K apartment is situated in a pink modernist building in Brazilia, a residential suburb of Beirut. The clients approached us with an unclear vision of what the future of their home would be. In fact, the view from the apartment was illegally obstructed after they bought it.
The space is envisioned as an introverted haven, allowing the family to immerse in their personal world. A world that revolves around nature, cooking, books and art.
We called the strategy "Reptiles and Trees". Articulated woodworks (reptiles) crawl on all walls to elevate art pieces and house big collections of books. All Doors are textured and slide along the walls to create warm moving planes.
Trees are envisaged to grow in big recessed openings. In the living spaces, this central recess is framed to create a "green artwork". The view onto an unfinished concrete building is therefore replaced with a new natural facade. In fact, a green belt wraps around the apartment to allow for a complete detachment from the surrounding.
Facing the entrance, a big sliding natural wooden door signals the presence of the cooking area behind. The woman in the household, Leen, is an excellent chef and food stylist. She wanted her kitchen to also be a display space that arouses the senses and distributes aromas to the living areas around. Thus, the fully equipped kitchen completely opens up onto the dining area, creating a big platform for gathering, display cooking and eating. The living spaces work intrinsically with the kitchen as they are both visually and experientially connected.
The previously bounded plan is also transformed into a more spacious layout where we created three main anchors around which other functions rotate: the cooking area, the library and the art gallery.
The family room is replaced with a warm library where walls are inhabited by books. An indoor bamboo planter creates a green buffer with the adjacent building. The only furniture is a central reading "throne" where Walid, an avid book reader, can evade through his innumerable collection of comic books.
The previously tight, obscure and long corridor is intentionally pierced and strategically lit to transform into an art gallery where some of the family's art pieces will be displayed.
The overall experience in K apartment is one of belonging and nurturing. Spaces are immersed in light and textures allowing nature to grow and passions to expand.
