Temporary living amid urban regeneration and smart design

Housing is one of the most urgent issues in Milan today. According to the Affordable Housing Observatory, access to housing remains a challenge, with wide disparities in demand, living conditions and available budgets. Alongside this, there is growing demand for temporary accommodation and short-term rentals from workers on assignment, students and researchers, event participants, professionals, digital nomads and patients undergoing treatment in the city’s medical facilities, all of whom require living spaces that are attractive, functional, practical, fully equipped and immediately available.

Up to Home Milano is a short- and medium-term rental service offering turnkey furnished apartments that was created specifically to meet these needs. The design of the residences was entrusted to the Milan-based practice DAP Studio (Elena Sacco and Paolo Danelli), who approached the theme of temporary living with a modern and refined vision centred on flexibility and freedom.

Completed at the end of 2024, the project involved several buildings across Milan, particularly in the Città Studi district, with interventions in Via Corti and Via Desiderio in former industrial complexes converted into residential use, as well as in the Lambrate-Udine area. The project developed a number of small-sized residential units with optimised layouts, from studios to two-room apartments, as part of a broader strategy to enhance the city’s building stock and adapt it to contemporary housing needs. At its heart is the idea of the home as a “base” rather than a traditional permanent residence.

“This commission gave us the opportunity to explore highly topical and relevant issues,” explain Paolo Danelli and Elena Sacco. “Temporary living is a direct outcome of major social and cultural shifts: job mobility, relocation for study and the growing instability of family structures are all reshaping our everyday lives and basic dwelling models.”

Inside, the design approach was one of subtraction, stripping away the superfluous and optimising every square metre of space. This created a strong, fresh and distinctive identity through the use of mass-produced and custom-made furnishings, carefully selected colours, materials, clean linear forms and abundant natural light.

To improve circulation, the architects tackled structural constraints such as single-aspect layouts and the presence of hallways. In some cases, spaces were arranged longitudinally, while in others new staircases were introduced to improve accessibility. The compact spaces were made more fluid through the use of central service volumes, walk-through kitchens, custom-designed multifunctional furniture, beds screened by movable partitions and coloured wood and metal filter walls that separate without closing off. The result is a flexible, transparent space that can adapt privacy levels while preserving architectural quality.

A defining feature of Up to Home’s identity is the use of large-format porcelain tiles from Ceramica Sant’Agostino, chosen for their elegance and compositional versatility. The Unionstone 2 stone-effect collection in colour Cedre Grey was selected for floors, walls and functional areas such as bathrooms and kitchens, integrating seamlessly with customised furnishing solutions and with the restrained, essential colour palette.