A 1930s apartment stripped back to its original plaster and oak.
Decades of renovation had buried the apartment under drywall and laminate. The owners asked us to find out what was left underneath before deciding anything.
Most of it was still there: lime plaster, oak parquet and the original steel windows. The work became careful repair, not replacement.
Client
Private client
Location
Milan, Italy
Year
2022
Scope
Interior · restoration
Area
130 m²
Status
Completed
Collaborators
Studio Ferri, structure
Photography
Studio Void
THE SITE
Finding the apartment under the renovations.
We opened small test areas in every room before drawing a plan. The original walls set the layout, and we only moved what had been added later.
Missing parquet was replaced with oak salvaged from a building of the same age. It is laid in the same herringbone pattern.
“The best thing we did was take things away.”
Homeowner — Corso Apartment
Three original materials, repaired rather than replaced.
Timber
Oak herringbone parquet
Repaired, with gaps filled from salvaged boards of the same age.
Plaster
Original lime
Patched with lime only, so new and old move together.
Metal
Steel window frames
Stripped, treated and reglazed with restoration glass.
PROCESS
Sketch to site.
01
Sketch
Test openings in every room before any drawing.
02
Plan
A plan built on the original walls.
03
Render
Salvage sourced to match species and age.
04
Built
Restored room by room over nine months.