Psychologists have noted that the surrounding space has a serious impact on us. The mess in the house is depressing, however, as is being in a closed volume. And since everyone’s income is different, all hope is for design and architecture. The idea of this project was to rethink the standard area in a new building and create a harmonious living environment for the customer, “enlarged” due to innovative solutions.

Customers and tasks

The owner of the apartment in the residential complex “Spanish Quarters” in New Moscow is a business girl leading an active lifestyle. And although the work takes a lot of time, she does not forget about socializing with friends and home gatherings. 

In the new apartment (only 40 sq. m.), the customer sought to create a modern space suitable for everyday life. She formulated the main task of the project as follows: to use the area as efficiently as possible: to provide a private bedroom area, dark and separated from the kitchen and living room, to create enough storage space.

Redevelopment

Initially, the open-plan apartment had only a protruding technical shaft with water supply and sewerage risers. The mine determined the location of wet zones. On one side of the risers and next to the entrance to the apartment, as it was according to the plan from the developer, a bathroom was located, on the other side a kitchen. A small loggia was attached to the kitchen, having arranged a bar counter there. The owner took it upon herself to coordinate the redevelopment.

The living space was divided into a living room and a bedroom. The bedroom can be entered both from the hallway and from the living room. The invented circular route brings additional freedom of movement to the situation. The passage from the living room to the bedroom is open, so there is no absolute darkness in a windowless room during the day.

Repair

First of all, the loggia was attached by dismantling the window block and replacing the external glazing with a more comfortable one that does not let cold and heat from the street, with a heat transfer resistance coefficient close to one. 

Sections of the walls, floor and ceiling of the loggia were insulated from the inside with polyurethane foam plates. The walls and ceiling were sheathed with drywall. The floor of the loggia above the insulation, which does not leak moisture, was filled with a thin layer of screed and faced with granite. The pylon by the window is finished with stone veneer (to emphasize its texture, local illumination was organized here).

Realizing the limitations in terms of connecting loggias, radiators were not taken out of the “warm contour”, but the unaesthetic floor ones were replaced with wall-mounted vertical design models. One of them is located in the wall between the windows of the living room. The power was calculated so that there was enough heat in the loggia. They also left the possibility of installing French windows.

Partitions were built of foam blocks. Electrical wiring was hidden in the walls, convenient niches and shelves were made. Modern natural materials were chosen for decoration, as well as mirrors to complicate and increase the space. So, the corner protruding between the kitchen and the living room was decorated with mirror tiles, it was hidden and at the same time optically expanded the boundaries of the premises. 

The walls in the bedroom are decorated with plaster of different shades and textures: brown in the entrance area, white “under the concrete” around the bed. The wall niche is finished with custom-made copper plates. Spectacular textural “smudges” on the surface are achieved by special processing.

The ceiling was sewn up by GCL. Wet areas on the floor were lined with ceramic granite, the rest of the floor was covered with a very light laminate. The same floor covering brings the space together.

Design

Modern space is built on a combination of simple and emphatically graphic geometric shapes, on the predominance of achromatic colors. Graphite and dark plaster walls are balanced by a light floor and textiles. Neutral, printless curtains made of pure cotton add lightness to the volume. Despite the “severity” of the shades, the air remains in the rooms” thanks to large windows, bright spots of greenery and paintings. 

Storage systems

The project provides a lot of storage places: a built-in dressing room is hidden behind a curtain in the bedroom, a closet to the ceiling is made in the bathroom above the washing machine, a mirrored wardrobe in the hallway.

Lighting

The windows of the apartment face northeast, but the lack of insolation is compensated by the richness of lighting scenarios. In all rooms there are ceiling built-in lamps or spotlights for general lighting, as well as evening LED ceiling lighting. So, a technical U-shaped track lamp with the ability to adjust the direction of light is installed in the living room, and a hidden LED strip highlights the texture of decorative plaster. 

There is a double swivel wall lamp by the kitchen window, it emphasizes the texture of the stone veneer and is used when working at the bar table. The dining area is illuminated by a source located a meter from the table surface. The bedroom uses spotlights for the wardrobe, next to the bed there is a sconce and a wall lamp for reading. In the bathroom, in addition to the bright built-in lamps, there is a muted ceiling LED lighting and suspensions on both sides of the mirror.

All lamps are selected in a single minimalistic design. The color temperatures (white, yellow, etc.), the power of lamps and LED strips are calculated by a specialist in lighting design.

Designer Svetlana Bogdanova, author of the project:

The interior is designed in a modern aesthetic, fundamentally without the trending elements of Art Deco and mid century modern, leading away from the idea of innovation in design. Through simple shapes, high-quality natural materials, neutral textiles, a muted color palette, we sought naturalness and restraint. Color and individuality are conveyed here through details, plants and paintings. It was possible to organize many functional zones on a small area. During remote work, you can move from room to room: from the table to the bar counter and then to the sofa in the living room. Space is not boring. We can say that it turned out to be a zoom-friendly interior in which it is comfortable to work, relax, take care of yourself and receive guests. Because of the pandemic, of course, there were difficulties with a team of workers and with a number of supplies, so the implementation of the project stretched for a year.

Kitchen-living room

Kitchen

Kitchen

Living room

Living room

Living room

Living room

Living room

Bedroom

Bedroom

Bedroom

Bathroom

Bathroom

The editorial board warns that in accordance with the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, coordination of ongoing alterations and alterations is required.

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