Architects: Nicola Spinetto Architect
Project: Chiavari Apartment
Collaborators: Daniele Mainetti, Alberto Ficele
Location: Chiavari, Liguria, Italy
Area: 110 sqm
Photography:Â Sergio Grazia
Chiavari Apartment is an old duplex in a Genovese style, in the historic center of Chiavari, in Liguria, Italy. The apartment was renovated and divided into two apartments by the architect Nicola Spinetto.
From the architect: The apartment has remained uninhabited for a long time and brings with it the traces of this abandonment. The home provided a large central blind room, which served as the entrance to the apartment and had only one opening to the living room. The distribution of the rooms was from door to door, along the front of the property.
This distribution is no longer appropriate to the modus vivendi of today, much more the old duplex had to be divided into two new apartaments. Furthermore, the central room has now some new services (two bathrooms and a small laundry room). For these reasons and for the need to reorganize a more central distribution, the new apartments have been imagined with a large opening at the intersection of the two structural walls. This intervention was one of the key points of the design project, as it had completely changed the distribution of the spaces. By this “compass” we can access two rooms and loft from the hallway which also gives access to two bathrooms.
Nicola Spinetto took the old world and restored it. But they have also taken a radical approach by injecting a new world architecture into the mix.