A duplex loft has been turned into a timeless space, the architecture of which seems to be carved into the rock. An urban hermitage in the town centre in which to reconnect with one’s spirit and, for a moment, forget the chaos and noise of modern life.

A quest for an elegance consisting of natural materials guided the entire project in wich matter has been used with an expressive and formal strength devoted to rediscovering its essence and set its primordial energy free. Contemporary practice treats stone like a skin, exalting its superficial and aesthetic qualities, whilst forgetting it is a deep body, a heavy mass that expresses its energy and its archaic strength only in its entirety. The soul of stone lies in its completeness.

Vertical cracks conceal the gaps between one slab and another challenging the classical concept of cladding. Stone is perceived as a full volume, a sculpted mass. The interior spaces, punctuated with vertical slits, seem to be dug into the heart of a mountain, just like a quarry. The cracks are not only an artistic gesture but also become functional elements, turning into handles for opening cupboards and hidden doors or concealing taps and switches from the view. Functions succumb to the expressive power of artistic gesture and of stone whilst ensuring all the comforts of contemporary living.

The monomateric approach embraces the entire architecture project without neglecting the furnishing elements that, having been reduced to a minimum, become stone sculptures. Silent presences that accompany the simple gestures of everyday life. In the living area a monumental stone island, punctuated by vertical cracks, expresses all the power of lithic matter, whilst in the master bathroom water flows like a spring from one of the wall slits, disappearing into a large monolithic washbasin offering moments of infinite poetry.