Displaying posts labeled "Apartment"

Colour in Madrid

Posted on Mon, 7 Nov 2022 by midcenturyjo

“Our clients wanted to bring part of their origins to Madrid. Plus, they are avid travellers—she is Mexican and he Galician—so they yearned to bring a family influence to their new home. This project is the outcome of a quest to find colour in Madrid, a characteristic marked by the owners’ journeys and origins. We focused on vivid colours: bright yellows, greens, blues and reds, paired with materials like tiles, ceramics and fine wood. They are all cool materials in bright colours brought from distant, exotic locales. White tile combines with blue, red or yellow in different areas and is finished by edging to frame the different zones.”

The hero of this design is tile, colourful, handmade, glorious tile simply but cleverly laid. It’s a celebration of a simple material elevated by clever design. Conde Duque by S+DLH (Sierra Delahiguera).

Shades of red and green in a Paris apartment

Posted on Fri, 4 Nov 2022 by KiM

This Paris apartment was designed with travel in mind. The inspiration were hotel rooms, luxury train carriages, with a certain degree of luxury and elegance. Shades of red and green were used throughout – not typically a palette I’m drawn to but designer Hugo Toro worked magic here and I adore it. (Photos: Leny Gueta)

I love this story…
Miss Rose contacted me from Philadelphia in the midst of pandemic to ask if I would be willing to make her a pied à terre in the Marais. An American who had fallen in love with France, she dreamed of being able to offer herself a refuge in Paris. In this particular health context, the urgency to live her dreams took precedence. The flat was bought from a distance and we worked together on the project by skype. It was a great way to escape from everyday life by defying the prohibitions, to meet around a project that offered us a beautiful escapade in the imagination. Miss Rose has that quiet determination that breaks down all obstacles; that confidence and emotional generosity that carries you along. She knew even before she bought the flat that I was going to make her nest and she accompanied us throughout the project with a patience and enthusiasm that made this adventure an exceptional moment
I think I might cry. Marianne Evennou making 16 m2 dreams a reality. (Photos: Grégory Timsit)

Two Arches Apartment in Ljubljana

Posted on Wed, 2 Nov 2022 by KiM

The client of an apartment renovation project holds a mini-competition and chooses Riba Architects’ solution, where no square metre goes to waste: there are enough rooms, no corridors – the space itself is breathing. We connect the street and courtyard sides to the living space and create a circular floor plan around the kitchen island to establish a sense of grandeur. We make sure the lines are long and elegant. While removing the roughcast surface, we get an unexpected gift: the rooms formerly connected by doors were actually divided only by two huge brick arches 100 years ago. The seals under the arches are removed, while the arches are cleaned and used as a basis for the overall design. At every step, we seek to enrich the ambience with unexpected details and colours: thermally treated wood is introduced, and a mirror in the bathroom pierces a peephole from an old front door while another mirror is given an imposing massive frame from the wing of the same front door. The retro white square tiles are complemented by the intense dark turquoise colour of the walls and the ceiling above. The wall by the kitchen island is the colour of the morning dawn and so are the velvet curtains in the bedroom. Top ceramic designer Bojana Ristevski from Studio Juha created unforgettable ‘tableware’ carrying the motif of dark blue grain. The ‘two arches’ apartment on Francetova Street is a modern classic. Everyone who visits it says: this is where I would live.
I would live there too! Those arches are absolutely incredible. And the glass walls with curtains in front are a brilliant solution for keeping the space bright and spacious whilst adding privacy when needed. No wonder Riba Architects won an award for this project. (Tableware photos: Maruša Maze. All others: Janez Marolt)

The designers knew they had a gem in the rough. The apartment in a functionalist building was derelict but as they stripped it back they discovered a ribbed ceiling and massive concrete columns. Reconfiguring the layout the main public area is an open-plan living, dining and kitchen area that embraces its industrial elements while softening them ever so slightly for family living. Apartment N1M by Bratislava-based Benko Benkova.

 

Photography by Nora and Jakub Čaprnka