Apartment in Tetris Hall by S+O architects /Olga Protsenko, Sasha Tereshchenko/
AREA: 52.3 m2
LOCATION: Kyiv, Ukraine
YEAR: 2022
PHOTO credits: Sergii Savchenko
This is a small apartment in the center of Kyiv. The entire apartment has an elongated shape, so even if there is a fairly large window and a balcony exit, most of the apartment is deep and does not have enough natural light. In order to take maximum advantage of natural light, the apartment was re-planned in such a way that all the living spaces are moved as close as possible to the windows, and the utility and technical rooms are moved deep into the apartment.
In the minimal area of a one-room apartment, it was possible to allocate a separate private bedroom area with a wardrobe, and an open public living room area. The distribution between these spaces is carried out due to a textile curtain that is easily folded, so the vast majority of the time the apartment looks more spacious as a whole with the curtains open.
There are almost no doors in this apartment, except for the bathroom: the kitchen is separated by sliding translucent doors in the ceiling, and the bedroom is separated by a textile partition-curtain. Thus, most of the time, the space is united, which creates the effect of a studio apartment, and the doors do not take up extra space.
To optimize daylight, a large windowless alcove was allocated for the kitchen, with a work area with a hob and sink on one side, and floor-to-ceiling built-in furniture on the other side, which accommodates a refrigerator, a washing machine with a dryer and built-in kitchen appliances. In this way, such a technical and economic block was formed, which is separated from the room by translucent sliding doors. Such a partition allows natural light to enter this room, but at the same time it can hide household clutter if necessary. In addition, the rear wall of the kitchen-niche is made of a tinted graphite mirror, which allows you to visually expand and increase the space of this space.
The only sanitary unit in the apartment is maximally functional and optimized. Almost half of the room is occupied by a spacious shower cabin. The technical protrusion for hidden installation is played on both sides: on the right, it created a niche for the sink and mirror with storage shelves, and on the left, a niche for shelves in the shower room was formed, which visually hides the detergents. In general, this room has a large number of places for storage: behind the mirror, in a cabinet, in a niche. Visually, the entire bathroom is made of one material - Mirage ceramic granite, and only the use of bright terracotta decorative plaster in the depth of niches dilutes the restrained palette of the room.
The redevelopment made it possible to place a full-fledged bedroom with a dressing room near the single window. Instead of a window sill, there is a built-in cabinet structure, which serves as an additional storage space and hides the heating radiator. This made it possible to move the bed to the window as much as possible and make a passage between the bed and the dressing room. With this layout, natural light from the window comfortably illuminates all the clothes in the dressing room, and the mirrored front of the closet in the interior of the room also adds reflected light. At the same time, if necessary, the dressing room is masked with a textile curtain, so the room looks tidy under any conditions. The design of the wardrobe is translucent due to the metal system, which also contributes to the visual expansion of this space.
The walls are decorated with high striped gypsum panels, which are occasionally broken up by flat, homogeneous fragments of plasterboard to avoid monotony. The height of these panels in the living room and corridor corresponds to the height of the entrance door and bathroom door, so the same repeated line is read throughout the apartment, which makes the room visually ordered and logical. Behind the gypsum panels, there is an LED backlight directed upwards to the ceiling. This creates an unobtrusive light atmosphere that does not strain the eyes. In the bedroom, a similar technique is used, but the panels, on the contrary, are raised up, which visually creates a small niche for LED lighting near the bed, which is directed downward and diffuses on the terracotta fragment of the wall, creating a warm soothing evening mood in the bedroom.
The whole apartment is saturated with a lot of artificial lighting. First of all, this is dictated by the fact that there is really not enough light in the depths of the apartment. However, LED lights also create a special atmosphere and soft light background.
The entire apartment, both the walls and the ceiling, is made in one light gray color, which increases and unifies the space: there is no visual noise and different color planes.
The vast majority of furniture in the apartment is made to order. This includes the concrete terrazzo table with terracotta inserts near the bed. We ordered it separately for our sizes in the Kyiv studio ODUDLAB (odudlab.com).
An interesting decorative element here are white wooden side tables near the sofa. This is the author's work of the local Ukrainian brand STARITSKA MAYSTERNYA (www.staritska.com).
An interesting decorative element here are white wooden side tables near the sofa. This is the author's work of the local Ukrainian brand STARITSKA MAYSTERNYA (www.staritska.com).
