The glamorous white house with an amphitheater silhouette on three levels worth 4,850,000 euros was created entirely by the famous Italian architect and designer Monica Armani, faithful to the leitmotif "God is in the details" of one of the pioneers of the Bauhaus, Miss van der Rohe. She grew up among his furniture in a home designed by her father, the Italian rationalist architect Marcello Armani. From him he learned the intricacies of the craft and inherited the famous surname. And the Monica Armani brand today would not be the same without her husband and partner Luca Dalabeta, with whom Monica has shared her life and work for thirty years.
A stone path escorted by low palm trees and a white sculptural wall provide complete privacy for the inhabitants of Morning Breeze. The seven-meter glass façade turns into an open-air agora with an endless pool in Caribbean blue, and the 160-degree view merges the golf course below and extends to the sea.
Villa Morning Breeze has already won two of the European Property Awards 2020-2021, respectively in the Residential Property and Architecture Single Residence categories.
When Monica Armani arrived in Alicante in late July for the first time after a year-and-a-half pause due to the global pandemic and saw her creative dream of Morning Breeze become a reality, she could not hold back tears of joy, says Javier Four. CEO of the company Somium (Grupo Marjal), which is behind the project. The overall realization lasts five years.
Monica Armani and I talk on the terrace of Morning Breeze after the official opening. Monica speaks a mix of Italian, Spanish and English combined with incomparable Italian gestures.
We had to fit into the budget, but otherwise we created everything ourselves. For the interior we chose a combination of our products for famous brands. For the exterior - our collections for the Belgian company Tribu. We created the kitchen, some beds, tables and lamps exclusively for Morning Breeze. I even chose the glasses. Everything is completely ready. The client arrives, leaves the luggage and goes to bed. Or he goes downstairs and pours himself a glass of champagne.
Whether it's the design of a chair or an entire home, the starting point is always something that is close to me, part of me. Morning Breeze is definitely my home, I made it as if for myself. Well, then, of course, it's not for me (laughs). I'm curious who will stay to live here. In addition to purely technical knowledge, I fully invest my own taste in color combinations, proportions, details. I like to express myself through every project and to recreate some emotion. Otherwise, something standard would happen.
We immediately rejected the easiest decision to cut part of the hill, although the terrain was difficult. We wanted to stay connected to the earth and leave as few scars as possible on it. With the help of drones we got to know the terrain in detail and minimized our intervention. We decided that the two bedrooms would almost literally "fly" over the hill, instead of building retaining walls and pillars. It was important to save a 50-year-old pine tree. All materials used are as close as possible.
Absolutely. I have been accustomed to this overflow between the interior and the exterior since I was a child, it has always characterized my work. But the pandemic really changed our lives a lot. People began to pay much more attention to the home not only to make aesthetic and cosmetic changes, but to live better in it. In the last year, the business has doubled, all the brands it cooperates with are working at a really crazy pace.
I grew up in a beautiful home in my hometown of Trento, in northern Italy, built entirely by my father and where my parents still live. My father is a very good and precise architect, forty years later the house looks like new. It is surrounded by a meadow, with large windows and a spacious living room. It can be said that everything in it is windows and doors. It is largely inspired by the architecture of Le Corbusier. The furniture is by Miss van der Rohe. In my personal and professional DNA, I have fully embraced the Bauhaus style. I still live in Trento, in a house we built ten years ago and share with my sister's family.
My interpretation of the Bauhaus does not differ from the founding idea of this school. Long-lasting architecture with clear concepts and lines, as well as strong modularity. Rational architecture that allows residents to lead different lifestyles according to their needs and tastes. The goal is to achieve it in the most coordinated way possible, all the elements must work well together. I would never do something short-lived or fleeting, or extravagant, just to appear on a magazine cover.
The products I create for luxury companies are logically aimed at people over the age of 40, Generation X. At the moment, however, I notice a great movement in the design environment, dictated by the tastes of millennials. The Turri company he works with is known for its luxurious, more classic heavy furniture, but is already working towards more modern products. They are aware that many of their younger customers in China, where they have a strong presence, no longer like their traditional design. In the increasingly connected world in which we live, distances, including in terms of tastes, are shrinking.
More than twenty years ago, at the beginning of her career, Monica Armani registered the site armanidesign.com. Shortly afterwards, he began receiving lawsuits from lawyers for fashion designer Giorgio Armani. According to the agreement, Monica provides them with the domain, in exchange for which she reserves the right to use her own name as a brand worldwide. Years later, he met Giorgio Armani for the first time in front of her showroom during Milan Design Week. Otherwise, the family tree of Monica Armani's family is kept in the church in Trento and can be traced back to 1640. It is very likely that somewhere it will intertwine with that of the fashion designer.