56 FLEXFORM PAPER
Accostamenti di stili. Affiancata alla “scatola” che contiene bagno e camera c’è la cucina. L’elemento
a isola è ricavato dal bancone di un bar anni ’50 al quale sono stati abbinati sgabelli Echoes SH.
| Style juxtapositions. Alongside the “box” that contains the bedroom and bath, is the kitchen.
Crafted from a reclaimed bar from a 1950s bistro, the kitchen island pairs well with Echoes SH stools.
O
ften, to better under-
stand a place, it helps to
know a bit about its his-
tory. This is true of Mi-
lan, a city that - before
becoming
the
driving
force of Italy’s economy
- was at the center of urban and social exper-
imentation. Its present sprang directly from
those roots. Scrolling through the census data,
one is struck by the steep increase in popula-
tion between the 19th and 20th centuries. A
mere 354,045 in 1881, by 1936 it had tripled
to 1,115,794. Modern Milan was shaped during
those 50 years.
Milan, 1886, the ribbon was cut on the first
power plant in Europe. Industry rapidly ex-
panded. Workers arrived from all over Italy;
buildings were built to house them; the city lim-
its swelled beyond their boundaries. Factories
sprouted in what where once agricultural fields,
like the structure that contains the home on
these pages. Built as a shoe factory in 1911, the
same year in which Umberto Boccioni painted
one of the masterpieces of Futurism: La città
che sale (The City Rises). It was no coincidence
that Futurism had originated in Milan just two
years earlier. It was the dawn of the Industrial
Age and this down-to-earth, unadorned build-
ing - designed for manufacturing - was part
and parcel of the new urban landscape and
helped craft its revolutionary aesthetic.
With time, having outlived its industrial
purpose, the factory changed its image. It be-
came home to laboratories and workshops and,
in the 1950s, acquired some additional square
footage. And, here we are today. Unlike a cen-
tury ago, the Porta Romana district, where the
building is located, is no longer on the city’s
fringe. Far from it. And, with the loft concept,
