The transformation project of a 1960s apartment in the early outskirts of Imola, designed by Gian Luca Zoli Architetto, addresses family living as an exercise in balance between collective life and individual space. The intervention stems from the need to radically rethink an existing domestic interior, adapting it to the needs of a couple and their four children without sacrificing the quality of shared life or the possibility of preserving areas of intimacy and concentration.
Architecture takes the original structure as the ordering principle of the project. Stripped back and made explicit, the structural framework becomes a true backbone around which the new functional program is organized, shifting from a purely technical element to a spatial and narrative device. Along this axis, the various rooms unfold in sequence, constructing relationships, passages, and pauses, while avoiding rigid compartmentalization and predetermined hierarchies.
The entrance retains the original black marble flooring, embraced as a material and temporal trace of the building and as a sign of continuity with the apartment’s history. From this point onward, the project introduces a new internal level—necessary for the integration of building systems and underfloor heating—which reshapes the perception of domestic space. This new layer is characterized by a small-format oak wood floor that accompanies everyday life with a warm, discreet materiality, visually unifying the interiors.
The living room emerges as a luminous and carefully calibrated space, where the relationship between revealing and concealing becomes an integral part of the domestic experience. The transparent door does more than simply separate the kitchen; it acts as an ordering device, introducing a measured distance, framing the space beyond, and allowing the gaze to flow while maintaining a clear hierarchy between areas. Vertical surfaces are finished in resin in delicate hues, paired with interwoven natural tones that reinterpret, in a contemporary key, the language of Italian design from the years in which the apartment was originally built.
The project operates through subtle shifts and light overlaps, entrusting the construction of a new domestic balance to the precision of its choices. The home is conceived as a flexible organism, in which family life is not reduced to a mere sum of rooms, but takes shape through spatial relationships capable of adapting to the times and rhythms of those who inhabit it.
CREDITS
Project: Apartment for 4 Children
Architect: Gian Luca Zoli Architetto
Location: Imola (BO), Italy
Year: 2024
Photography: Marco Tacchini
