Set in Nerviano, Casa Luna offers a sleek and modern retreat just a few kilometers north of Milan. Designed by the Italian firm Burratti Architetti, the home is grounded in the interplay between colors, textures, and natural materials. Iconic Knoll pieces by Harry Bertoia and Eero Saarinen assume a dynamic presence, acting as colorful accents, reflective surfaces, and curving lines which contrast the home’s monochromatic and rectilinear structure.
Split into two levels, a light-filled and open ground floor and a more intimate, subterranean floor, the house, explains Marco Vigano, designer at Buratti Architetti, has “two souls.”
Saarinen Armless Tulip Chairs in the dining room with Womb Chair in the living room. Photograph by Marcello Mariana.
The “heart of the house,” the living space on the ground floor, boasts an open floor plan echoing the aesthetic paradigm of the modern international style and invites residents and guests to move between the semi- circular living room and the highly refined kitchen. Behind the glass dining table outfitted with Saarinen’s Tulip Armless Chairs, luminious yellow shelving provides, to use Vigano’s words, “a ray of sunlight to the whole space.” In the same vein, a bright green Saarinen Womb Chair establishes itself as the living room’s centerpiece, standing in bold opposition to the black, raw iron totem that encases both the fireplace and television. The Womb Chair is an unexpected burst of color that infuses the space with energy and life, echoing Saarinen's original intentions of creating a comforting oasis of calm.
Saarinen Armless Tulip Chairs in the dining room. Photograph by Marcello Mariana.
Vigano elaborates, “the goal of the project is to have a large interior, not divided into single rooms but open and organized.”
Just beyond the living room lies the master bedroom, which Buratti designed to preserve an open plan by creating a fluid relationship between bedroom, closet and bathroom. The space is primarily defined by three different materials: a white lacquered striped larch, a dark mirror composition, and an all-black matt lacquer. In the bedroom, the caged metallic surface of a Bertoia Two-Tone Side Chair appropriately mimics the grid-like structure of the adjacent bookshelf.
A Bertoia Side Chair in the restroom. Photograph by Marcello Mariana.
The focus of the lower level, or in Vigano’s word’s the “hypogeum,” is a small, glass encased rectangular pool that emits various shades of neon pink, blue, and yellow. Saarinen Tulip stools surround the pool, offering residents a place to pause, their white bases further reflecting the light and enhancing the atmosphere.
A Saarinen Womb Chair in the livin room and a pair of Saarinen Tulip Stools by the pool. Photograph by Marcello Mariana.
Considered within Casa Luna’s unique space, the selection of Knoll pieces by Buratti Architetti integrate striking statements of texture, color, and material into the project. The iconic Saarinen curves and Bertoia craft help Casa Luna achieve the dramatic interplay that so defines it.