PROVISIONAL PRESENT
The rooms of an 18th century aristocratic townhouse in Naples have been brought back to life as the home and studio of the architect Antonio Martiniello, who has chosen to preserve the stratified traces of the past. Meanwhile, however, new and transitory presences have been added
IN THE HEART OF NAPLES the long and intense history of the 18th-century Palazzo Ruffo di Castelcicala, with its industrial as well as aristocratic past, contributes to the potent charm of Antonio Martiniello’s home and studio. As the architect explains: “The first time I set foot in here the rooms were devastated by the effects of eighty years of neglect. But the space and the light were enough for me.” Martiniello returned to Naples after studying at the Technische Universität in Graz and working in Austria in order to play a part in the renaissance of the city, through his Keller Architettura prac
THIS RENOVATION HAS PRESERVED THE 19TH-CENTURY DIVISION OF THE APARTMENT
tice (which promotes the Keller Officina scheme of urban regeneration). This renovation has preserved the 19th-century division of the apartment. Around the entrance are ranged the large rooms of the studio of architecture, which are connected to each other internally. A hinge with the domestic spaces is provided by Martiniello’s private study. In the innermost part, laid out around a small courtyard and linked together by what used to be the secret passageways of the servants, there are the service rooms (kitchen, bathrooms and laundry). The restoration has uncovered the frescoes in Pompeii red, the finely patterned wallpaper and the painted ceilings which are, as the architect says, “decorated by artists who came here from all over Europe.” Many of the marks left by time have deliberately been
left visible, including patches of paintwork and tiles of various origins. The architect has also brought to light and made the most of construction techniques from the 19th century, with wooden floors concealed by hand-painted paper on canvas, the shored-up iron beam that was used to avoid demolishing the main wall in the library and, again in the library, the iron ceiling from which hang the chains that support a walkway. Finishes lost during years of neglect have been replaced with contemporary materials, as with the plywood of the floors and the red plexiglass doors of the kitchen. The furniture is made up of vintage or contemporary pieces, some of them made to measure. This contrast enhances a strong relationship be
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE FURNITURE MADE UP OF VINTAGE AND CONTEMPORARY PIECES MADE TO MEASURE ENHANCES A STRONG RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PAST AND PRESENT
tween past and present, creating a surprising sense of temporality, as if the container were underlining its timelessness with respect to a decoration of recognizable date that is therefore “transitory”.
For example, Martiniello reveals that the bookcase of the library, restored and left in its original suspended position, has deliberately been kept empty, “as if it had just arrived, or were about to leave.” The most isolated room in the apartment serves as the bedroom, which appears an original element behind the bed on castors, designed by the architect As he says, “It’s a sort of box with an independent iron structure: inside it there is a bathroom; in the upper part, accessible by a small ladder, there is a tub, from which you can enjoy a view of the district of Capodimonte.” In this too, we see a combination of the force of the past with the impermanence of the present. ○