30 Years Later, They Reimagined Their Rome Apartment With a Glassy Central Kitchen

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Project Details:

Location: Rome, Italy

Architect: STUDIOTAMAT / @studiotamat

Footprint: 1,200 square feet

Builder: Editel BF

Photographer: Eller Studio / @ellerstudio

From the Architect: "The apartment is located within a refined residential building, whose character is already evident in the rationalist language of its entrance hall. Purchased by the owner more than thirty years ago, the home had gradually fallen out of step with the person living in it. Fragmented rooms and rigid hierarchies no longer reflected a daily life shaped by movement, conviviality, and sharing, nor the increasingly central role that cooking had come to play. The intervention therefore began as a broader realignment: a contemporary rewriting of the interior, restoring a dialogue between the house and its inhabitant. Upon entering, the apartment reveals itself gradually through a continuous sequence of rooms connected by visual and physical thresholds. At the center of this system lies the kitchen, completely rethought as the core of the home.

"Enclosed by custom-made burgundy glazed partitions, the kitchen becomes a central volume that is both practical and relational, turning food preparation into a shared gesture connected to the rest of the home. Around this nucleus, the living area takes shape through the union of three former rooms. Each retains its own identity, yet all are held together by visual and material continuity. Underfoot, the original paneled parquet flooring has been carefully restored and runs uninterrupted throughout the space, while above, a fine burgundy line traces the walls, marking their height. The apartment’s original geometry is embraced rather than concealed: structural columns are integrated into custom oak joinery housing bookshelves and built-in seating, transforming a constraint into a functional device that organizes space and encourages interaction. The custom terrazzo flooring, designed with a geometric pattern, adds another layer of continuity between surfaces and furnishings.

"The dining room acts as a hinge between spaces. More intimate in character is the reading room, where the project shifts toward a tactile and secluded atmosphere. A custom book niche with integrated seating houses part of the owner’s extensive library. Here, tones deepen and the atmosphere becomes quieter and more protected.

"The result is a carefully balanced dialogue between permanence and transformation. Original elements such as the parquet flooring are reactivated through a new system of spatial and material interventions that redefine domestic life. What emerges is a home that adapts naturally, welcomes and connects, built around a renewed center and a more fluid, living continuity—one that holds past memories while making room for new ones."