The project was carried out by Estudio Rodrigo Izquierdo Interior Design and has been featured on the cover of DOOR magazine, March 2025 issue. Styling: Giulia Taglialatela. Photography: Francesco Dolfo. Text: Gianmaria Padovani.
“When I came here, three years ago, ‘NoLo’ was a word that was still used almost as a joke. Even today, when I’m asked where I live, I never say ‘in NoLo’: it feels like a name that hides an attempt to give this neighborhood a touch of New York-ness that it doesn’t need. If they ask me, I say I live on a side street off Viale Monza.”
A few years ago, Anglo-Italian photographer and art director Julian Hargreaves, 50, left the apartment where he had lived for a long time, in a former scales factory on the southeastern outskirts of Milan, to find a new space that would enhance his personal and professional life. He was looking for a place that would provide him with both a home and a design studio in the same space. According to him, his search didn’t last long. “This space was the second address I visited. I fell in love with it straight away because of its skylights and the fact that it was independent,” he explains as he walks through the 450 square meters of the former Rizza headquarters, a factory that made ski goggles and plastic and rubber products. The low-rise building is tucked away off Via Bolzano, on the eastern edge of one of Milan’s liveliest neighborhoods, NoLo, which stands for North of (Piazzale) Loreto.
“Rather than being lured in by the appeal of the trendy neighborhood,” he explains, “I ended up here driven by the search for an area that would allow for growth in value and, at the same time, offer a certain logistical convenience: for years, I have only traveled by public transport and electric bikes. The metro stop next door lets me reach the Central Station or Piazza del Duomo in just a few minutes.” Hargreaves officially opened his new space less than a year ago, but he had already been living here for two years in a two-room apartment in a building overlooking the construction site, to oversee the work. “I’ve become a huge fan of life here. I like the bars, the market, but also the fact that in this neighborhood, which is still inhabited by many descendants of families that immigrated from southern Italy after the war, you always have to work a bit harder to earn people’s friendship.” His favorite places: the historic Cova pastry shop on Viale Monza for breakfast, for dinner Italian tapas at Silvano, the restaurant run by chef Cesare Battisti, overlooking the trees in Piazza Morbegno, and the small drag bar Don’t Tell Mama, open until late at night on the multi-ethnic Via Pietro Crespi, for nights out with friends.
In addition to the independent structure of the property, Hargreaves was also seduced by the project design proposed by Rodrigo Izquierdo. The partnership with this Spanish architect, who moved to Milan in 2005 and worked with designer and architect Patricia Urquiola for thirteen years, initially developed for personal reasons. “But I liked the idea of working with a young professional with a clear stylistic identity,” he explains. “Rodrigo Izquierdo has his own style that suits my taste. For my part, I wanted to experiment, which is why I was looking for a professional with whom I could have a dialogue, something that is often impossible when you turn to established names in design that have been around for many years.” The meeting of their respective visions has given rise to a surprising space. “The division of space is inspired by something halfway between a Roman domus and a Moroccan riad,” says Julian. “The house is built around a small garden in the center. As a great fan of the atmospheres of countries like Morocco and Tunisia, I immediately liked the setting, which recalls the typical structures of North African medinas – anonymous when seen from the street, but revealing themselves to be cozy nests upon entering.”
The central element of the project is the optimization of natural light, distributed through nine rectangular skylights that open along all the ceilings, geometrically arranged according to the layout of the spaces, which have been redesigned with extreme balance by Rodrigo Izquierdo. The artificial lighting is primarily provided by the numerous Nemo Applique de Marseille lights designed by Le Corbusier, which run along the walls.
