The client purchased an apartment not far from L’Opera resplendent with historic paneled ornamentation. WHAT_architecture empathised with the client’s desire to retain this decorative décor as received heritage. At the same time we also realise that the Modernist palette - all white wall and shadow gaps – has left today’s living spaces in somewhat banal condition.

The strategy thus was to split the historic surface from its structure: walls were removed to open up the living spaces and ‘free the plan’ yet the paneling was retained. These residual surfaces were then reconfigured to make a single object – an instant historic store with integrated fireplace - to animate the now expanded living space. 2D surfaces have been re-composed as a 3D object.