Interior design of Fucina Architettura

Mockup rooms of a hotel in Rome

Fucia FUCINA ARCHITETTURA

ARCH. LOTTE BREITHAUPT Design and realization 30/07/2019

Facade, Rome

In the heart of Rome, in preparation for a widespread hotel that will soon open its doors, we have created two rooms in a historic building a stone’s throw from the Trevi Fountain: the presidential Micol Fontana suite and the Caravaggio room. The Palazzo is located on the corner of Via del Corso and Via di Pietra, a pedestrian street crowded with tourists who walk along it from the Trevi Fountain to the Pantheon. Because of its urban position, it could be compared to the Chelsea Hotel in NY, with the same morphological characteristics being also

Hotel Chelsea New York

located on the upper floors of a complex of shops and restaurants.

The Chelsea Hotel is a historic New York hotel, founded in 1884 and primarily known for hosting writers, musicians and artists in general, including Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen and a series of artists linked to Andy Warhol and his Factories. The hotel still remains a meeting point and second home for many artists and bohemians.

The furniture seems to have been added with time and the many works of art that furnish / identify

Hotel Chelsea in New York with current interior design

Artists who have visited the Hotel Chelsea

Moodboard entrance

Moodboard Lounge Moodboard lobby

Moodboard reception

Moodboard Restaurant

Moodboard Room

Moodboard Room

the spaces evoke the presence of the stars who lived there.

In our case we have interpreted this concept of home by creating two rooms in a stately building in Rome, in which various architectural styles in continuity with an atmosphere from the classical background of the end of the 1900s interact with reference furniture in modern style of the great Italian designers of 1950s and 1960s, a period in which an artistic movement was created in Rome that helped define, with film, music, design and fashion, that “made in Italy� appreciated throughout the world.

Wall painting in the lounge

Stucco in the lobby

Responding to the contradiction between the noble palace, with its imposing rooms of a private atmosphere, and the chaotic context in which it is inserted, typical of a city full of tourists and scooter klaxon, we imagined the building as experienced by extroverted artists, looking for life and joy, looking out on the terraces.

View from the terrace

Aiming for a rebirth of the stately building in continuity with the architectural quality existing in the details and in the artisan manufacture, we involve the guest inviting him to feel protagonist of the “Grand Tour” in a contemporary key and we offer him the stage for the “storytelling” of his journey and an immersive cultural experience in Roman life with an avant-garde flavor.

Presidential suite Micol Fontana

The suite creates a unique bed/living room environment and is characterized by a classic plaster architecture and staggered oak tile flooring from the early 1900s that seems to be its original flooring restored. It evokes an elegant atmosphere in a classic typical Roman context. The furniture, added Construction site in the lounge in the Modern Age, dates back to the Italian design of the 50s and 60s: it reflects the Roman “dolce vita” period, recalling the great masters, such as Gio Ponti with the super light chair, Albini and his bookcase, the armchair by Ico Parisi, the lamps by Angelo Lelli, redesigned adapted to a large building.

Construction site in the bar

To complete the rooms we offer a co-branding with companies of great fame and history of the Made in Italy, such as the vases of the Bitossi company and the company Mani, the bathroom products of the Officina Profumo Pharmaceutica of Santa Maria Novella and the water of San Carlo. The lamps are from the Fucina Architettura collection designed for MLE lighting.

The iron furniture, on the other hand, reflects the French influence, ever-present in Rome, with the four-poster bed, stripped of its curtains, which it remembers through extra-large tassels entwined around the top of the frame, enhancing the idea of Roman abundance in contrast with the light and minimal style of modern design; allowing a few swirls to reappear into the design with joy and warmth.

Material selection, room Caravaggio

Wood and brass give the room a strong character by finishing the furniture and expressing, with their materiality, the Italian artisan work that makes this interior unique. Furniture, plaster frames, wooden boiserie, sofas, armchairs and carpets are custom designed. You enter the room with a set of keys, just as if it were your own home and you find yourself in a bedroom that has the flavour of a li-

ving room with a fireplace. This familiar and elegant environment conceals many luxurious comforts thanks to hidden technology, such as a television placed behind the mirror, that is visible only when turned on.

Material selection, suite Micol Fontana

Caravaggio Room

is custom made as is the revolving brass diamond cut mirror in front of the window; modern Italian Our Caravaggio room is much smaller, more perso- elements are transformed into contemporary luxunalized and intense. The red Padouk wood surroun- ry. ds us at the entrance and brings out the brass of The wall full of photos of Cinecittà and the feathers the wires in the curtain that divides it from the ve- resting on a sculpture remind us of the culture of stibule. A cannetté plaster encircles the room, the innovation and rebellion of the 60s Rome, lived boiserie has a contemporary feel inspired by the with joy and strong character. Opposite, there is an nearby Temple of Hadrian with its columns incoriron side-table covered in gold leaf, as was typical porated into the building: to an observer inside the for furniture in Italy in the 1950s, with a cipollino room it feels like being surrounded by a colonnade. marble top The table sits under a display of abstract Human Body photographs, captured especially for the room and hung on the cannetté plaster wall to create a behind the scenes feel with the design and allow the guest to feel part of the actual architectural creation.

Selection of carpet colors

Picture selection in the archive Fondazione Micol Fontana

The bathroom is covered in rich polychrome marble that speaks of Africa, Italy and France and is defined by its white marble lines, material typically used in Roman buildings redesigned in a modern key. The double sinks and the double showers give the idea of freely sharing intimacy and space, while the Padouk red cannetté WC gives a hint of the 60s with Japanese design influences.

The round satin brass sink, with a chromed interior,

Rendering entrance , suite Micol Fontana

Rendering , suite Micol Fontana

Rendering , suite Micol Fontana

Rendering bath room , suite Micol Fontana

Rendering entrance , room Caravaggio

Rendering , room Caravaggio

Rendering , room Caravaggio

Rendering bath room , room Caravaggio

Pattern wall coverings

Drawings to the design of the lamps

planning details

Sample mold for creating the washbasin Color mixing for staining the wood Art foundry model for creating the bed

Minibar with samples of brass patina Production of plaster ornament Gypsum stone

Loom of the carpet

Film “La Dolce Vita” Fontana di trevi

“We must not let a film end with the end of the film, but we must ensure that the film does extend right outside of yourself, right where we are, where we live who we are, protagonists of all the stories. “ Michelangelo Antonioni

Entrance, suite Micol Fontana

Suite Micol Fontana

Suite Micol Fontana

Suite Micol Fontana

Suite Micol Fontana

Suite Micol Fontana

Bath room, suite Micol Fontana

Bath room, suite Micol Fontana

Bath room, suite Micol Fontana

Bath room, suite Micol Fontana

Entrance , room Caravaggio

Room Caravaggio

Room Caravaggio

Room Caravaggio

Room Caravaggio

Room Caravaggio

Bath room, room Caravaggio

Bath room, room Caravaggio

Photos of the rooms © Francesca Pagliai