In renovating the Floresta Apartment, solving the poor compartmentalization of the rooms was the main guideline for the young couple who, having purchased their first property, wanted a space designed for entertaining family and friends. To achieve this, solving the kitchen, a critical point in the old layout, was central to the architectural design. Different renovation strategies were applied throughout the 150m² apartment, from completely changing the finishes and designing new woodwork to simply reorganizing the lighting. However, these interventions were sensitive and open to the changes that will occur throughout the history of the new home.

For the kitchen, previously timid and cramped—with no dialogue with the apartment's living areas—an objective operation was proposed to remove masonry, increasing the usable area for a more integrated daily life. The brushed black granite countertop divides the space while also serving as a central point in the apartment, providing a generous, open area for preparing meals and gathering. The beaded finish on the walls interacts with the natural lighting and mimics the exposed vertical structural element, which, together with the gray woodwork, integrates the entire space.

The design of the woodwork is discreet. The largest volume, in gray, is narrow so as not to compromise circulation; storage space is therefore gained by extending it beyond the plane of the supporting wall, embracing it and making them one. This allows the woodwork to also create a compact vestibule at the apartment entrance, serving different moments in the routine. In the center of the kitchen, the pink peroba wood creates a color contrast, a warm element that invites you into the space.

In the private area, the change in flooring slows down, divides, and directs traffic to the three bedrooms and guest bathroom, while on the top floor, the same flooring creates continuity. On both floors, the redesign of the countertops in wet areas solved the poor articulation of the support areas and smoothed out obstacles to circulation, which is all stitched together by the lighting design. 

Indirect and diffuse lighting was designed to harmonize prominent geometries, acting as an element of cohesion. The strategy is based on the subtlety of the white linear profile and the strips of light integrated into the woodwork, which provide continuity and eliminate excessive protagonism. This movement dilutes hierarchies between environments, allowing light to organize the space in a way that enhances planes and paths.

The neutral finishes reinforce this intention by inviting appropriation and personalization over time. This is an apartment designed not as a closed object, but as a support, open to the transformations that will come. In this sense, the architectural design asserts itself as a means and not as an end in itself.