Required updates to a tired kitchen in a 60’s brick apartment gave us the opportunity to reconsider how the living spaces could be improved and enlivened.
Early conversations with our clients focused on how separated spaces could and should be connected: the requisite tension between seclusion and openness. Our clients disliked open plan living and this allowed interesting design possibilities. Discussions led to an iterative design process, testing different combinations of opening, wall and joinery.
One wall was removed to connect the kitchen and sitting space. The other walls were left in place, bookending the new eating area and providing separation between the spaces and valuable spots for art and lighting. The new opening is moderated with colourful joinery - a long kitchen bench for food preparation and seating, open and closed shelving for displaying books and objects and general kitchen storage.
The original orange wall tiles were lovingly removed, cleaned and re-laid, connecting the apartment’s history with its new beginning. The project engages with its heritage whilst being deliberately modern.
Outside the kitchen, the modifications are careful to ensure the building’s original character is retained. The popcorn ceiling remains, as do the archways and exposed brick walls. New hardwood flooring replaces the carpet and new stacker doors onto the external terrace connect the inside with parkland beyond.
