The project

Avant-Garde Modernism

Exposed concrete, colour and sculptural light in a contemporary apartment.

The ceiling throughout is left as exposed concrete, lightly treated and impregnated, and sets the tone of the interior. Against that rough plane sits a mix of surfaces, shapes and colour. Decorative cement stucco in the hallway and library corner is repeated on the column that conceals services, and brings an earthy note into an otherwise modern, art-led register.

The teal wall is left without pictures so a chandelier of mechanically bent metal tubes can hold the living room. Soft curves, the sofa, the bent dining lights, Italian marble on the kitchen counter continued to the floor, are balanced by geometric lines: a timber screen, metal-framed shelves, a chevron headboard.

Type: Apartment
Designer: Irena Rumen
Award: German Design Awards 2021, Special Mention, Excellent Architecture
Award: House of the Year 2019, First Prize, Ideal Home
Award: Dibla Design Awards 2019, Finalist
Editorial: Ideal Home, November 2019, cover

Open living space: the sitting area toward the terrace, a timber screen and the office behind a cement-stucco column.

A compact dining corner at the window: a round table, green chairs and two arched wall lights.

Living

A tube chandelier on a teal wall.

The accent wall is left without art so a chandelier of mechanically bent metal tubes can hold the room. Its strong geometry is balanced by the soft curves of the white sofa. Exposed concrete above sets a modern register; brass wall lights and the terrace view keep the room open.

Living room toward the teal wall and the dining corner beyond, with the chandelier under exposed concrete.

View from the sofa toward the timber screen, the kitchen island and the dining corner.

Hallway: three hand-shaped wall lights on cement stucco.

Kitchen with a marble island and the dining corner at the windows, under an exposed concrete ceiling.

Kitchen and dining

Marble to the floor, arcs over a small table.

The dining corner is compact, with two arched lights and a quiet geometric wallpaper that answers the broken lines of the chandelier. The kitchen is spacious, with cabinetry designed by Irena Rumen. Focus sits on a black-and-white wall of naïve geometric motifs and a counter of Italian marble continued to the floor on one side, an asymmetric move that still holds the zone together.

Kitchen island with marble continued to the floor, naïve geometric tile and sculptural bar stools.

Dining toward the living room: a round table, green chairs and arched wall lights on geometric wallpaper.

Home office

A timber screen and a metal rhythm.

A vertical timber screen divides the office from the living room, functional and a decorative move that repeats the wooden cladding of the building façade. The same vertical rhythm reads in the metal-framed libraries on the cement stucco. The workspace stays part of the living rooms without dissolving into them.

Home office behind a timber screen: a desk, a white chair and the living room toward the teal wall.

Metal-framed libraries on cement stucco, an armchair and a moon photograph on the teal wall.

Armchair against the teal wall with a moon photograph, beside a metal library.

Master bedroom

A timber chevron against dark floral paper.

Forms through the apartment are soft and curved, balanced by modern geometry. In the bedroom a dark floral wallpaper tempers the light from the corner windows, and a timber chevron panel holds the eye. Oval pendants and exposed concrete continue the same register as the living rooms, in a quieter key.