Wallpaper 4

Is there a place for modernism in our postmodern,

post-everything age? Piero Lissoni thinks so. The

Italian architect of purified forms, from sharp little

coffee makers to lofty, linear edifices, has made a career

of creating rigorously clean compositions with a

foundation in the stark and immaculate works of the

20th century. ‘In 2018, it’s still possible to create

architecture that is contemporary and simple, at least

aesthetically simple, and to reclaim a little

bit of that elegant modernist spirit,’ he announces,

seated at a drawing table in his bright white Milan

studio, surrounded by his three napping golden

retrievers, as his dark-clad team works away at large-

screen computers behind him. Lissoni, dressed

Milanese-style, in a neat navy blazer with matching

Front lines

A Tel Aviv home offers multi-layered modernism with a Milanese twist

silk pocket square, speaks softly, but his black

apostrophe eyebrows and hazel eyes dance when he

puts forth an opinion.

The architect’s latest completed work, a residence in

Tel Aviv designed in collaboration with the Israeli firm

Tehila Shelef, is the very definition of crisply angled

contemporary modernism. The entrance appears like a

monolithic barricade, but on the inside, the two-storey

home reveals itself as a dialogue between the external

and the internal, with crystal-clear walls of glass that

barely separate the airy, open space of the interiors

from the lush greenery and limpid pools surrounding

the house. ‘My task was simply to make this house

completely transparent in order to capture the light –

to allow the residents to live inside but to feel like »

WRITER: LAURA RYSMAN

Photography: Amit Geron

CONCEALED BEHIND A

MONOLITHIC ENTRANCE

(ABOVE RIGHT), THE HOUSE

FEATURES GLASS WALLS

SHADED BY A SECOND SKIN

OF WOODEN SCREENS

(ABOVE LEFT), BOTH OF

WHICH CAN OPEN UP

In Residence

∑ 131