DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
: Private Interior penthouse flat is designed for a couple with two teenagers. The architectural concept was to create an interior space structured on two levels. The first is designed for the family, the latter to accommodate guests. The inspirations of this project are many, and they all aim to restore the dichotomy between a closed and private space on the lower floor and open and public space on the rooftop floor.
DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
: This project has changed and grown as the awareness of all the people involved grew with the evolution of the site. It started with a straightforward program which was then enriched with a level of complexity that was not initially assessed.
DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
: This award is an important encouragement to keep our focus on our projects. We will make this award-winning design more exposed to give our practice a boost in the design and architecture developers environment.
DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
: It has been a very long and complicated process being inside a building with more flats, under construction — about three years.
DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
: A new client commissioned this design.
DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
: It is a penthouse flat for my clients’ daily life.
DI: What made you design this particular type of work?
: We are professional architects.
DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
: We admire minimalist designers or who aim at a certain sense of understated elegance. Architects such as Citterio and Partners among the Italians, Vincent Van Duysen among the northern European, and Pitsou Kedem in the Mediterranean area. Three completely different styles that we find very interesting.
DI: Who is the target customer for his design?
: A private client who appreciates a modern lifestyle.
DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
: We tried to develop a new concept for a walled garden with a modern approach.
DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
: The Private name Interior, Penthouse Flat, came up thinking on the whole process I followed to support my client’s idea. His obsession for a private place, far from prying eyes and overall safe, was the main guideline. It’s a “private” interior indeed.
DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
: Everything could be useful to explain and to support our project: from pictures to movies, from renders to small models, and presentations with Revit and AutoCAD drawings.
DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
: The calm and brightness of the rooftop garden where natural light is optimised by four large sliding roof lights 6x2 m each divided into three sliding glass panels.
DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
: I worked with my team to elaborate on the proposal and to follow the construction detail by detail. An excellent team of constructors has supported me.
DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
: The skylights' construction was particularly demanding. Some irregularities in the roof and the size of the glazed voids required an exceptional design and an extended tuning of the sliding system.
DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
: My client's satisfaction influences my design. The research conducted is above all in the context of living comfort, materials and light.
DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
: We didn’t have particular issues during realisation because a proper constructor’s team supported us. The pose of the stair’s glasses - 4.5-metre-high smoked glass panels and suspended balustrade - required ten people because of their dimensions, but rooftop's natural light is optimised by four sizeable sliding roof lights 6x2 m each divided into three sliding glass panels who pose was challenging because of the sliding mechanism and the rain.
DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
: We wanted our outstanding project to be recognised and get more known.
DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
: It was an excellent experience for me that pushed me out my comfort zone and forced me to face a complexity that I haven’t manage in my previous experience.
DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
: No, thank you.