For 23Bassi, the renovation of a multi-story building in Brescia provided an opportunity to explore a theme that is fundamental in high-rise buildings: how to transform the connections between the different levels into an integral part of the building’s architecture.
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In a house spread over several levels, the staircase can either be a disruption or become the element that ties everything together.
We chose the second option.
The stairwell has been reimagined using a very deep blue, applied to the walls and wainscoting to create a space that is deliberately different from the rest of the home.
The cement tile floor features a geometric pattern that complements the flow of the space, while the railing retains the home’s character but is reinterpreted within the new color palette.
A luminous composition by Catellani & Smith, which spans the entire height of the space.
The light, therefore, does not come from a single point: it passes through the floors, fills the space, and makes the building’s verticality perceptible.
Climbing the staircase means constantly seeing the same house from different perspectives.
The living room, on the other hand, focuses on light and openness.
Part of the living room features a double-height ceiling, creating a visual connection between the main floor and the upper floor through a view framed by glass railings.
Suspended in the vast void, Catellani & Smith’s PostKrisi lamps become light, sculptural presences.
The Minotti sofa defines the conversation area without disrupting the sense of space, while the herringbone-patterned hardwood floor extends seamlessly from the living room to the dining room, tying the various spaces in the living area together.
The white of the walls and wainscoting serves as a backdrop for works of art, objects, and a few very precise pops of color.
After the intensity of the stairwell, the living room takes on a completely different atmosphere: bright, open, and almost ethereal.
The dining area maintains a sense of continuity with the living room but incorporates a system of large glass partitions with dark frames.
The kitchen can therefore be separated without being hidden.
Transparency allows light and views to flow through the rooms and transforms the living room–dining room–kitchen layout into a continuous visual sequence.
The project deliberately seeks to avoid isolated rooms.
The spaces can be closed off when necessary, but they remain connected to one another.
It is a contemporary living space integrated into a building with a very different structure and proportions.
One of the most distinctive rooms in the house is the master bedroom’s bathroom.
Here, the project takes a different turn.
The focal point is a heavily veined green marble that lines the large shower and is also used in the sink area.
The shower is designed almost like a separate room: a space entirely clad in stone and enclosed by large glass panels, with a built-in seat and dark faucets.
Opposite it, the custom-made vanity uses the same marble to create a continuous surface.
But the element that truly defines the space is the large arch within which the sink area is set.
The mirror echoes the geometry of the space and creates a sense of perspective that makes the bathroom appear larger, transforming a typical element of the existing architecture into a new setting for an extremely contemporary space.
Marble, light, and geometry come together as a single design.
One of the building’s floors is reserved for guests, but it was not designed simply as a series of rooms.
It is a multipurpose space that can be adapted for different uses as needed.
A living area allows you to enjoy the floor on your own, while a fully retractable bar area can be brought out when in use and hidden away when not needed.
The custom furniture system also divides and organizes the utility area, helping to keep the space tidy and flexible.
In this way, the guest floor functions almost like a small, detached house within the main residence.
Not just an afterthought, then, but a space designed with the same care as the rest of the house.
The project does not seek to transform the building into something it is not, nor does it seek to preserve it as a static image of the past.
Wood paneling, arches, moldings, proportions, and scale interact with glass, architectural lighting, marble, contemporary furnishings, and custom-designed furniture.
Some elements are retained.
Other reinterpretations.
Still others deliberately reinvent themselves.
It is precisely in the contrast between these elements that the home’s identity is born.
A vertical home, where each floor has a different character, yet the stairwell serves as a constant reminder that they are all part of the same story.
Blue, light, and matter hold everything together.
