HOME + DESIGN UPON
HOME + DESIGN UPON REFLECTION A penthouse in Venice counterbalances an Old World provenance and dramatic views with a playful use of light and colour BY BECKY SUNSHINE DESIGN ON THE EDGE For the entrance, designer Alberto Nespoli custom-made this champagne-steel mirror through his Eligo Studio Italians always know how to make an entrance. Or at least design one. As you enter the latest project by Milanbased interior designer Alberto Nespoli, a 186sq m, third-floor penthouse in the eaves of a 16th-century building in Venice, you’re struck by a 1.5m-wide mirror that turns 360 degrees to reflect light and vistas of the surrounding canals back into the main space. The house is for a family of five, and the parents are art and architecture devotees as well as collectors of Murano glass. The residence is the first project in Venice for 48 DEPARTURES-INTERNATIONAL.COM
HELENIO BARBETTA/LIVING INSIDE Nespoli, who has designed homes in London and Paris, and a restaurant in Salzburg, Austria. The couple wanted a place to work, vacation, and entertain, so they required a design that would maximise the space and take advantage of its views of the Grand Canal. “I was asked to create a contemporary space that breaks with the surrounding classicism,” he says. Located in the quiet Cannaregio district, the top-floor apartment – with windows on all four sides – looks out at the canal on one side, and the courthouse Corte dei Conti and the church of San Marcuola on another. In the distance, you can see the bell tower of the Basilica dei Frari. It’s a project well suited for the Milan-born Nespoli, 36, and his practice, Eligo Studio. “My firm is named after the Latin word eligere, which means ‘to choose with care and elegance’, ” says Nespoli, who graduated from his hometown’s Politecnico in 2008, before opening his studio in 2011. With the apartment’s views came challenges. “Venice is a unique and complicated place to work,” he says. “We feel like experts after the experience.” Local construction restrictions meant staying within certain parameters: no touching the façade, no moving existing windows, no tampering with the irregular ceiling height. Nespoli went as far as he could, keeping the 16th-century oak beams as they were and restyling others. Near the entrance, he made the low, uneven ceiling and exposed structural elements an archway-like focal point. The rest of the apartment was reconfigured, and the area beyond the mirror opens onto a main living space, which includes a compact kitchen, a library and a room for the clients’ glass collection on one side. The other side leads to two bedrooms and a master bathroom. Beyond the rotating mirror, Nespoli wanted to extend the contemporary feel to the rest of the home. He covered the walls using Venetian spatula lime plaster inspired by the colours of local architecture, including the Cannaregio façades seen from the windows. “Our aim was to create a contrast with the world outside,” he explains. “Something eccentric that reinterprets tradition in a modern way.” He certainly delivered. ♦ From above: sconces, a side table, and a bed using Kvadrat fabric in the guest bedroom, all from Eligo Studio; an Eligo Studio table and dining chairs in the kitchen The living room features a coffee table and light, as well as a sofa and chair using Kvadrat fabric, all from Eligo Studio; below: Nespoli in the kitchen “VENICE IS A UNIQUE AND COMPLICATED PLACE TO WORK,” NESPOLI SAYS. “WE FEEL LIKE EXPERTS AFTER THE EXPERIENCE” DEPARTURES-INTERNATIONAL.COM 49
