height difference of the site and its adjacent land on the west required a cantilever wall to both define the border of the project site and assure the safety from a landslide.
This high and lengthy wall may be seen as a constraint in design at first sight, but our team effectively dealt with this feature by using the perspective it creates and placed the stairs connecting two gardens and the spacious south terrace. Reciprocally, the east side is left untouched with parts of the hill remaining as an organic topography of the garden.
The type of stair should be chosen according to the project and knowledge of stairs architecture. In this project, stair was chosen white to have a great contrast to the natural stone used in building a foundation and the cantilever wall, and as the contrast turned out pleasantly beautiful, our team decided to repeat the composition on the facade as well, so white cement and natural wood were selected to cover the building.
The building was designed on three floors, with the first floor functioning as the main floor and connecting the other two. The entrance from the upper garden on the north is also provided from this floor, and the north terrace is connected to it via a white-not so wide stairs parallel to the main stairs.
The ground floor is open to the outside, the south terrace from the north and blocked by the natural slope of the site on the north, and accommodates the gym and swimming pool. Floor to ceiling windows creates the maximum view connection of inside and out and can connect the swimming pool to the outside physically in the pleasant weather.
The kitchen, dining room, and the living room is located on the first floor, with living room and dining room next to the southern floor to ceiling windows to have the best view and light. The dining room is directly connected to the terrace. The interior design, like the exteriors, is modern with white as the main color present in the space.
Grey and black used for kitchen counter, staircase, window frames, and furniture enhance the contrast while few touches of light wood color in furniture legs, and TV wall adds warmth to space as you see in the architectural rendering outputs.
Based on the discussions with our clients, our design team started the design process by determining connections of the building to the outside, including entrances from the street and the garden.
Opportunities and limitations of designing in such high slope land, combined with the desires of the client, have a great impact on the ideas and concepts that form later in the design process, and the external connections between building and its surroundings become a crucial matter to specify.
Great height difference of the site and its adjacent land on the west required a cantilever wall to both define the border of the project site and assure the safety from a landslide.
This high and lengthy wall may be seen as a constraint in design at first sight, but our team effectively dealt with this feature by using the perspective it creates and placed the stairs connecting two gardens and the spacious south terrace. Reciprocally, the east side is left untouched with parts of the hill remaining as an organic topography of the garden.
The type of stair should be chosen according to the project and knowledge of stairs architecture. In this project, stair was chosen white to have a great contrast to the natural stone used in building a foundation and the cantilever wall, and as the contrast turned out pleasantly beautiful, our team decided to repeat the composition on the facade as well, so white cement and natural wood were selected to cover the building.
The building was designed on three floors, with the first floor functioning as the main floor and connecting the other two. The entrance from the upper garden on the north is also provided from this floor, and the north terrace is connected to it via a white-not so wide stairs parallel to the main stairs.
The ground floor is open to the outside, the south terrace from the north and blocked by the natural slope of the site on the north, and accommodates the gym and swimming pool. Floor to ceiling windows creates the maximum view connection of inside and out and can connect the swimming pool to the outside physically in the pleasant weather.
The kitchen, dining room, and the living room is located on the first floor, with living room and dining room next to the southern floor to ceiling windows to have the best view and light. The dining room is directly connected to the terrace. The interior design, like the exteriors, is modern with white as the main color present in the space.
Grey and black used for kitchen counter, staircase, window frames, and furniture enhance the contrast while few touches of light wood color in furniture legs, and TV wall adds warmth to space as you see in the architectural rendering outputs.
About The Project
- Architect: Michael Willison
- Rating: ★★★★★
- Date: 2019
- Country: United Kingdom
- Assistants: Maya Jonasson
- Project Type: Residential
- SQ. FT: 7350
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