Architecture
2022
Our client had bought this 70 m² apartment in a building from 1911 in Hernesaari, Helsinki, and hired us to design a thorough renovation including a new layout, surface materials, textiles and loose furniture, with the idea of using as much of their existing furniture as possible. The project was completed in 2022.
The kitchen and bathroom were relocated but kept in the centre of the apartment. In them, a streamlined modern functionality meets the more traditional character of the habitable rooms in an elegant way. Interior windows were added to the kitchen walls to allow more daylight to the centre. The client also wished to maximise storage space with many cabinets reaching from floor to ceiling, including a tall bookshelf with a ladder to the living room.
At the starting point, the kitchen was located in a room facing the inner yard. During the renovation, it was pushed more inwards so that another bedroom could be added to the entity. This new bedroom would be for one person, but the wish was to also place an extra bed in the room that could be put aside when not in use. To answer this need we designed a piece of flexible fixed furniture that combines storage, a desk and an extra bed on one side of the bedroom.
The atmosphere was kept airy and calm by using light and natural tones of grey, blue and beige. All new pulls, handles and taps were chosen in a contrasting brushed black steel surface. To add some elegant cosiness, the material palette was mixed with wooden surfaces, characteristic and soft textiles, three-dimensional tiles and marble-patterned quartz. A contemporary thin molding at a higher part of the walls adds to a slightly classical feeling across the apartment, bringing a subtle link to the architectural style of the building and its facade.
