The designers of Fran Silvestre Arquitectos have made the marble optically very light and avoid monoliths dominating the picture
On the Spanish Costa del Sol in the bay of Altea stood a penthouse apartment waiting to be renovated. The client and the planners of Fran Silvestre Arquitectos agreed that they wanted to create spacious and modern looking rooms and that above all the view of the coast should characterize the living experience.
Thus, there is only one room on the lower floor, which offers a free view of the Mediterranean Sea from the balcony on one side. On the upper floor, the master bedroom offers the same panorama for the residents.
However, back to the lower floor: such large rooms always require structures that clearly separate the different areas from each other. In this case it is the kitchen and living room.
The architects used the staircase as a room divider, but in a very unusual way: it is designed like an oversized block of white Carrara marble. It is described as a “sculptural element”, which it is, in fact: completely open, without banisters and with marble for both the steps and the side walls. One feels reminded of climbing paths in the high mountains.
If this were designed as a block, the apartment would have a huge mass on one of its walls. That is why the architects designed the staircase as if it were hanging down from the top.
The floor in the large room is also covered with marble.
This continues on the upper floor, where there is a bedroom, bathroom, and dressing room for the residents, as well as a guest room.
Here, too, there is a sculptural element that also provides spatial orientation: it is a wall, this time covered with black marble, which separates the sleeping area from the bath area. On one side it carries a video wall, on the other 2 washbasins.
The dressing room is very generously designed as a walk-in closet.
The Italian company Piba Marmi supplied the natural stone for the project.
Photos: Diego Opazo Fotografía
(10.09.2020, USA: 09.10.2020)