Piero Lissoni: Recent Architecture

The cover of the book, a detail from one of Lissoni's buildings, is an apt evocation of the designer's brand of minimalism. Often the subtlest textures take on real aesthetic heft in his work.

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Here's a spread from the book dedicated to a staircase on the exterior of a villa Lissoni designed in Moltrasio, Italy near Lake Como. I have to say it's my favorite in the whole book. Though I'm all for Lissoni's take on pure forms and contrasting scales, this integration of modern rationality into a natural setting and an old stone wall is precisely what context-driven design ought to be.

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Here's a view from the same villa. I like the integration of the plastic table into the more traditional window treatment. Quite dramatic considering how each of the objects seen here seems to want to disappear. Though each tries to push the viewers gaze out, you can't help lingering over the design.

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This colorful interior of an Israeli hotel shows that Lissoni, despite some of what the book suggests, loves far more than yawning white spaces. The Mamilla hotel opened in 2009 in Jerusalem.

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This loft in Monza, Italy served as both a theater and a bank in its earlier days. Ornamentation and a difficult structure made a second floor very difficult to achieve. Lissoni did it however, though the real feat may well be this black staircase which seems to float in the stark white room.

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Here you get a stronger idea of the lovely ornamentation that adorns the interior of the Lonza loft. The high ceilings and open space make it feel capacious. Even the Living Divani sofa feels like a toy compared to the scale of the space.

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The National Theater of Milan opened in 2009 with a production of Beauty and the Beast. A comedy might have been more appropriate given Lissoni's playful smattering of green seats amongst the sea of dark blue. The chairs are by Poltrona Frau.

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