Tiny footprint – Studio, Verbania, Italy
By paring down the design to many might think to be the bare necessities, this studio encourages us to rethink what one might need rather want in a home.
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It is very small at 26mq but accommodates a complete guest unit with double bedroom area, bathroom, kitchenette and an optimised office corner. It is thoughtfully designed to set a contrast to the two historic structures on the site – the main villa and the custodian house.
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And, sitting at the top of the sloped section, it makes most of the site’s lake view and prime position without stamping a large footprint onto the earth. It is a modest open-plan studio that provides shelter, views and sun, examining the things that are really essential. It is a scaled back structure with natural materials; timber floors, plaster, larch battens for cladding and a timber deck to help it match its environs.
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Despite the size constraints, the house manages to avoid feeling cramped. The timber floor boards and the generous openings towards the view and the main terrace are blurring the boundaries between indoors and outdoors. The sliding doors at the front of the building are full height to give a sense of scale – and roll right back to open the bedroom and dining area up to the park below.
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The furniture is minimal, functional and reflective of the owner’s aesthetic. Some of it is also multi-purpose to stay within the minimum you can to make it functional. Every single meter of the studio is used efficiently and everything has a place, adds to the personality of the design and manages to make the space feel larger, not smaller… creating a sense of bigness in smallness.
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An interior measuring only 26mq, the last word on anyone’s mind would surely be generous. But this is the way it feels – intimate yet generous at the same time because of the way the furniture defines each individual zone.
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Achieving that sense of generosity didn’t come easily. The council required to keep the existing windowless toolshed and allowed only for a small annex. While parts of the shed were eventually demolished to connect the two elements, the old footprint provided the studio with an awkward long and narrow profile. In the end, opening up the old, run-down shed helped to create exactly that zoning that makes everything well proportioned.
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The contrast between the plastered existing area and the new addition with its timber structure and cladding is clearly defined and emphasized, resulting in a deceptively, simple and appealing space.
 The existing tool shed at an elevated corner position on the property stripped back to its concrete block shell. |  Opening up the windowless structure. |  The transformed shed after the upgrade with a prefabricated extension at the back, forming two distinct halfes of a nonetheless unified small house. |
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 The cantilevering steel and timber terrace extends over an existing stone wall and creates a floating effect at night with the downlights illuminating the walls and terraced garden underneath. |  The studio space also doubles as a guest accomodation. Sliding doors run along the whole southern front of the studio, uniting the existing area with the new addition into a coherent whole. |  Maximising space was key to the design. A small area to work from home and to provide periodic accomodation with the kitchenette and bathroom. A palette of raw, honest materials imparts a casual yet homely holiday feel. |
 A second, more introverted deck with the small spa pool in the shade of palm trees. |  The overhanging shaded terrace provides elevated views over park and lake and serves as an outdoor extension of the spaces inside. |