Villa Marsileni

FROM ABANDONED SEASIDE COTTAGE TO COMPACT MEDITERRANEAN RETREAT.

A 1920s rural cottage, once abandoned and without an indoor bathroom, reimagined as an efficient 85 sqm holiday home by the sea.

Location: Liguria, Italy

Type: Residential renovation and extension

Original Building: 1920s countryside cottage

Original Size: approx. 40 sqm, over two floors

Final Size: approx. 80+ sqm

Programme: 2 bedrooms, 6 sleeping places, bathroom, guest WC, open-plan living, kitchen, garden, veranda

Status: Completion expected in summer 2026

Focus: Adaptive reuse, compact living, bespoke storage, sustainable extension

Context & Situation

The challenge

The original house was a small 1920s countryside cottage later absorbed into a seaside village, just 300 metres from the beach. When purchased, it was in a state of total abandonment and decay: around 40 sqm over two floors, no indoor bathroom, limited usable space and a fragmented relationship with the surrounding garden and olive trees.

The design response

The project preserves the original building and gives it a new role: the old structure now hosts the sleeping area, while a single-storey extension creates the missing living functions — an open-plan kitchen, dining and lounge area, a full bathroom and a guest WC. The new volume is designed to integrate discreetly with the site, using planted wall elements, a green roof and a careful relationship with the existing olive garden.

Every centimetre designed to work

Inside, the design focuses on making a compact footprint feel generous, calm and practical. Every centimetre was studied to accommodate six guests, two bedrooms, a full bathroom suitable for reduced mobility, a guest WC, an island kitchen, a dining area and a comfortable living space. Bespoke built-in wardrobes and integrated storage help keep the house functional without compromising the sense of openness.

Main Bedroom

Contemporary bedroom blending clean lines with restored original brick walls and exposed wooden beams, preserving the character of the historic structure.

Main Bathroom

The main bathroom was created within the new extension and carefully designed to integrate with the geometry and structural constraints of the original building. Generous proportions, unusual for the scale of the house, were defined in accordance with accessibility standards for disabled users.

Living Area

The extension volume was designed to ensure a balanced distribution between the living, dining, and kitchen areas, creating a fluid open-plan space tailored to contemporary seaside living.

Upstairs Bedroom

Custom storage and sleeping solution, maximizing a compact 20 sqm footprint through integrated joinery and vertical space optimization.

Powder Bathroom

Guest bathroom conceived as a compact design capsule, where statement wall tiles create a wallpaper-like effect, blending chic contemporary aesthetics with Mediterranean character.

Kitchen

The kitchen layout was designed to maximize natural light and circulation, making it both highly functional and the central hub of everyday living.

A compact home with

high-performance ambitions

Beyond the spatial transformation, Villa Marsileni was designed to perform as a contemporary low-consumption home. The new extension combines a prefabricated composite timber structure with high-performance insulation, solar panels, a green roof, heat pump technology, underfloor heating and water-saving systems. The result is a small Mediterranean house with a significantly improved energy profile and a lighter relationship with its site.

Mediterranean, but understated

The material palette combines natural warmth and quiet refinement: brushed and oiled oak flooring, durable bathroom finishes, bespoke joinery and carefully selected details create a home that feels both relaxed and elevated. The design avoids a decorative seaside cliché, choosing instead a restrained Mediterranean language rooted in texture, light and everyday comfort.

Outdoor living

Outside, the garden remains central to the identity of the house. The existing olive trees were preserved, while the veranda creates an outdoor extension of the living area with space for dining and relaxation. Planted wall elements soften the new volume and help the extension settle into the Mediterranean landscape.