Welcome to the Palazzo dell’Anima!

Palazzo dell’Anima; a grand house built into a cliff in a mythical valley inspired by the Italian Alps.

This is the home of Valentino, Levare’s protagonist, and the main set of the film. A huge thanks to Giacomo Tappainer for this amazing artwork! It’s been a kind of “missing piece of the puzzle” with respect to the development and pre-production of Levare, as it’s quite a difficult house to design.

Valentino is a “da Vinci” of his time, making him an architect (among many other things), and we thought it important that his home be his own design. With that in mind, we wanted to consult an architect. We turned to NITID Architecture & Interiors with an unusual brief…

Firstly, we wanted a grand house to represent the culmination of Valentino’s long life and successful career. Secondly, we wanted it built into the side of a cliff, like the Hanging Temple in China. Thirdly, we wanted an aesthetic for a mythical 1920s Europe. We were drawn to Art Deco, but with Valentino’s Italian heritage, although he’s well-travelled and a “citizen of the world”, the design couldn’t ignore Rationalist architecture. Fourthly, there’s a big difference between set design, particularly in animation, and real-world architectural design, so the collaboration would be unchartered territory for us both. While the house doesn’t have to work in the real world, it still has to look like it would work in the real world. And, lastly, the story requires the house be neglected, to the point of almost looking abandoned. This is not something anyone wants to see happen to their creation!

NITID got to work on a “massing model”, which was the first step in their design process. This involved establishing the basic concept and layout of the house using simple geometry. It was enough for us to populate it with “stuff” and use in an animatic, with a little extra input from NITID.

“Massing Model” of Palazzo dell’Anima by NITID Architecture & Interiors.

Palazzo dell’Anima as it is in the animatic.

As you may already know, the animatic took many years to complete, and during this time the house design was on the back burner. When production of the animatic was coming to an end, it came time to continue with the house design, but the use of the massing model in the animatic complicated NITID’s design process. They would have to post-rationalise the house design to fit the animatic, which is not ideal. Their workload had also become very heavy by this time, so it would be difficult to accommodate Levare. It was clear we needed to find someone to take over. With NITID’s help, a detailed design brief was produced, and the search for a replacement began.

Fortunately, the search didn’t take long! We were very lucky to stumble upon the work of Giacomo Tappainer: architect, art director and concept designer (from Italy, no less!). Giacomo understood the assignment and was willing and able to commence work almost immediately. In addition to the exterior of the house, he produced concept art for the “Atrium”, “Workshop Minor” and “Antechamber”, as they all feature heavily in the film.

Palazzo dell’Anima’s “Atrium”; a cross between a grand foyer and a Roman courtyard, with a partially glazed roof and large windows.

Palazzo dell’Anima’s “Workshop Minor”; a cross between an architect’s studio and an inventor’s workshop, full of mementos and accolades.

Palazzo dell’Anima’s “Antechamber”; a cross between a hotel foyer and a museum, full of valuable art and artefacts, and a hearth containing a magical gemstone.

We couldn’t be happier with the artwork Giacomo’s produced, and we’re really excited by the direction the house design is heading. There’s still much work to be done before it’s ready for production, but this is a major step in the overall production of Levare. Next, Giacomo will be designing the entire house in detail, somewhat like a real house, so it can be “built” for the film.

A big thank you must also go to Nathan Geppert from Shapeshifter Concepts, who created several interim artworks for the house over the years, to help round out our ever-evolving pitch deck when it was needed.