The task was to improve the quality of a dark, narrow duplex apartment, on the top floor of a 50´s postwar resident building, last renovated in the 70’s.
Our endeavor was to create a contemporary living space, as spacious and bright as possible, so we created a concept which implements to connect the two apartment levels and receive different heights of the ceilings.
Aiming to achieve a 6m high airspace up to the roof, we removed the ceiling of the dining room, leaving the ring beam visible.
The rooms centerpiece is the sculptural oak stairway. It is marked as a red-stained wooden layer in front of the highest wall, hiding the steps in the space between.
As requested we connected the kitchen and the dining room by removing a wall.
Further we uncovered the ribbed concrete floor construction on the kitchen ceiling and increased the linear effect by adding black shiny panels. The flashy mirroring effect is visible through all the main rooms. We designed the kitchen as a one-piece furniture, including the window and the step that leads to the balcony. For the surface, we worked with furniture linoleum and Italian Bardiglio marble.
The private room is rather secluded but still offers potential through the room-high double-leaf door to make it bigger.
The bathroom’s surface is an interplay between restrained small black tiles on the floor and big marble plates (Bardiglio) for the shower, the basement of the freestanding bathtub (Laufen) and the countertop for the washbasins.