Change the Perspective
Marcante Testa solves some tricky space-planning problems in a top-floor apartment in Milan, creating “pocket terraces” that connect with the outside and deftly carving up the layout with light, pattern and colour

Milanese architecture and interior practice Marcante Testa loves to make the ordinary extraordinary. Why have a boring internal door when you can drench it in a bright hue, add a quirky corbel or cut out a neat notch in the corner? Ceiling roses become contemporary sculpture on the ceiling, and vistas down corridors an exciting play of colour, materials, light and shade. None of it feels gimmicky or trend-led, because the practice has a deep appreciation and studied understanding of the design masters who have come before, as one recent project in Milan shows.
It wouldn’t be right to talk about all the wonderful playful details without first mentioning the more basic functional challenges that came with this project. The 150 sqm top-floor apartment is part of a block designed in 1927 by engineer-architect Roberto Carlo Dell’Acqua, but it had low ceiling heights and small windows onto a courtyard-facing side. Designers Andrea Marcante and Adelaide Testa transformed the layout by first combining two rooms to create a larger living area with views over a neighbouring park; the service areas (including the kitchen, laundry, a small guest room and bathrooms) were tucked into the attic spaces, with the windows converted to dormers with French doors – described by the practice as “pocket terraces” – to increase the ceiling height.




“The building is only subject to restrictions on the street-facing side, which allowed us to alter the roof shape on the courtyard side to create terraces, bringing in more light, additional height and views to the outside,” explains Marcante. He and Testa were inspired by the work of architect and designer Umberto Riva (1928-2021) and particularly Riva’s extensive use of custom-made joinery, and his sensitivity to the relationship between inside and out.
Testa describes him as “a true master in his field. From him, we learned that it is the architectural project that generates the furnishings, never the other way around. While placing a constant emphasis on forms, his approach always highlighted functional aspects, which remain fundamental to our design process as well.”


While highlighting Riva’s pragmatic design, Testa doesn’t mention that he was also a fabulous colourist, something else that has trickled through into this project, where the pastel tones, with flashes of fiery red, recall schemes such as Riva’s Casa Righi, also in Milan.
Marcante explains more about the palette: “Our use of colour is always closely tied to the architecture of the space. The red skirting board serves as a line that guides the eye and creates continuity between the entrance and the hallway. The green window frames on the new pocket terraces act like borders, enhancing the views outside. The beige ceiling in the living room ‘folds’ onto the beams, softening their size. The red doors are connected to the baseboard. The light blue wall in the living room links the two French doors, and its extension across the entire wall brings the dimension of the terrace inside.”
Our use of colour is always closely tied to the architecture of the space


The apartment’s two distinct zones led the designers to the idea of creating custom-designed oversized oak doors in the central corridor to separate the sleeping area; when open, they create some enticing framed perspectives. The scheme also includes several Morris & Co wallpapers – not as an homage to classic English Arts & Crafts style but rather a tribute to Italian architect-designers such as Toni Cordero, Giorgio Ceretti and Pietro Derossi, who incorporated Morris and Sanderson designs into their work.
These papers are “a way to express that the homes we live in always contain elements of the past and tradition, providing constant reassurance,” says Testa, while explaining how today’s homes must concurrently embrace new multifunctional ways of living, whether that’s work, play, family, pets, or personal passions and rituals. The entrance hallway incorporates a desk area under the expanded window (bathed in an emerald green, as referenced by Marcante above), with a single long shelf at dado-rail height running along both walls.


The newly united single room containing the living and dining areas includes Finn Juhl’s Silver dining table, accompanied by Pigreco dining chairs, designed by Tobia Scarpa for Tacchini. Marset’s articulated, retractable Ginger lamp can swing over the table. In the living area, Moroso’s curvy Pacific sofa and armchair hug the CoDeco rug (part of Marcante Testa’s collection for Carpet Edition). The outdoor terrace, with its patterned tiled floor, appears to float over the leafy park below.
On the desk in the hallway, Umberto Riva’s E62 lamp for Tacchini is another little nod to the master who influenced this scheme. Riva once explained, “I like to confer nobility on an interior, make sure that no window, door or sequence is taken for granted.” Marcante Testa have taken him at his word for this project.