Seeing, listening, measuring
Once the proposal is accepted, the first step is to enter the space. The site visit goes beyond measurements, because it aims to read the qualities of the property, the natural light, the spatial hierarchies and the relationship with the outside, while the technical survey forms the material base of the project. Reconstructing the space precisely returns reliable plans and avoids the errors that propagate in a chain across layout, systems and bespoke furniture. From here comes a project grounded in reality.
The concept and design direction
The first major phase concerns the division of space, where hierarchies, functions, privacy and movement are decided. The questions run from the breathing room given to the living area to the organisation of the bedrooms, from the way the master suite gathers into a coherent block to the points where the light is let in. These are choices felt every day, in the orientation of the living area to the natural light, in the relation between bedrooms and service rooms, before any single detail. We customarily present two layout hypotheses, one radical, exploring the full potential of the space, and one more measured, equally contemporary, and the result almost always matures from a synthesis of the two. At the end the client has the armature of the project in front of them, the structure on which materials, furniture and light will rest.
Selecting materials and finishes
With the plan settled, the project turns to matter, to surfaces, textures and palette. The work moves from digital to physical, because photorealistic visualisations test the overall balance while samples in the showroom let the finishes be touched and their response to light observed. Materials and colour are, for us, constructive elements that define the hierarchy of the rooms, and lighting is designed in step, beyond the simple placement of fixtures, reasoning in scenes and volumes. Every choice answers an architectural logic, independent of any single piece of furniture.
Construction drawings and technical coordination
Executive design translates the idea into instructions for the site. The dossier can include demolition and construction details, electrical and plumbing schemes, drawings for bespoke furniture and construction joints, laying schedules, boards of colours, materials and alignments. These are exacting documents, speaking plainly to the team and reducing interpretation to a minimum, and many problems of feasibility and budget are resolved precisely here, on paper, before they become costs on site.
Direction, control, decisions
When the project enters the site, the studio becomes the single interlocutor between client, contractor, installers and artisans. The frequency of visits follows the phase, daily at the delicate passages and never less than weekly, and on distant sites we coordinate a trusted local representative, always in contact with us. It falls to us to filter minute errors, deviations and forced changes, informing the client on the relevant matters, already accompanied by the possible alternatives, and reserving for discussion the decisions that affect the result. The minor adjustments we absorb, keeping the site a place of work, away from the worries of those who commissioned it, and all dealings with the trades pass through the studio.
Furniture and styling
Furniture enters the project as a structural element, present in the layout from day one. Anticipating these choices serves to dimension the spaces, to fix functions and proportions, to set out systems and lighting points from the start. Supplies run in parallel with the site, with orders timed to the works so that each element arrives when the room is ready to welcome it. With finishes and window frames the project takes its final form, and the bare construction becomes an interior with an identity of its own.
Overall duration and factors that affect it
Duration depends on the scale and nature of the intervention. For a complete renovation it is realistic to imagine up to two years, with precise timeline variables, where roughly half the time goes to design and the other half to site, supplies and fine-tuning. What tells most is prolonged indecision over choices already consolidated, variations requested deep into the works and hidden structural surprises, while supply delays, with our logistics method, count for little. Quality asks for time, and forcing complex processes to accelerate means losing control over detail and budget. The client is an active part of the calendar, through a constant design dialogue, and decisions taken on time keep the project moving.
From design to handover
Entrusting the work to a single point of reference means having a direction that unites vision, technique and daily life. The phases give the project a discreet order, so that at any moment one knows where we are, what is being decided and what is still open. The structure can seem demanding at first, but it is the same clarity that later lightens the client’s load, because method and pragmatism carry the project’s intentions intact to handover. The final quality begins here, in the respect of every necessary step.
