The role of the modern fireplace in interior design, from heat source to living room centerpiece
Fire is an element that boasts a very ancient presence in our homes. Linked to the concept of dwelling from the earliest times, the presence of the hearth has always marked the center of the dwelling and the general life of the community living there.
Deprived now of any practical functionality, designer fireplaces bring an ancestral aesthetic touch indoors to our homes, capable of warming and creating a cozy, familiar atmosphere: and it’s home immediately.
The image we have of the fireplace today must be traced back to the 16th century, when the need to fit structures in all rooms prompted architects to reduce their size and improve their appearance. Thus it was that the fireplace began to be endowed with decorations, columns and architraves, friezes and cornices, becoming a true ornamental element capable of showcasing the economic possibilities and taste of the householders.
With the advancement of technology and the introduction of new and more efficient heating systems, the fireplace has lost its fundamental function necessary for survival. However, this simultaneously enhanced both the aesthetic and social function of the modern fireplace. Even millennia after the first human lit bonfire, nothing can match the sense of coziness and warmth that a crackling fire brings to the home, and interior designers, freed from previously imposed technical limitations, have been able to interpret this new need in the most diverse ways.
Those who decide to put a modern designer fireplace in their living room first want to equip the room with a focal point, around which to welcome guests and spend relaxing moments. For this reason, the location of the heating body is the most important aspect of interior design. The interior designer must first carefully study the room in which the fireplace will be placed, not only from the point of view of size and shape, but also in terms of how it will be used. The role as a catalyst for domestic life that a fireplace plays means that it must be embedded within a real fabric of social relations, and thus designed to meet the needs of its users. Fundamental, then, is attention to the lines of path that tenants draw between areas of the house, making sure that the space between hearth and seating arrangements is not crossed by them. Indeed, this would lead to the disruption of the sense of coziness created by the fireplace, as well as problems with air movement that would risk generating puffs of smoke. In terms of room shape and size, larger rooms allow more freedom as the fireplace can act as a divider between distinct rooms. Then one must also take into account the countless technical and structural limitations due to the presence of load-bearing walls, the thickness of the walls themselves, or the placement of previously constructed flues.
As for the types of modern designer fireplaces, the most popular structures remain wall-mounted or corner fireplaces, as they are more versatile and easier to install. In recent years, however, new, more unique types of designer fireplaces have also begun to spread, which can reinterpret the classic hearth concept. These include central or island fireplaces, which echo the structure of early hearths built in the center of houses. Thanks to the latest ultralight materials, it is possible to create shapes that were unthinkable until recently, thus integrating the fireplace into the very structure of the room. Another popular type is the bifrontal or pass-through chimney, that is, one that faces more than one side of the same wall. Such a solution makes it possible to create a connection between two rooms, or alternatively act itself as a separator between several parts of the same room.
Prominent among the most interesting examples of designer fireplaces is the use of marble, both black and white, to create expansive surfaces that blend into the line of the walls, where the hearth is enclosed in simple rectangular frames with no decoration. Also common with similar purposes is the use, in recent industrial taste, of rough concrete to create structures with smooth, uncluttered surfaces, or of tiled wood to create a warmer climate, or to be combined with dark plaster. More classic in taste but equally elegant are framed fireplaces, which can be made of stone (often marble), tile or, for a more modern style, metal. There is also no shortage of examples that harken back to the column-and-frieze style typical of aristocratic palaces, often reinterpreted with the use of modern materials or mosaic cladding. There is also no shortage of rustic-style fireplaces, with the use of rough-cut stones or brick bricks.
Island and bi-frontal structures are the ones that lend themselves most to modern and unconventional designs, thanks, for example, to the use of glass alone so as to create the impression of an open fire within the room. In Antonio Lupi ‘s fireplaces, the very concept of the domestic hearth is thus overturned by bringing the flame outside the body of the fireplace and removing all superfluous things to focus attention on the role of fire. Another very interesting example is that of Focus, which offers a series of fireplaces in which the chimney becomes a central component of the design, where the central body of the hearth is configured as an extension of it through sinuous and natural forms. The sophisticated design of these fireplaces makes them a perfect example of aesthetics that mix futuristic inspiration and ancient suggestions.
The classic wood stove is also increasingly used with the same function as the modern designer fireplace, with two major advantages: its small size and greater freedom in placement, since it does not require the same structural attention as the fireplace. In this sense, we move from reinterpretations of the traditional cast-iron stove to objects with more unconventional shapes. Again, the chimney becomes a complement to the design itself, as it cannot be concealed in the masonry. The stove body is often square or cylindrical in shape, but there are also examples of stoves with breakthrough designs, such as Jøtul’s F105 series, which combines the classic style of Nordic stoves with smooth, polished lines.
