In Rome’s rationalist E.U.R. district, architect Maria Adele Savioli has transformed Casa Viale della Tecnica, a 160 m² flat, by exposing concrete walls and reorganising space around a custom joinery core
Casa Viale della Tecnica: a case study in measured renovation
Studio Maria Adele Savioli has completed the refurbishment of Casa Viale della Tecnica, a 160-square-metre apartment on Viale della Tecnica, inside Rome’s E.U.R. district. Conceived in the late 1930s for the planned 1942 world exposition, E.U.R. (Esposizione Universale di Roma) is one of Italy’s largest ensembles of rationalist and post-war modernist architecture. Preserving that context shaped both the brief and the outcome of the project.
Working with an inherited structure: Casa Viale della Tecnica
The apartment occupies part of a reinforced-concrete frame building typical of the neighbourhood’s post-war expansion. Two original features guided the redesign: a continuous Venetian terrazzo floor and exposed concrete walls. Rather than hiding these elements, the project treats them as reference grids for a new plan that opens long sight-lines and links the interior to a wrap-around terrace.
Italy’s stock of post-war housing often suffers from compartmentalised layouts and limited daylight. Savioli’s team responded by cutting new openings and inserting glazed partitions. A steel-and-brushed-aluminium kitchen now borrows light from the entrance, while okoumé wood case-work forms a spine that splits social and private zones without introducing corridors.
A multifunctional core
Where the old plan had a load-bearing wall, the architects introduced a full-height storage volume that houses wardrobes, a study niche and bookshelves. It also masks the doorway to the sleeping quarters. Such “thick walls” echo the service blocks found in 1960s Italian apartment buildings but are re-interpreted here as joinery rather than masonry.
Movement through this core reveals one of the few chromatic interventions: a corridor painted powder blue. The choice breaks the otherwise neutral palette while maintaining visual continuity; the terrazzo aggregates and concrete surfaces remain the dominant textures.
Custom fabrication and local supply chains
All built-in furniture and internal doors were custom-made by carpenters in Lazio, continuing a supply tradition that predates Italy’s shift toward off-site production in the 1990s. According to data from the Italian woodworking federation, bespoke joinery still represents about 35 per cent of the region’s interior-fit-out market, a figure driven by renovation rather than new construction.
Furniture and lighting highlights
In the living area, the seating is centred on Le Mura by Tacchini, a modular sofa originally designed in 1972 by Mario Bellini and re-issued in 2022, flanked by stainless-steel Burger OCT Lounge side tables by Giorgio Bena. The dining zone pairs a classic Saarinen table by Knoll with Déjà-Vu aluminium chairs by Naoto Fukasawa for Magis, lit by Achille Castiglioni’s 1962 Arco lamp for Flos. In the kitchen, the Déjà-Vu model reappears as counter stools, while Davide Groppi’s Magia suspension provides task lighting. Additional fixtures include Marset’s Aura in the corridor and Rock in the guest bathroom, with Astro’s Ortona Twin installed in both the master and guest bathrooms.
The living room also previews Savioli’s own furniture line, MAS Design. Salto Basso — a low table cast from sand, cement and water with brushed aluminium inserts — demonstrates the same material-first approach seen in the renovation. MAS Design has been producing limited-run pieces since 2021, often collaborating with artisans who specialise in terrazzo and micro-cement surfaces.
Context: renovation pressures in Rome
Rome issues roughly 4,000 residential renovation permits annually, according to the city’s latest building statistics. E.U.R., with its larger-than-average apartments and rationalist façades, has become a testing ground for interventions that balance heritage constraints with current energy-performance targets introduced under Italy’s 110 per cent “Superbonus” scheme (now revised and capped). Casa Viale della Tecnica falls outside the thermal-upgrade incentives but adopts low-VOC finishes and LED lighting in line with the region’s energy code.
Designer profile: Maria Adele Savioli
Maria Adele Savioli graduated in architecture before setting up her own practice in 2012. Her work spans adaptive reuse and small-batch furniture production. While the studio is based in Rome, recent commissions include residential projects in Milan and Florence. Savioli cites Milanese modernism and Japanese joinery as parallel influences.
