Retroscena: the manifesto house with ironic and bold pop scenarios

In Rome, in the heart of the Appio Latino district a few steps from the Caffarella Park, the Rome-based duo La Macchina Studio transforms a 1950s apartment into a surreal set where reality and fiction coexist in a quasi-theatrical scene.

Thanks to the multidisciplinary approach of its two founders, the studio celebrates the graphic sign, in a project that fuses architecture, theatre, music and illustration.

In alignment with the wishes of the clients  – a young couple – the architects have, on the one hand with the help of local craftsmen, recovered the pre-existing Venetian terrazzo flooring, while on the other they have completely disrupted the internal distribution to give way to a new storytelling.

Kicking off with the insertion of new materials in correspondence with the traces of the original divisions, the living area is defined by a clear band in black and Botticino marble. The area along the corridor takes up the original design of the flooring with a pinkish binder with pozzolan powder, while the bedroom is tinged with the warm nuances of brick red microcement. The result is a combination of designs in different grains and colours that creates a “collage” effect, in contrast with the absolute white of the plastered walls.

“With Retroscena, we wanted to enhance the irreverent and surreal nature of the architectural story, which is inextricably linked to its photographic alter-ego by playing with colour contrasts, graphic motifs and unexpected incursions” affirm Gianni Puri and Enrica Siracusa, founders of La Macchina Studio.

The apartment reveals itself longitudinally along the main wall, which represents the limit between private and representative space and creates a landscape punctuated by three different elements.