Omarama celebrates a homeowner's return to Innsbruck after twenty years of living, travelling, and adventuring in Asia and Oceania.

TRANSFORMING A LIGHT-FILLED ATTIC

The design team's task with this project is to infuse the client's fascinating story into the interior design reminiscent of faraway atmospheres. This called for a transformation of a bare attic in the centre of Innsbruck into a home ready to welcome the many stories of a traveller. The resulting residence shares the exciting stories of the homeowner's travels in England, Singapore, New Zealand and many other countries in a penthouse bathed in natural light, where the expansive windows frame a stunning backdrop of the Alps.

“Each of our designs unfolds a story. In this work, an additional personal aspect was brought into play, namely the memories of a life that the client carried with her. Paintings, statues and handcrafted objects that needed to be displayed in an enhancing setting,” explains Lukas Rungger, NOA founder.

A FLOOR PLAN ARRANGED TO THE SUN’S TRAJECTORY

In defining the concept, the interior designers started from the floor plan of the flat, a quadrangular space of 135m2 with a central block for the service area and the staircase leading to the roof terrace.

Given the three-sided orientation of the large windows and the possibility of having several functions succeed each other in a contiguous U-shaped space, the layout arranges the different living functions according to the sun's trajectory. To the east, the morning light illuminates the entrance, where there is also a small office area with a desk and bookcase. To the southeast, a comfortable corner sofa is the focal point of the living room. To the south, two freestanding kitchen blocks fill the space, while the warm sunset light spreads over the dining table for eight, positioned to the southwest. Two bedrooms on the west side round off the layout.

Light thus becomes a central element in the design, proof of which is the unanimous choice of the flat's name, Omarama, which means 'space of light' in the language of the Māori, the indigenous population of New Zealand with whom the client came into close contact.

MINIMAL COLOURS TO CREATE AN ELEGANT ASIAN ATMOSPHERE

An essential colour palette of black and white accented by saffron yellow is used throughout. The furnishings follow a purist geometry to establish a sober, elegant ambience that recalls Asian atmospheres, especially in the lamps and the oak wood panelling.

"We wanted to employ dark tones, using black quartzite, painted oak and metal. Through the use of wooden slats, we have darkened the walls, transforming the room into a backdrop with a suffused atmosphere where only the Alps and a few selected objects are at the centre of attention," continues interior designer Niccolò Panzani.

The furniture pieces include the Tufty-Time sofa by B&B Italia, the black leather chairs from the Era Chair collection by Living Divani, saffron nubuck leather chairs from the Gemma collection by Baxter, Paper Pendant rice paper lamps by vipp, and Hat lamps by Aromas del Campo.

The surfaces contrast black 'Noirblanc' quartzite by Antolini for the kitchen countertop, bar cabinet and coffee table against the white ‘Montblanc' quartzite of the dining table by Favorita. White also returns in the bathrooms’ surfaces, where tiles from Botteganove's Flora collection reproduce large Polynesian palm leaves as in a macro photograph.

The three nón lá, the conical straw hats, the large Indian painting in the dining area, and the statue from Myanmar of the warrior with the umbrella are the finishing touches to a flat that looks far beyond the mountains of Innsbruck.

PROJECT DETAILS

Project Name: Omarama

Typology: Private Penthouse

Location: Innsbruck

Interior Design: NOA

General Contractor: CONDUK Construction

Start: October 2022

Completion: December 2022

Volume: 420m3

Surface Area(NFA): 135m2

Photographs: Alex Filz