In Arzignano, Italy, architect Marcello Galiotto and his wife, Vittoria, have undertaken an unconventional renovation of their 19th-century townhouse, transforming it into a space where raw, unfinished elements coexist with refined details. The project, which they began after purchasing the property for approximately €1 million in 2024, intentionally exposes structural components and materials typically concealed in traditional renovations.
The 3,200-square-foot home, accompanied by a 1,100-square-foot outbuilding, originally featured ornate details such as marble floors, marmorino plaster, iron handrails, and paneled wood doors—characteristics that reflected a 1970s refurbishment with a bourgeois aesthetic. Instead of preserving the conventional look, Galiotto, a founding partner of the architectural firm AMAA and a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, chose to reshape the interior through a process of selective demolition and creative construction.
Rejecting the use of strict architectural plans, he worked closely with contractors on site, making real-time design decisions as if sculpting the building on a full scale. Early in the renovation, he reconfigured the stairwell by removing its iron railings, parts of the plaster and marble floors, and cutting large openings into walls and floor slabs. These voids evoke the work of American artist Gordon Matta-Clark, known for carving holes into urban structures.
On the top floor, Galiotto replaced a section of the roof with a concrete dome featuring an oculus to invite natural light. The dome’s interior was sprayed silver using hundreds of cans of paint, embracing an unfinished aesthetic with intentionally rough edges. A 12-foot-wide glass door that rolls open on wheels connects the stairwell area to an entrance courtyard, further challenging conventional spatial boundaries.
Inside, walls dividing traditional rooms were removed or altered to open up sight lines and redefine use. The ground floor includes an office centered around a bookshelf that extends three stories—an architectural focal point created through openings cut in the floors. The living areas on the second floor feature a kitchen with exposed appliances and metal shelving, a passthrough window marked by a plywood range hood, and a bathroom enclosed by suspended green tarps. Artistic touches include a Belgian hammered-steel fireplace from the 1950s and a painted mural by German artist Stefan Marx on an ancient stone wall.
The top level contains a raised dressing room highlighted by a rubber floor and yellow clothing racks, visually linked to the stairwell by additional oculi. Outside, the facade was simplified while the backyard underwent a landscape redesign incorporating repurposed silver-painted concrete tubes and an oversized downspout that channels rainwater into a garden feature. The adjacent outbuilding functions as a studio and entertaining space with a rooftop terrace connected to the main house by a concrete bridge.
To date, the family has invested around €1.2 million in the renovation, which continues to evolve according to their needs and inspirations. Galiotto cites the deliberate “incompleteness” of the interior as an asset, fostering flexibility and accommodating the realities of daily life with a young child. The marriage of rough and refined finishes, he says, allows the space to remain open to interpretation and ongoing transformation.