1701 APPEL
A classic historic building is being converted into four apartments. The minimal interventions aim to maximize the existing spatial and tactile qualities. One of the building's qualities are the facade-wide spaces on the street side.
These are fully utilized on the floors as multipurpose living spaces. There is also a focus on the existing transparent linking of the rooms. The kitchens are located in the core of the building but are open to living space and entrance hall. An interior window to the rear bedroom recalls the original enfilade.
The kitchens are made up of white lacquered wooden structures, filled in with green and orange-pink MDF.
An unpretentious and material-specific color palette that honestly shows where the connections to the fire-resistant shafts are located. The bathrooms take up the materials and tones of the kitchens, the rear facade and the loggias: white lacquered wood filled in with green MDF and green tiles. It is also assumed as much as possible that the original materials are preserved.
On the upper floors these are the existing parquet and plank floors; the marble-lined entrance hall and the terrazzo floors are being restored. A demolished shed leaves a scar in the terrazzo floor.
The scar is embraced as an imperfection and elaborated with a blue polychape in the same shade as that of the mosaic border around. The numerous mantelpieces are also being restored and are given a new function as a framework for the added radiators. Replacing the heat from the original fireplace with that from the central heating.
In order to respect the pronounced geometry of the rear facade and not to reduce the outdoor space on the ground floor, it has been opted to provide the terraces of the apartments as loggias within the existing volume.
The lasered balustrades are a nod to the motifs in the sandstone of the facade.
