In a small apartment, in a building located north of the center of Katowice, architects from the Silesian bro.Kat studio - Martyna Król, Roma Skuza, Kasia Kochanowska and Bogna Polanska - created a cozy space for a book and bicycle lover, in which there was room for both a reading nook and a special locker for a unicycle, with which the investor commutes to work every day.
The 50-square-meter apartment required changes to the existing functional layout - the architects decided to demolish part of the wall between the kitchen and the hallway, thus creating a larger, open living space, and slightly reduce the bathroom and bedroom, which allowed for an additional utility room with space for the aforementioned bicycle.
axonometry
© bro.Kat
The client wasn't afraid of color or non-standard finishes, so the color palette we chose was various shades of pink and maroon accompanied by gray. There is also a motif of roundness throughout the apartment in the form of a pergola separating the kitchen from the living room, a headrest in the bedroom, in the shape of mirrors or a bookcase in the living room," explain the architects from the bro.Kat studio.
The kitchen is separated from the living room by a pergola
photo: Radosław Kaźmierczak
contrasts
Against the background of bright walls, the eye is especially attracted by the rounded forms mentioned by the designers, from which some of the furniture and fixtures are made. Their black, thin lines, like the contours of a drawing, shape the divisions of the interior and delineate individual zones. Black lamps, chairs, picture frames, the cabinet in the bathroom, the frame of the shower stall and even the handles, although they already take on different shapes, seem to continue this expressive, bold line, creating a coherent whole in the interior, and at the same time contrasting with the delicate colors of the walls.
Left: living area of the apartment; right: coral sofa and designer lamp designed by Le Corbusier.
photo: Radoslaw Kazmierczak
From Marseille to Katowice
In the living room part, a corner sofa in a strong coral color plays the first fiddle. A cozy reading nook with the owner's collection of books is complemented by a gray designer lamp by Nemo - a mini version of the Lampe de Marseille model, which in standard size was designed by Le Corbusier to furnish apartments in the Unité d'habitation, a modernist housing unit in Marseille.
minimalist kitchen
photo: Radoslaw Kazmierczak
fashionable terrazzo
The kitchen and living room are visually separated by the material used on the floor and wall of the kitchen area - the terrazzo pattern breaks the minimalist look of the kitchen, which is partially devoid of upper cabinets, and the colorful stains decorating the surface perfectly match the dominant hues in the interior.
The trendy terrazzo pattern also appears in the hallway and bathroom, where it is juxtaposed with maroon tiles in the shower; while pastel colors - pink, gray and green - reign in the bedroom.
left: bathroom; right: bedroom
photo: Radoslaw Kazmierczak
