Architect Francesca Venturoni’s uber-chic family apartment is a masterclass in contradictory forms
STYLING Laura Mauceri
KITCHEN SPACE
‘The arched volume of the units was inspired by postmodernism,’ says Francesca. Its shape contrasts with a row of steel panels that divide the living and sleeping areas. ‘When opened, the panels reveal a whole other world, which is completely unexpected for guests.’
As the lights and music of Milan’s Chinatown clubs began to lose their appeal, Francesca Venturoni and her husband, Dino Cicchetti, felt it was time for a new chapter. ‘When our sons Alessandro and Ludovico arrived, everything changed,’ Francesca says. ‘We needed more space and to be closer to Dino’s and my studio, which are located in the neighbourhood near the Porta Romana railway station and the Prada Foundation.’
This is an area where house prices were rising, so the couple anticipated the move would be a sound investment. In the midst of schools, playgrounds and parks, Francesca and Dino found their apartment. ‘It’s part of a complex built in the 1970s to accommodate teachers,’ Francesca says. ‘We chose this property because we wanted our children to grow up freely in a protected space, as we did years ago. Another detail that won us over is that each building corresponds to an animal sculpture, visible from the outside to help children’s orientation. Ours is a white bear.’
Both being architects, and Francesca having cut her teeth at Foster + Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects in London, the couple worked together to overhaul the apartment. ‘We built new walls and cleaned the whole thing up, rethinking every room,’ she says. ‘I’d learnt a great deal about architecture in London, but returning to Milan I found my taste becoming more radical, influenced by the design language of the 1970s and 1980s.’ Perhaps the most striking example of this is the black and white Mutina wall tiles. ‘I wanted a domestic environment played in contrasts, where the softness of the furniture shapes combined with the geometric patterns of the decorations, following the architectural tradition of the 1970s,’ says Francesca.
The couple celebrated the raw and hardworking concrete plinths of the building, juxtaposing them with the clean lines of Enzo Mari’s Frate dining table, as well as the more playful, irreverent forms of Francesca’s glass collection. Elsewhere, in their en suite, they chose ceramic t
