Greenstyle Living – Where Brutalism Meets Bespoke in the Heart of Brianza

Tucked away in the wooded folds of the Valle del Lambro Regional Park, a quiet revolution in residential design is unfolding. It goes by the name GREENSTYLE, and it’s not so much a home as it is a manifesto, a fusion of engineering precision, artistic curation, and an almost spiritual commitment to sustainable living.

Designed by the ever-evolving minds at Castello Lagravinese Studio, this 140-square-metre penthouse with an 80-square-metre terrace is less a domestic space and more a living, breathing extension of its environment. There’s no passive living here, this is architecture with intention. And it all starts with the view.

First Impressions, Lasting Impact

Step through the front door and you’re not met by walls or corridors, but by the world outside. A vast panoramic window immediately demands your attention, pulling you out onto a south-facing terrace that blurs the line between home and horizon. Rows of proud poplars frame the setting like seasoned sentinels, shifting with the seasons, casting shadows, soaking up sun. And when the light dips below the skyline, perimeter LED lighting takes over, not just illuminating but redefining the space into a twilight lounge made for open-air aperitivos or quietly burning cigars.

The layout is cleverly orchestrated around a central planter, not just a bit of greenery, but a kind of domestic compass, guiding movement and arranging rhythm through the space.

The Wunderkammer Approach

Inside, the interior rejects the sterile, the generic, and the expected. Instead, it leans into character. The living space is an open, multifunctional sanctuary that flows easily from lounge to kitchen to dining, unified not just by architecture, but by philosophy.

Here, the spirit of a Wunderkammer, the Renaissance “cabinet of curiosities”, comes alive in modern form. The owners’ personal obsessions take centre stage: model Porsche cars displayed in a converted airline trolley, a motorcycle tank turned duck sculpture, a robot army crafted from reclaimed parts. Nothing is showy, but everything has a story. It’s design with soul, and just the right measure of swagger.

The furniture is a respectful tug-of-war between new and nostalgic: a green armchair resurrected from a flea market by a master upholsterer in Brianza; a 1930s French industrial cabinet that morphs depending on how you open it. The Iggy sofa and Passenger side tables by Berto Salotti play off these relics with clean lines and a modern silhouette. It’s curated chaos, tied together with rich materials, brass accents, and a moodboard Castello describes as “warm and rather brutalist.”

Culinary Discretion

Unlike so many design-conscious homes that make a spectacle of the kitchen, here it disappears, discreetly blending into a wall of ceramic slabs. A concealed workspace and drinks station lurk behind flush panels, ready to emerge only when called upon. The dining space is equally unassuming, quietly elegant, and deeply functional.

Behind a hidden door, a clever, flush-fitting panel, lies a dual-purpose guest room and study. It’s the only real injection of colour in the apartment and feels like a well-kept secret: a cosy retreat for solitary reading or Zoom calls, saturated in a muted, blue-green hue.

Bedroom, Reimagined

If the living room is the heart, the master suite is its soul. The hallway connecting the two is clad in warm wooden acoustic slats, visually pulling you from public to private. In the bedroom, brutalist elements, concrete walls and smoked glass partitions, meet personal relics: a 1950s Royal Navy cabinet, a military chest of drawers from 1940s Poland.

There’s a functional elegance to everything. A custom-built desk hides within a wooden shelf, its partner a pouf made from a blackened tree trunk. Lighting is recessed, adjustable, ambient, light as mood rather than necessity.

Behind smoked glass lies a concealed walk-in wardrobe, which glows to life with the flick of a spotlight. This cinematic reveal isn't just theatrical, it makes sense. The visual trickery is echoed in the en-suite bathroom, where tiles stretch floor-to-ceiling and a mirror-backed door opens into the closet itself.

Quiet Intelligence

GREENSTYLE’s aesthetics are seductive, but its intelligence is quiet and omnipresent. Smart technologies run through the apartment like an invisible nervous system. Lighting, climate, shutters, all are centrally controlled, voice-activated, and customisable to taste. Whether you're curating mood lighting or tracking real-time energy consumption, the home adapts.

And in case you thought the cats had been left out, they haven’t. A circular pet portal discreetly embedded in a flush door allows furry residents free access to the terrace, because style shouldn’t come at the cost of freedom.

Brutalism, Softened

The materials throughout are intentionally restrained: parquet flooring runs wall to wall, echoing natural warmth beneath bare feet. Concrete-effect walls offer structure and seriousness, offset by ceramics from Laminam and Mirage that add texture and tactility. Lighting from Flos, Occhio, and Novalux is purposefully designed to highlight rather than dominate.

The result? A space that speaks softly but leaves a lasting impression, a kind of quiet luxury rooted in personality, sustainability, and time-earned taste.

For Alessandro Castello and Maria Antonietta Lagravinese, this isn’t just another project. It’s a thesis in livability, a canvas of modern Italian life painted with vintage brushes and framed in brutalist gold. The duo’s work has always bridged past and future, but with GREENSTYLE, they’ve built a home that is, quite literally, alive.

More: www.castellolagravinese.com | info@castellolagravinese.com

Photography: Stefano Tonicello