Under the Mole Antonelliana

Running through the history of Turin, one of Italy’s best-kept cities, is a thin vein of the absurd. It is the thread that links Guarino Guarini, the monk-architect who designed one of the most visionary cupolas of the entire Baroque period for the Holy Shroud of Turin, to Carlo Mollino, an elusive, nonconformist, sulphureous designer. And, of course, by way of Alessandro Antonelli, who left the Mole to the city, one of its major landmarks (and until 1908, the tallest stone building in the world). But even a bizarre little masterpiece like Casa Scaccabarozzi, known affectionately to the people of Turin as the “slice of polenta”, the building’s footprint is so narrow that, viewed from some angles, it seems to be nothing more than a decorated facade. Pure theater.
The building in which this apartment is located was also designed by Antonelli in the mid- 1800s. His signature is found on the storefront, a series of architectural elements, and in the courtyard solved, again, like a game of theatrical scenery. Over the years, the palazzo underwent some alterations. In the early 1900s a new stairway was built in addition to the original that leads to the formal reception rooms on the first floor, more prestigious than the pre-existing one, that serves all the floors in the building. Around the 1930s, a laboratory-workshop was added alongside the former stables.
It is here that an architect from Turin has made his home, reimagining the spaces with design precision and originality, giving them new functions and, at the same time, bringing an enlightened reinterpretation of the building’s history. The apartment occupies what was once the artisan workshop; only the kitchen extends into the neoclassic wing of the building. The living area is made up of a succession of rooms that communicate through fluid passageways. The dining room is separated from the entry by a glass wall with transparent and colored panels (that conjures up, in an abstract, contemporary way, the magnificent 19th century facade of the nearby Porta Nuova train station). From the dining room a large arched opening connects to the living room, divided into a TV zone and conversation area. The entire living space, like the bedrooms, opens onto an internal patio that, during good weather, becomes a natural extension of the home. This continuity is clear in the choice to pave part of the exterior space in concrete, a material used in the interior as well.
The finishes and materials play a key role. For example, the parquet on the foyer floor that reflects the historic aspect of the building, suddenly stops – even in the middle of a room, as occurs in the dining room – to make way for “helicopter finished” concrete whose surface is smoothed with a special rotary trowel machine; industrial-style laminates are juxtaposed with luxurious wood, like American walnut or with Calacatta marble. All of which are in perfect harmony with the ancient brick wall that, like a backdrop, defines the patio area.
Wood paneling in the living room also incorporates functional and furnishing elements, and is one of the primary components of the entire project. Along with colors like cream, hazelnut and tobacco and hints of green and petrol. The result is a box that only appears to be neutral, based on symmetries fine-tuned with the utmost precision. As if, in these juxtapositions, in these unexpected asymmetries, there were a distant echo of that subtle Turin-style zaniness mentioned above - a rarefied eclecticism that is expressed here in a sophisticated interplay of contrasts and balance. A project in which the contemporary imprint is invited to an ongoing, fascinating dialog with history.