St Jerome had a large space to work in, but apparently he preferred a little, boxy, office. Possibly easier to heat than the vast hall. Italian Architect Giovanni Michelucci lived in a large villa on the hills of Fiesole; but towards the end of his life he had a small room transformed into an all purpose working place, with drawing cabinet and sofa bed, all woodwork, all within reach. There is something about peripersonal space that we may underestimate when we design interiors.
So when your daughter asks for a room, all to herself, maybe what she is looking for is a box. And maybe she means it. She’d like to have a roof and a window. A lamp. And plants above the roof. The footprint of the box is smaller than that of the table that was used for the plants: it actually saved space in the apartment. It’s a little house within the family house. And it sits, triumphantly, in the living room.
Design: Roberto Casati. Box: Zeiss industries (the packaging originally contained a large microscope. It is assembled in minutes thanks to an excellent system of clips. Sturdy plywood, five-layered.) Litho: Antonio Bueno. Child’s furniture: Paolo Biagini, Fiesole.
