CHP OFFICE

The office, formerly occupied by an insurance firm, is located at the piano nobile of a XIX century building on Piazza Solferino, one of Torino’s main squares. 
Distribution is from a central corridor, which we found in bad conditions and thoughtlessly organized: a dilapidated mineral fiber tiles suspended ceiling, walls altered, incongruous columns.  

The brief from the client required to redesign the corridor and improve its look, to emphasize the grand spaces and their original architectural features and to have a law firm not looking like a law firm, whose main characters should have been elegance and sobriety. 
The design thrives on a strong contrast in color, style and perception between the hallway and the workspaces. 

The hallway is a monochrome, cocoon-like environment, painted in a dark hue of blue (Farrow and Ball’s Hague Blue) conveying a visual flattening. The perception of the anomalies surfacing from the walls is nullified by a system of mdf panels. The painted mdf panels hanged on the walls at different angles carry a strong sense of fluidity to the space. The charcoal grey carpet flooring, and soft, warm, indirect lighting all contribute to creating a metaphysical environment. The only license to the modulation of the space expresses in the use of tiny, recessed spotlights (Nulla by Davide Groppi), which emphasize each door, generating gentle islands of light. 

Opening the doors, one has the striking perception of entering another dimension. Office rooms are set in “total white” and inundated by natural light, contrasting with the dark monotone of the hallway. 
The grand rooms have been brought back to their former glory, restoring the old wooden floors and painting the walls in very opaque gypsum white, enhancing the existing stucco decorations through the chiaroscuro effect generated by the lights.