Sometimes, the most uninspiring beginning or the knottiest problem can lead to unexpectedly stunning results. That was the case with this hillside villa overlooking Lake Como. Formerly an anonymous concrete and glass box, it is now an elegant retreat, thanks to Tuckey Design Studio. ‘The owner wanted to give it a second life,’ says Elena Aleksandrov who led the project.
‘It was an intriguing challenge,’ she adds. ‘Sometimes we work with a historical building, but you’re almost scared of touching it, because it’s already so beautiful. In this case, there was very little that we could draw inspiration from.’ Instead, she and the team looked to the landscape and its rich history of supplying stone and marble to the likes of Italian architects Carlo Scarpa and Piero Portaluppi.
‘When you face a problem, that’s where looking to the vernacular can help,’ she explains of her approach, which included cladding the home’s ugly steel columns in deep-green marble and designing a contemporary take on a traditional seminato floor.
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The green-stained oak joinery in the living room references Portaluppi’s architecture in Milan, such as the enchanting Villa Necchi, where colour is used to balance the elegance and playfulness of the space.
Tuckey Design Studio always likes to include an unexpected detail for its client to discover when the work is completed; in this case it was a small green Verde Alpi marble basin in the ensuite. Despite (or perhaps because) she was deeply involved in every issue and challenge throughout the project, Elena found she was as surprised and delighted by the finished home as her client.
‘Something you can’t really appreciate in drawings is the part natural light will play,’ she reflects. ‘We all discovered it when we visited the house again. It really is a game of light and darkness.’ tuckeydesign.com
