As Alfred Hitchcock said when he visited Turin in 1960 “… it is rather mysterious and intriguing and even though I’ve only just got here, it looks promising and something unexpected might suddenly happen on any of its street corners…”
We would also like to invite you to discover the unusual and unfamiliar perspectives this house-stage has to offer.“
Metaphysical Remix apartment in Turin by architects Andrea Marcante and Adelaide Testa exemplifies the radical rethink of conventional approaches to architectural design and interiors.
The apartment housing three generations of one family displays an innovative mix of architectural and design ideas, while the duo has taken an holistic approach to form the basis of an aesthetic where no one element is in the ascendant.
Virtuoso connections are made so that style details, spatial demarcations and structural elements are both practical and whimsical in a profusion of colour and geometric forms. Customary approaches to interior and spatial design have been rejected for a one-off ituitive ritual of art making specific to the clients requirements.
“…if certain interiors excite us, they are exemplifications of a possible choice between conflicting aspects of our character, legitimate aspiration to transform our disturbing contradictions into something beautiful.”
The apartment presents rooms which are a-historical and yet beyond contemporary as they appear as co-ordinated units that blend all the arts; they have at once a superficial immediacy, unconventional practicality and never ending historic trails. 
The bathrooms are a case in point where discrete references to Art Deco can be found (a link to the 1930’s building too), while playing with stereotypes within a style that incorporates industrial design in a kind of effusive impulsiveness.
Similarly the architect’s cite de Chirico as an inspiration whose influence can be seen in individual elements but also in the eccentricities the apartment complete exhibits. Marcante and Testa describe the apartment in the following way,
“A house/stage where all the actors move easily: bedrooms to safeguard privacy but also shared spaces designed in languages holding onto what we hold dearest and, at the same time, stimulating interaction between different generations through unusual and unexpected architectural features.”
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Stimulation is key and is everywhere in evidence.
The architects have manipulated the age and style of the building to a singular vision. A divergent palette synchronises with the contrary ceiling heights and types of the original building to articulate both the space itself and how the spaces are used. Strong parallel ceiling supports add an element of drama but stylistically contrast to the schema in other areas; the ceiling in the lounge room for example.
The Master bedroom display’s “…the geometric patterns of the new system of metal bars” which pattern the bedhead wall and act as impromptu shelving. They also define both room barriers and the bespoke bedroom furniture; these geometric forms appear as a kind of scaffolding suggesting a type of enclosure – as differentiators of space they expand and contract the notion; as objects of art they energise the space. Additionally these meandering forms have an inherent simple beauty that unify the home and offer pragmatic and conceptual potential.
A beautiful and vigorous aesthetic has been created – Marcante Testa have both literally and metaphorically pushed and shoved the boundaries to arrive at a new language of interior expression.
