Barn Conversion - Home Office, Italy

This unusual but exciting outbuilding conversion to a home office gave us the opportunity to provide a very practical solution in a very unusual way. Our client’s brief was to create an environment of indulgence creating a space that would continue to excite every working day.

Form follows function – The outbuilding was a large space however it was the first floor of the building that the client wanted to convert. This posed a restriction on the staircase since traditional staircase designs wouldn’t fit within the available space.

This led RTA to consider a space saving staircase, the theory being that each alternate tread overlaps the previous meaning the staircase length is compressed. Once the basic staircase geometry was determined (going and rise), the playful tread shape and colours were introduced that allows the staircase to ‘fly’! The only thing to remember is to start off on the right foot!!

Following the rainbow colour theme, the new large partition at the head of the stairs also received a degree of supercharging! We designed the multi-coloured mural on a backdrop of white walls, traditional plaster cornicing and new moulded skirting boards. The mural’s central axis lies outside of the building, relatively straightforward to design on CAD, quite a different story for the painter and decorator to set out and mask up!

The general mix of the modern colours and lines, retention of the historic timber hand cut roof and inset TV and soundbar have created a magnificent working environment; quite the departure from the occupant’s traditional office space.

Project outcome, one very satisfied client and design team!