A living room with a view of the Prenestino neighbourhood

A 130-square-metre apartment located in Rome’s Prenestino neighbourhood was recently redesigned for a family of four by the Rome-based practice Brain Factory — Architecture & Design. One of the key features of the apartment is its splendid panoramic view overlooking a park, so the entire renovation project was organized in such a way as to fully exploit this characteristic. «The existing property had a conventional floor plan consisting of a sequence of mundane, characterless rooms,» explained architect Marco Marotto. «So for the new layout we opted for solutions with more personality, including a large open-plan living room.» The starting point for the project was the living space centred around a 20-square-metre open-plan kitchen with an island configuration. The decision to locate the kitchen at the centre of this space helped to accentuate the sense of warmth and domesticity of the living and dining area while meeting the owners’ day-to-day living needs. The kitchen is furnished with a Veneta Cucine kitchen and Falmec extractor hood, while Marazzi Block porcelain tiles were chosen for the kitchen floor and ABK Soleras wood-effect porcelain for the living room floor, hallways and corridors.
As the most panoramic space in the entire apartment, the open-plan living room was designed to make the most of the views looking out onto the green space below, with three windows in the living room and another in the dining area. The 50 square metre open-plan space is intentionally screened from the entrance door so it cannot be seen be people entering. «It is revealed slowly through a process of personal exploration,» continued designer Marco Marotto. «The creative design of the entrance hall reflects the hospitable nature of the owners and includes an electrowelded mesh rack for bottles of wine and small plants. The sense of visual surprise experienced on stepping through the door is further accentuated by the lowered ceiling and the black painted surfaces. Another visually striking feature is the painted wall behind the sofa, where an unusual application technique has been used to create a sense of creativity and dynamism.» The colours adopted throughout the apartment were chosen from the Oikos decorative paint range and comprise shades of grey, pastel pink and sea green. The sleeping area is spacious but cosy and consists of two bedrooms and two bathrooms. One of these is an en suite connected to the master bedroom, which also features a walk-in closet area between the door and the bed. Here too the floors have been tiled with wood-effect porcelain. The bathroom walls are clad from floor to ceiling with grey coloured porcelain panels, while the interior walls of the shower are covered with pastel coloured resin.