Apartamento Alves Guimarães

Fernando Genaro – Agência Ophelia

Alves Guimarães Apartment

• Architects

This 32m² apartment was designed for a young couple with different routines who wanted a cozy and practical home for their daily life.

Although compact, the apartment meets all the needs of the residents.

photo_credit Fernando Genaro – Agência Ophelia — Fernando Genaro – Agência Ophelia

The initial premise was to integrate the balcony with the living room to give more space for the couple's two passions - their cats and plants. So we removed the door that divided the two spaces, leveled the floor, and enclosed the balcony with glass, which brought plenty of natural light and more space to the apartment.

The concept of the project was to create a light apartment with neutral colors and "everything in its place".

One of the solutions used was a multifunctional cabinet right at the entrance of the apartment, which houses the washing and drying machine, microwave, pantry, broom closet, as well as a welcome space with hangers, a bench to take off shoes, and a shoe drawer.

On the other side of the entrance, we have a compact yet highly functional kitchen with plenty of cabinets and a dishwasher.

In the living room, the metalwork counter brings a lot of lightness to this essential element, which is used for support, meals, and home office. From the counter, we made a shelf to display books and plants, in a transverse direction, joined by a round metal profile.

Still in the living room, the yellow sofa brings a contrast with the light colors of the rest of the apartment, making the environment warmer and more relaxed. The "art wall" style decoration adds a lot of personality to the space, a mini art gallery with works by some artists and the resident's own photos, who is a photographer and carefully selected some framed shots that tell his story.

Organization was the key word for the bedroom project. We needed to include plenty of storage and a home office. The result was an entire wall of cabinets, with a spacious white wardrobe with flush handles. The bed is also made of wood with hinged doors at the bottom. The highlight was the home office corner, with a wooden panel to add coziness and a desk with a drawer to store documents and the notebook. The white wall facing the bed serves as a screen for the projector, which is placed in the niche above the headboard.

The lighting of the apartment was designed for two scenes: general lighting for daily use, made with surface-mounted linear profiles on the ceiling, and the second scenario, indirect lighting in strategic locations to create a more intimate atmosphere through wall lamps.