GENERAL INFORMATION:
Location: Russia, Ekaterinburg
Area: 62.5 sq.m
Project Status: implemented
Year: 2021
Type of property: new building
Photo : Maksim Loskutov

PROJECT OBJECTIVES:
The client of this project is a man—a lawyer. He needed an apartment for permanent residence. His main wish was to create a free and functional space without decor and unnecessary details.
Therefore, our task as architects was to create an ascetic space by forming the necessary functional blocks within a free planning solution.

CONCEPTUAL SOLUTION:
Solving the tasks that we faced, we began with the formation of functional areas. Since the apartment did not have internal walls and partitions, it was decided to keep the accessible layout, but at the same time, it was necessary to separate two rooms: the bathroom and the dressing room-laundry.
We placed the translucent block of the bathroom in the center of the apartment, thereby separating the bedroom and the kitchen-living room.
And the dressing room/laundry was arranged in such a way that isolated the hallway and formed a kitchen niche.
The materials for this project were selected in such a way as to emphasize the customer's lifestyle: brutal relief plaster, combined with warm noble wood, and all this against a bright white background.

HALLWAY:
We separated the entrance area into a small niche and highlighted the dirty area with porcelain stoneware.
To visually stretch the room and hide the front door, we replaced the door leaf and the fittings with black ones and painted the wall the same color.
To the right of the door, we placed a small storage space in which counters, a router, and light transformers were hidden. The cabinet facades do not have handles, as they open when pressed, and the material mimics the tone of the plaster.
There is a comfortable pouf and a coat hanger for outdoor clothes, which was made according to our sketches. It combines both the hooks and the bar on which a coat hanger can be placed.
There is also a full-length mirror in the hallway and, it is worth noting that this project no longer has mirror surfaces, which was one of the wishes of the customer.

BEDROOM:
The bedroom has a bed with stone-shaped side tables on both sides. They are made of concrete, according to our sketches. Moreover, each form has an upper surface on which you can put a phone or a book. And in one of the pedestals, we made some hidden storage space.
Opposite the bed, there is a TV. In the living room, it has a usual rectangular shape, however, in the bedroom, it is a circle. We made the panel from MDF boards and painted it black, so the TV became the compositional accent on the white wall.

BALCONY:
Initially, the balcony was not glazed. It was cold. Therefore, first, we insulated the floor, walls, and ceiling, glazed everything, installed floor heating, and only then did the finishing work.
There is no overhead lighting, but there is a neat sconce on a round base of black MDF boards, similar to the TV in the bedroom. We also installed a table with a leg protruding from the wall. The tabletop is made of natural wood, varnished to match the floor. And to relax, we placed a soft pouf there.

BATHROOM:
In the center of the apartment, opposite the entrance hall, there is a bathroom block formed in the shape of a translucent cube. We made the structure of metal since we needed a minimum wall thickness so as not to leave the border of the wet zone.
The toilet area is enclosed with MDF wooden board panels, and the shower room is made entirely of glass. This is a triplex made of ordinary frosted glass and embossed Estriado glass. Thus, natural light enters the shower room and toilet, but at the same time, a clear silhouette of a person is not visible.
Entering the toilet, we see a floor-standing sink made of artificial stone and the facades of a built-in wardrobe. Behind it is the storage of hygiene products, a water heater, and access to pipes along with the entire height. There is large-format porcelain stoneware on the floor, and to the left of the sink, the rest of the walls in the room are made from MDF boards.
In the glass shower unit, we have raised the floor level to maintain the slope of the water flow into the wall drain. The walls are made of two types of porcelain stoneware: large-format stone-like and embossed with decorative plaster in the bedroom.
In the shower and toilet on the ceiling, a translucent canvas evenly floods the room with light. In the evening, it also works as a lamp.

KITCHEN-LIVING ROOM:
The living area is formed by a soft sofa, an armchair, and a small table with storage space for a blanket or magazines.
We also want to bring attention to the overhanging slab with backlights that visually highlight the living room area. In addition, there is a light window above the chair; it can be used as a general light or as a dim light for reading.
Thus, various lighting scenarios were formed in the kitchen-living room: built-in dots in the kitchen, hanging stones above the dining table, the stove's LED illumination, and the main dimmable light from the built-in lamp.
The kitchen is small but functional. The working area consists only of the lower sections, in which there is an oven combined with a microwave and a 450 mm dishwasher. We deliberately abandoned the upper cabinets because, firstly, the customer does not cook much, and, secondly, we wanted to visually lighten the kitchen. On the right is a built-in refrigerator and storage space for the food and dishes.
We also placed additional storage in the closet at the bar. At the same time, visually, it looks like a large cabinet, but a structural element is hidden in the center—a column and storage are located on the sides.
Instead of a free-standing table, a high bar made of micro-concrete is located at the head of the sofa and oriented towards the TV.

DRESSING ROOM - LAUNDRY:
Behind the invisible door, which, like the wall, is covered with decorative plaster, hide a dressing room and a laundry.
All storage systems are made of metal, but they have their own characteristics based on their purpose.
On the one side, we have storage space for clothes. Drawers are conveniently placed at the bottom and at the top, to the ceiling, there are bars for things under the hangers. Opposite to this, we have the laundry, where we have different cycles: washing,drying, storage.

PLANING SOLUTION:
The apartment has an area of 62.5 sq.m, an elongated shape, and windows on two sides. Initially, this apartment was not a living space but a workshop. Therefore, we needed to place a shower and a toilet within the boundaries of the wet zone; form a kitchen-living room with a bar counter, arrange a closed dressing room-laundry, allocate a bedroom and make a recreation area on the balcony.