From the beginning of the project, the idea was to enhance the existing building to bring it back to its original state: it is a first floor of a typical Milan high class building of the late 19th century, in one of the best neighborhoods of the city. The various changes made over the years by the different tenants have been removed in order to restore the splendid decorations on the walls and the stuccoes on the ceilings to their original state: an almost surgical intervention to preserve the incredible historicity of the building but, at the same time, to make the contemporary and highly technology-oriented offices. In fact, the Milan office is connected with all the other international partner offices. All the technological elements have been appropriately concealed to offer a continuous reading of the spaces, in complete balance with the status of the building itself. During the renovation of the 600 square meters, precious door frames and stuccoes of the 1900s emerged from the ceiling about 3.5 meters high which have been completely restored and preserved, creating a completely suspended lighting system and thus showing how it is possible to insert a technological and modern comfort in a historical context, respecting and emphasizing it. Sliding glass walls have been installed in each space to guarantee everyone natural light and also to ensure each occupant a sense of proximity to the colleague, without forgetting privacy, acoustics and performance. The entrance area was coated with cement resin which alternates with bronze and metal joints. Other areas have instead kept the original oak flooring treated and desaturated and reinterpreted where it was not present. Our intervention was of a conservative nature, selecting timeless high quality materials and entirely custom-made furnishings to maintain an elegant and very minimal style, in a context in which each room is in dialogue with the rest of the environments, in a sort of circulation. keep on. Thus the entrance, the president's room, the staff room and also the server room all interact in harmony, linked by the common thread of the shades of dark gray and metal inserts, both for the walls and for the furnishings. Among all, the most interesting room is the meeting room: round in shape and at an angle between two streets, it represents a similar Oval Office in which the original windows of the building have been maintained and restored and where steps have been taken to ensure the environment excellent acoustics and privacy. Particular attention was paid to lighting, designed and built for the different uses of the room: events, meetings, meetings. The m2atelier studio has worked hard on the concept of continuity and dialogue between ancient and modern, between historical and contemporary, trying to obtain the best technological performance required by the client but always respecting the existing structure of the spaces.
m2atelier is the architecture and design studio founded in Milan by Marco Bonelli and Marijana Radovic, a couple in life and work. Born from the fusion of the two founders' previous activities, the atelier brings together complementary experiences, cosmopolitan perspectives and multidisciplinary categories. The perimeter of their research is very broad and embraces different scales and contexts: architecture, interior design, fashion retail and product, with a marked predilection for yachting. The numerous and consolidated collaborations with some of the main global players in their respective sectors, together with a long list of extremely significant projects and clients located anywhere on the planet, make m2atelier an authoritative signature on the international design and architecture scene.