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Golden Box, a new project by studio AMAA, led by Alessandra Rampazzo and Marcello Galiotto, is an elegant refuge from the chaos of everyday life, and the result of spatial and conceptual experimentation.
Located in a small early 20th century apartment in downtown Arzignano, Vicenza, this project challenges the boundaries between design and functionality as it aims to rid the home of the inefficient connecting space that is the corridor.
The project draws its inspiration from the experimental domestic design ideas of modernist masters such as Jean Prouvé, Le Corbusier, and Charlotte Perriand, but reinterprets them through a contemporary lens.
Golden Box is a rectangular prism with a five meter square base. It occupies almost all the apartment’s floorspace but is separate from its interior walls.
Made of brass panels alternating with imperial green marble, the volume’s elegant interior spaces are left on show, giving it the appearance of a golden casket. Featuring sophisticated acid-etching and fixing techniques, the brass has a unique texture, adding to the sensation of luxury and fine craftsmanship.
The position of the Golden Box within the existing walls deliberately ignores their alignment to create a sense of expanding space and games with perspective.
A central element of the project was the choice of materials and finishes. Along with the brass, green is a feature of the color scheme, recalling the shade of the copper roof of the nearby Michelucci church. The color reappears in different materials, ranging from imperial green marble in the bathroom and kitchen, to fabrics and velvets, further enriching the sensorial experience.
Golden Box isn’t just about aesthetics but incorporates the essential functions of kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and a relaxation area. Freestanding, the unit eliminates the corridor, regarded as an inefficient use of space, in favor of fluid, dynamic organization.
The relationship between indoors and out is strengthened by the alignment of the volume with Corso Giuseppe Mazzini, a street that crosses the city, and a window that opens onto an internal garden, which is even visible from the bathroom, where curved glass amplifies the perception of space.
Location: Arzignano, Vicenza, Italy
Completion: 2024
Client: Private
Designer: AMAA Collaborative Architecture Office For Research And Development
Partners in Charge: Marcello Galiotto, Alessandra Rampazzo
Design Team: Francesca Fasiol, Costanza Favero, Serena Bolzan
Consultant: Operae Interiors
Suppliers
Lighting: Viabizzuno
Electrical Fittings: JUNG
Photography by Simone Bossi and Mikael Olsson, courtesy of AMAA
