Project: Moscova House
Architecture: Studio GUM
Location: Milan, Italy
Photographs: Filippo Bamberghi
Moscova House by Studio GUM is an inventive renovation of a top-floor apartment in a nineteenth-century Milanese building. Located between Parco Sempione and Chinatown, the 100-square-meter residence reinterprets the city’s architectural heritage through precision, material honesty, and craftsmanship. Balancing light, geometry, and functionality, the project transforms a narrow rectangular volume into a flowing, multi-level home for a young family returning to Italy after years abroad.
Reinterpreting the Milanese Typology
The Moscova House occupies the fifth and top floor of a historic structure defined by thick masonry walls and pressed-brick partitions. The apartment’s 5-by-20-meter layout follows a longitudinal axis—an organizing principle that Studio GUM preserved and elevated to a key compositional element. This spatial thread connects a series of four communicating rooms through aligned openings, creating uninterrupted sightlines from one end of the home to the other.
Natural light floods the space from the east, where wide roof openings frame views of Milan’s Porta Garibaldi skyline. On the west side, the apartment adjoins a symmetrical unit, so a row of skylights above the pitched wooden roof brings additional daylight into the deeper, “blind” areas of the plan.
A Vertical Sequence of Living
Studio GUM’s design reimagines the traditional “enfilade” of historic palazzi—where rooms align in sequence—but rotates it vertically. A new mezzanine structure, supported by an iron beam frame and micro-perforated metal panels, overlays the main axis. This intermediate level not only adds functional area for study and storage but also transforms the circulation pattern: each room now connects fluidly to the next, on both floors.
Three staircases—one in the living area and two in the bedrooms—link the levels. In one children’s room, a playful climbing pole replaces a conventional staircase. Light filters through the perforated mezzanine, while artificial lighting beneath projects back onto the upper level, creating a dynamic play of shadows and reflections.
Material Craft and Detail
Every element in the Moscova House expresses meticulous craftsmanship. Custom-made furniture, cabinetry, and fittings define the interiors, with materials chosen for durability, texture, and contrast. Teak wood dominates the joinery—its natural edges left visible—while formica surfaces in deep blue bring subtle color and reflectivity. The custom handles, made from galvanized and painted steel, illustrate the hands-on approach that defines Studio GUM’s practice.
The flooring enhances the apartment’s longitudinal rhythm. Hexagonal ceramic tiles line the corridor and wet areas, blending seamlessly with wide teak slats in the living spaces. In the bathrooms, aquamarine diamond-patterned tiles introduce vibrancy and light. This material choreography underscores the home’s balance of precision and personality.
Collaboration and Custom Design
A centerpiece of the living area is the “Romboidale” bookcase by designer Pietro Russo—an iron, wood, and brass structure adapted specifically for this project. Serving simultaneously as shelving and parapet for the mezzanine, it symbolizes the dialogue between architecture and craftsmanship that defines the entire home.
Almost every component, from the kitchen to the wardrobes and doors, was designed to measure. The kitchen itself integrates a folding teak shelf that conceals the sink and cooktop when closed, reinforcing the idea of flexibility within limited space.
Light, Line, and Domestic Rhythm
Ultimately, Moscova House by Studio GUM is a study in spatial rhythm—an architectural “telescope” that compresses and expands along its axis while drawing light deep into the plan. By reinterpreting historical Milanese typologies through contemporary construction and detail, Studio GUM has crafted a home that feels timeless yet unmistakably modern.
