A Tiny Apartment in the Italian Riviera Takes Cues From Nautical Design

Like much of the Italian Riviera, La Spezia on the Ligurian coast has a long maritime history. It was precisely this seafaring legacy that inspired the design of this tiny home, a 377-square-feet apartment that was reconfigured to clearly separate the living and sleeping areas.

To meet his brief, Luca Scardulla and Federico Robbiano of Genoan firm llabb created a marine plywood cabinetry wall with storage spaces that are similar to the kind found inside sailboats. 

Camouflaged within this wall of storage, the bedroom entrance blends in with the joinery. Llabb did the carpentry work for this wall themselves, and finished it with white and blue laminate. 

The bathroom is located on one side of the entry corridor, and a kitchenette, which is also fitted with blue and white laminated plywood, is located on the opposite side of the length of the bathroom wall. 

In the master bedroom, the ceiling and walls are wrapped in structural wooden ribs that recall ship frames. Designed to feel like a cozy cabin, this bedroom contains a king-size bed and minimalist, built-in shelves.

At one corner of the cabinet wall, a short flight of steps, shaped like a boat ladder, leads to another closet-like door that opens to a small portico. From here, another short, steep flight of stairs leads up to a compact, mansard sleeping loft.

Located directly above the master bedroom, this sleeping loft has "windows" (which, from the perspective of the living area, look like part of the cabinet wall), and looks down to the living room and kitchen.

"The nautical culture that characterizes this region in Italy was fundamental to the development of this project," says llabb founder Luca Scardulla. "The optimization of storage spaces inside sailboats and the minimum dimensions within these spaces served as our inspiration."

Project Credits:

Architecture and interior design: llabb

Builder: Zena Costruzioni

Photography: Anna Positano