PLAYFUL DISPOSITION

Built on the bones of a former farmhouse, this home-cum-atelier of a designer couple and their four children is a chic combination of bright colours, industrial aesthetics, and fluid indoor-outdoor connection.

- ASIH JENIE

How do you balance family life with four children while running an atelier and a workshop? In Italian designer Antonella Gnetti’s case, it helps to have the home and office in the same place. Created by multidisciplinary architectural studio Alvisi Kirimoto, her Casa C is a three-storey home and design studio built on the architectural bones of a former farmhouse on a hill in the north of Rome. It has a builtup area of 6,092 sq ft with a 6,588 sq ft garden overlooking the Inviolatella Borghese Urban Park.

The house, designed primarily for moments of conviviality with family and friends, showcases Antonella and her partner’s art collection, as well as her bespoke furniture and decor atelier, Opficio Lauchli. The sporty couple wanted a tranquil place to retreat to while still maintaining a connection to the urban pulse. Tasked with translating the duality of this brief in the property’s interior and landscape, Alvisi Kirimoto made the most of Casa C’s location with open plans and floor-to-ceiling windows.

“We designed a dynamic, open space with a deep connection to the landscape and kept the volume of the old farmhouse, but completely renovated the interiors,” shares architect Junko Kirimoto, who co-founded the studio with fellow architect Massimo Alvisi in 2002.