Painters' Apartment. An architecture in tune with life, which is always finding a way

A family of academic artists contacted NEUHÄUSL HUNAL Studio for the renovation of their small apartment in Prague, to be completely renovated to meet the needs of a young family with a small child. The major constraint of the project was the limited budget

The designers' response for this particular assignment was improvisational, relaxed architecture with free space full of potential for its inhabitants. Life itself is the core of the design in the Painters' Apartment: furniture from the clients' old apartment, self-made art, second-hand lighting, and self-construction

The entrance and kitchen were joined by tiles, which also run up the wall and are broken off above the stove, creating a kind of cooking altar. Glass-cement blocks illuminate the bathroom with turquoise grout. Original wood floors in the rooms have been restored, original doors removed, and openings in the concrete walls retained. The load-bearing walls and ceilings were brought to live concrete as much as possible. Finally, new tin doors allow for creative work with magnets and complement the avant-garde character of the corridor in contrast to the intimacy of the rooms

No significant changes were made to the floor plan distribution, but already originally the space was functionally connected to the bedroom, which allowed an independent room to be designed for the children. In terms of furniture, using plywood, three major interventions were custom made: the open, multifunctional storage block in the living room; the closet block in the master bedroom; and finally the full kitchen with dining area