Penthouse Apartment Inside Milan’s Famed 1920s Ca’ Brutta Building Refurbished by Studio Wok.

The Ca ‘Brutta, designed by Giovanni Muzio in 1922, is a building with an important role in Milan’s architectural history. Located on via della Moscova, Studio Wok, in collaboration with Carolina Carpaneda, were commissioned to transform the building’s penthouse into a modern home that was decidedly contemporary while respecting the distinguished history of the building.

The existing plan was divided into small rooms connected by corridors, reminiscent of classical works of architecture.

“The dialogue between the new contemporary home and the building’s history can be mainly seen in the living room,” explain Marcello Bondavalli, Nicola Brenna and Carlo Alberto Tagliabue of Studio Wok. The interior appears to be suspended between two worlds: history and classicism under the elegant stuccoes on Muzio’s original ceilings, and contemporary use of the materials across the vast and fluid plan.

The partitions lined with shelving are imagined as frames that showcase the new family’s story: the objects that inhabit the built-in joinery coloured in an intense blue powerfully mark the space.

“The carpet in the entranceway welcomes visitors and acts as a filter between the apartment and the rest of the building,” explain Studio Wok. “Space is outlined in a precise manner, in contrast with the expansion of the living room, accompanied by the vault in the design of the ceilings.”

The hierarchy of public and private areas is articulated with a clear path that outlines varying gradients of privacy for each room.

“The bedroom is designed as a self-contained suite, located in the most remote corner of the apartment, to which access is filtered by passing through the wardrobe,” says the design team. The bathroom is the most intimate space of them all, enriched with the external view of the city skyline.

[Images courtesy of Studio Wok. Photography by Federico Villa.]