VOID LOFT
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Staying in an apartment is not just about sleeping in a comfortable bed. It means trusting a space, finding your way in an unfamiliar context, feeling welcomed or frustrated within the first few minutes.
Void Loft starts here: from a personal need that evolved into a design insight. To create a hospitality model in the short-term rental market that is replicable, scalable, and built around the guest experience not just aesthetics.
The short-term rental market continues to grow, yet a closer look at the offering reveals recurring issues that affect the perceived experience: inconsistent space quality, ineffective visual communication, lack of coherence between listings and actual environments, and errors that penalize visibility on OTA platforms.
I conducted a market analysis in Liguria, studying over forty short-term rental properties within a ten kilometer radius of the reference apartment, with periodic observations carried out over the course of a year. Each property was reviewed multiple times to identify pricing dynamics related to seasonality, occupancy rates, and variable pricing strategies.
The process, combined with desk research, highlighted the factors that most influence user interest and bookings, as well as recurring negative patterns: poorly maintained spaces, ineffective photography, and visual inconsistency.
One constant emerged: limited attention to the user experience as a cohesive system.
By mapping the “as-is” experience through an Experience Map and Customer Journey, I reconstructed the guest’s journey, identifying the key touchpoints on which to design a more seamless “to-be” scenario.
Interviews ultimately helped isolate recurring pain points.
“Sometimes it’s not the apartment that’s the problem it’s the details.”
Insight emerged from interviews
From this, Void Loft takes shape: a hospitality system designed end-to-end, where physical space, services, and visual identity work together.
The brand stems from a clear strategy inspired by the principles of order and balance in Greek philosophy hence the name Atlas for the first apartment and positions itself in the mid-market segment, with an elegant yet accessible tone.
Every detail is designed to reinforce perceived quality, from the care of the interiors to the welcome kit and sustainable products.
Each apartment is conceived as a coherent and recognizable experience, built around timeless values such as light, proportion, and harmony.
In the early visual explorations, I worked on the concept of void through an essential mark: a subtracted square, conceived as a principle of order, minimalism, and meaning. Subsequently, the aesthetic direction was entrusted to a designer selected for her ability to interpret the essence of the project (Anastasia Matveeva), who developed the brand identity based on these foundations. Her intervention strengthened the dialogue between “void” and “loft”, introducing the halo: a soft, symbolic circle that expands the concept of emptiness into a more continuous and welcoming dimension, becoming a recurring element of the branding.
Atlas will be the first Void Loft apartment, located in Genoa and soon to open.
The tangible starting point of a system designed to grow.
