LEFT, THE WOODEN SCREENS
CREATE A PLAY OF LIGHT AND
SHADOW IN THE LIVING AREA,
FEATURING LISSONI’S ‘CHEMISE’
SOFA FOR LIVING DIVANI,
‘HUNUA’ RUG FOR GOLRAN,
AND ‘194 9’ LOW TABLES FOR
CASSINA. OTHER FURNISHINGS
INCLUDE A ‘PK80’ BENCH
BY POUL KJÆRHOLM FOR
FRITZ HANSEN, AND A ‘DALL’
ARMCHAIR BY BAXTER
BELOW, THE ANGULAR BLACK
STEEL STAIRCASEtheir existence is outside,’ says Lissoni. Screens of
wood over the glass walls soften the heat of the Tel Aviv
sun – both layers slide back, completely opening the
house to the outdoors when desired. When the wooden
grille is closed, the effect creates what Lissoni calls
a fundamental ‘paso doble’ between the light
and shadows cast inside.
The house was carefully laid out to embrace the
local light and to mesh with the surrounding area, but
despite its vernacular orientation, the project has a
distinctly Milanese discretion. Before reaching the
residence’s sunshine-filled interior, visitors face an
entrance of looming blocks of stone, obscuring the
treasures that lie within.
‘In Milan, our cultural DNA tells us, no matter how
rich one might be, not to show off, so even the homes
of the most important Milanese families are closed
and imposing on the outside, but inside you find
courtyards, gardens, frescos, colonnades – you find all
the beauty,’ he says.
According to Lissoni, the house also expresses his
Italian ‘humanistic’ approach, which he applies to every
element of a project – from its initial visual impact to
its interior, its garden and exterior, right down to the
technical considerations needed to complete it. ‘The
Anglo Saxon way is for an architect to design a house,
but to leave the construction and functional aspects
to an engineer and ask an interior decorator to
make it feel like a home. If you’re an architect, you
should know how to design absolutely every aspect,’
he says. ‘When you create a building, you need to
design everything: the façade, but also the internal
structure, the mechanical aspects. You need to design
the veins and the nerves.’ »‘In Milan, our cultural DNA
tells us not to show off.
You find all the beauty inside’
∑
In Residence
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