A few years ago, Carl Pickering stumbled—fortunately—on a piece I wrote about the furniture he and his partner Claudio Lazzarini designed for Marta Sala Éditions, and he left a warm note thanking us for it. What makes it a little ridiculous is that it took me so long to circle back to Lazzarini Pickering Architetti. Theirs is one of those quietly elevated practices that lets four decades of work speak, while the young, smooth-talking names of PR dominate the feed. I often go looking for stories we run here—but this one landed in my inbox, and I’m so glad it did.
Casa Museo, the latter, rewards the wait. Housed within the industrial shell of a former workshop of early 20th-century silversmiths in Milan, it has been repurposed as a hybrid residence and exhibition space for collectors Ettore Molinario and Rossella Colombari, home to an extensive portfolio of photography, sculpture and design. Briefly, in the words of the architects, it was because“one large fluid space: domestic, focused on exhibition and theater at the same time.”
Lazzarini Pickering Furniture Collection for Marta Sala Éditions.
A few years ago, Lazzarini Pickering was contacted by Milan-based Marta Sala who believes that architecture is the basis of all design, and furniture is like a conversation.
The entire system revolves around one circular touch—two open circles with an offset center that make the geometry spin into lines of unexpected sight and fluid movement. Inside the double-height volume, the mezzanine hosts the living area, which is accessed by two staircases and a suspended gallery. The original columns and portals have been preserved and spread like the wings of a theater, framing domestic life within a series of rooms that melt into one another through hidden doors and retractable curtains.
Walls, long shelves and balustrades double as accessories to display nearly 1,000 square meters of art, while a conversation pit, stairs and walkways fold together into a kind of modern cavea—seats for the cultural events the house is built to host. New skylights and a completely open wall, spilling onto the balcony, flood the interior with Milanese light. Two secret rooms seal the deal: an archive vault, and a dark swimming pool.
Throughout the game, bones are stable and responsible. Working within the existing building reduced the combined energy and waste, while the development of seismic, photovoltaics and improved weather conditions and acoustic systems were connected to meet the current standards of efficiency and, most importantly, to hold accurate conditions for the critical needs of image collection. Passive lighting does most of the daylight work.
“We sought a balance between openness and protection, between remembrance and intimacy,”the architects concluded—and that’s a catchy line.
The Casa Museo is not viewed, it is imagined, and it is made to be lived in as it is viewed. It’s definitely the kind of job that you don’t shout about, that’s why you should shout about it.
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[Images courtesy of Lazzarini Pickering. Photography by Christopher Ghioldi.]