Apartment in a house from the late 40s is located in Prague in a quiet part of Bubenec. As part of the generational change of the inhabitants of the apartment, which has been passed down in the same family for over three generations, a young couple decided to completely renovate it and approached Papundekl architects for cooperation.
The original layout of the apartment was characterized by a breakneck arrangement of facilities. The clients' wish was to rotate the layout so that the living room and kitchen were on the sunny south side, where the windows face the public courtyard, and the bedrooms on the quieter north side. The architects explored several possible layouts, and in the end, the "wrap-around" layout around a centrally located closet seemed optimal, but required major structural modifications. A structural engineer was brought in and it turned out that the construction of the house did indeed enable such modifications.
The architects transformed the central closet, which in its original layout was hardly a usable walk-through storage area, into a multi-purpose furniture box. This wooden core became the main motif of the apartment. The box includes a bookcase, a desk, a hidden utility room with a boiler, washing machine and dryer, and towards the hallway it is equipped with a large mirror and storage spaces.
The rounded corners of the box enhance the flow of the space, making the hallway part of the living area of the apartment. The box is equipped with translucent sliding walls made of polycarbonate, which can be used to separate the different spaces.
By connecting the original rooms, a pleasant living area with a generous kitchen was created, which has access to the balcony and views to the adjacent park. The facilities of the apartment have been rearranged to effectively serve the current needs of its inhabitants. A practical utility room has been newly created, the toilet has been relocated closer to the entrance of the apartment, the hallway is equipped with built-in storage and the bedroom has a separate dressing room.
The furniture core is made of birch plywood and thus differs in material from the other built-in furniture, which is made of light gray laminate. New parquet flooring has been laid in the apartment, and the bathroom, toilet and utility room cement floor has been carried out.
