Balbek bureau was commissioned to design an apartment for a young, sophisticated, single professional in Kyiv where he can enjoy his life either alone, or with a partner.

Preliminary assessment of a two-level, 180-sq.m space in a listed building revealed an original brickwork hidden under layers of plaster, old timber ceiling joists and sloped walls in the attic. Balbek studio has preserved and restored it creating a right balance between the old and the modern.
The timber joists were cleaned and coated with lacquer keepping 90% of the original joists. The designers took time to handpick the replacement bricks for the walls and scuncheons to find the ones made around the same time as the building. To even out scuncheon and window lintel the keystone was expanded and scuncheon was filled out with newly found bricks. 

The designers decided to avoid bright colors, so the next challenge was to create a mixture of diverse architectural elements united by a monochrome palette.
A warm and natural backdrop was creacted throughout the ground level that effortlessly incorporates both authentic features - such as the corner chimney that is original to the apartment, - and modern architectural elements including paneling and furniture.
While the paneling that encompasses the entire 1st floor serves mostly to unify and brighten the open space, the attic paneling is used to straighten its sloping walls.

Among the more complex architectural solutions are in-built window blinds hidden in the paneled walls of the attic; multi-faceted hand-assembled metal staircase leading from the ground floor to the attic; and a completely soundproof thick bathroom box placed inside of an otherwise open ground floor.

Photography  Andrey Bezuglov & Yevhenii Avramenko
Interior Design  balbek bureau