An original, fully connected, interactive home concept lands at Archiproducts Milano

04/04/2019 – What happens when the aesthetic verve of Marcante Testa meets the tech-savvy solutions of BTicino? Quite simply, a new concept of home is born: Living Now Apartment is a fully connected and interactive space presented during Milan Design Week 2019 at Archiproducts Milano in via Tortona 31.

Living Now Apartment is the living concept that integrates all the comforts of a Smart Home, interpreted through two rooms. These represent two domestic spaces which differ in terms of language and chromatic expression, while sharing interactive functions that serve an underlying desire for a serene and accessible lifestyle.

Within the installation, the new Living Now range is in absolute harmony with an architectural context made up of a mix-match of materials and sensorial finishes, furniture, lighting, shapes and references to different eras. The ensemble perfectly reflects Marcante Testa’s instantly recognizable style.

The project started by identifying the relationship between the existing space of Archiproducts Milano’s constantly renewing headquarters and the new home living concept. In this case, the search for an identity begins by interpreting the interaction between the existing structure and the new installation. It is essential to ‘bring the “Genius Loci”, the place’s essence, back to the project, back to the home’, as Andrea Marcante and Adelaide Testa affirm.

Frames and boiserie, ceramics and colors: these elements create a shell within the shell. This is how Marcante Testa enables a dialogue between the existing space and domotic technologies, juxtaposing furniture, lamps and materials, playing with codes and languages which, at first glance, might appear contradictory, different.

‘At the root of this project is the idea of a contemporary home in which comfort stems, among other things, from the recognition of familiar elements from the past. It’s no coincidence that we perceive a sort of wellbeing when we’re in spaces that hark back to past epochs and traditions. Inhabiting a home, we always look for a symbolic-spiritual element, not just a technical-functional one – we need something that takes us back to our family of origin, to the story of the city we live in’, Andrea Marcante explains.

The project’s contrasting dualism adds value to a new living experience, a true technological and evolved infrastructure embedded in an environment where the ‘search for lost time’ becomes a recognizable and familiar analogy. ‘There’s something of the ridiculous in the rigidity of the fake hyper-tech home of the Arpel family in Jacques Tati’s “Mon Oncle”. Take instead the soft humanity of “Monsieur Hulot”, where a rather “soft tech” even has the potential to improve relationships within the domestic environment. This is what we wanted for Living Now Apartment’, Andrea Marcante concludes.

The result is an ulterior and imaginary scenario: in fact, it is the extension of a more intimate and personal dimension.

Created by BTicino in collaboration with Netatmo, the Living Now range is traditional and connected, conceived to generate new experiences. Thanks to the system’s wi-fi connection, it is possible to remotely regulate lights, blinds, energy use, all through the Home + Control App. The system can be activated through vocal commands, via Amazon, Apple and Google’s smart speakers.

Aside from Living Now, Biticino’s other devices complete the spaces of Archiproducts Milano. Among these, the Classe 300x connected video intercom, and the Smarther connected thermostat. The latter allows users to control and program a room’s temperature through the Thermostat App, anywhere and anytime, for maximum optimization of the domestic climate.