The story of this object began long before, at the stage of choosing the object itself.
We were contacted by a young couple working in the field of IT and graphic design, with excellent taste, who clearly understood their desired feelings (a very important point) from their future apartment. The guys immediately set a budget for the apartment, they intuitively knew what functional areas they wanted to have, what they would be willing to give up, but they definitely wanted to create a space for a new life, a space about feelings, emotions, at the same time clean and in moderation concise.
Such a conscious approach does not always come even with age.
Based on this, having worked through various life scenarios in terms of convenience, having gone through several options, we settled on a studio of 46 m2. We immediately saw all the potential in it, and despite the seemingly small area, we understood that there was a resource to implement everything we needed. The decisive difference between the space was its location on the 22nd floor. Stunning views from a bird's eye view: urban, always rushing streams of cars, and you are always above this bustle, almost in the clouds. On foggy days it is this feeling of flight that is fully present.
The initially empty square of the room showed its best sides: the stunningly beautiful concrete walls, in combination with the block and concrete ceiling, we categorically decided not to touch and tell the story around them.
This warm grayness, of course, did not show the character and rich creative inner world of the couple, so we did not stop further in our color preferences: color entered with confident strokes through interior items, furniture, textiles, tiles, exposed wiring, bright paintings. Thus filling the space with life. The plywood planes of the furniture acted as a softening balancer.
The number one task was to preserve natural light. By highlighting all the necessary functional zones in space, we were able to avoid sacrificing this rare resource: translucent dichroic partitions and glass blocks seem to even enhance the arriving light fluxes.
Entering the apartment, we find ourselves in the hallway space, where we placed cabinets of various functionalities, open and closed drawers, and hooks. Already from this point we immediately notice the play of light and color from the glass partitions. There is a convenient mirror with a semicircular table for keys and accessories. A delicate shade of green flows smoothly onto the ceiling, forming a “soft” unobtrusive division of zones; this effect is clearly visible from the living room. Often, painting in the hallway area is not a practical solution, so we deliberately brought a piece of porcelain tile onto the plane of the wall, creating a pattern of materials. A graphic metal belt is the border between these two finishes.
The kitchen-living room space is a single space, practically the entire area of the apartment. Visually divided into 2 parts - the living room and kitchen-dining area. A very convenient “ordinary” arrangement gives the space versatility in use. The paintings of the Belarusian artist Sergei Savich convey the inner worldview, complementing the space with a plot.
Carbon filters in the hood made it possible to abandon the ventilation line, leaving the ceiling heights everywhere as close to normal as possible.
The dusty rose in the kitchen goes very well with shades of gray and stainless steel - the contrast of warm powdery and cold laconicism is ideally complemented by wooden oak round handles.
Considering the small area, the guys did not even count on having a full bed with a good mattress, and were ready to be content with a folding sofa. We managed to surprise our customers; we placed a full bed without unnecessary sacrifices, adding a sufficient number of additional storage boxes in the podium under the bed. The bedroom is comfortably located between the entrance and the living room. At the same time, we thought of the option of separating this most private area from the living room and kitchen with soft textiles with a complete blackout. It’s very cool to completely change the scenario of the room with a slight movement of your hand.
If someone decides to stay up late into the night watching a movie, or gets up in the morning to prepare a fragrant breakfast with coffee, this will not prevent the other person from living at his own pace.
The bathroom turned out to be the most luscious in the concentration of light and rich in light-transmitting planes: there are frosted glass blocks in the shower area, and a whole glass entrance group made in dichroic glazing.
We anticipate the question: what to do with the glass partition in the sou, it also works as a screen. We have the answer - there is a cornice on the ceiling along the glass, and shade textiles will appear here. Comfort and privacy are paramount.
Through the gasoline stains, the color cube of the bathroom is very clearly visible, and from different angles, with different weather changes, this glass reveals the entire color palette, unifying the solution of the entire apartment.
On the loggia, separated by color blocking, is an excellent position for observing the life of the city with an opening panorama. The darkest color palette, yet the lightest room.
Various lighting scenarios, soft evening lighting around the perimeter of the apron bring out the porosity and texture of the concrete in the best possible way; we left it almost pristine, securing it only with a light glaze to keep it away from dust.
All electrical wiring was laid directly on concrete where possible. We deliberately highlighted and emphasized it by choosing a bright red wire in a textile braid. This creates additional highways - “streets and intersections” but at a lower level.
