Tag: renovation

  • HB6B – one home

    HB6B – one home

    HB6B – one home – Stockholm, Sweden 2013

    When the apartment on Heleneborgsgatan in Stockholm, Sweden was for sale in 2012 it had been used as furniture storage for 30 years. The previous owner had begun a renovation in the 1980s but fell ill and the apartment was left untouched until his death. Time had been frozen; wallpaper was half removed, only a few tiles and a kitchen faucet were sticking out of a wall, there was no electricity and a bathroom only with signs of rats as inhabitants.

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    In a city like Stockholm with an enormous housing shortage and with every square meter increasing in price by the minute, this story was somehow impossible to understand and resist.

    The finished apartment is a result of a fascination for this; a try to let the previous layers and stories of a space live on and at the same time fill the requirements for the new story that will take place.

    The apartment is 36sqm and the goal was to fit everything desired by the occupant. In this case: generous spaces, airy sensation, walk in closet, all appliances for everyday life, a large luxury shower / bath, different possibilities of movement, a space which could be divided when wanted. Finally it had to be LIGHT and INEXPENSIVE!

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    The result is an apartment divided in two parts. One where everything is part of one structure, which is based on the Ikea kitchen units. Everything in this part is completely redone with electricity inside the walls and with all surfaces painted white in order to bring in and reflect light. Here all the functions are squeezed in on top of, in-between, under and inside each other. Bedroom, kitchen, wardrobe and storage are all one.

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    plan 2

     

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    The second part is left with things free-standing with all surfaces more or less as they have been for the last 20 years. The holes in the the walls have been filled in, loose wallpaper and paint taken down and electrical cables and outlets have been added running on the outside of the walls.

    The bathroom becomes the connection between the two parts

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    bathroom

     

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    shower

     

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  • Föhr

    Föhr

    Föhr, Nordfriesland, 2012with Francesco Di Gregorio

    On a small island in the North Sea, in the former hay storage of a traditional farmhouse, we re-make the space with a wood structure covered by 3.200 tiles, each with a hand-made circular hole, 500 mt of polypropylene blue rope and treated pine wood.

    Due to its geographical location, Föhr is very much in the hands of natural forces. The area has a big tide. When the water is low you walk over to other islands. It is a flat island and a large part of it is below sea level. To protect the island man made grass-walls surrounds half of the island. Still, every autumn when the big storm-floods arrive, the island goes on alert. 1634 an enormous flood erased most of the houses on the island and reshaped the map. It is a though climate for permanent inhabitants; at the same time the island changes completely in the summer months when the population raise from 8500 to 40 000 due to tourism. Föhr is an island belonging to Germany but first and foremost to Nordfriesland. The Friesians have their own language and culture. In the 17th century a school of navigation was founded on Föhr and many people became sea captains sailing on Asia and North America.  Sailing on other countries brought back the tradition of ceramics and tiles from Asia. Being rich was to have as many painted Friesian tiles as possible on your dining room walls. Wood used inside was painted in Friesian colors, which are different nuances of blue-green. Beds were traditionally in bed-boxes. Houses were always in brick with thatched roofs. The rooms were small, dark and all the same size.

    Our project starts with re-opening the space by taking down all dividing walls except for the ones surrounding the bathroom. A new volume is added which becomes the central wall going through and unifying the space. It is covered in ceramic tile with a simple pattern given by blue colored cement coming out through hand- drilled holes. The pattern is the result of a client having time but a limited budget. Tiles are white standard 10X10 and  hand drilled by the client and us. Light is brought through the reflective ceramics and the translucent doors. Threads frame the staircase creating a transparent threshold. The bedrooms are dark bed-boxes, private like nests.

     

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  • Möja

    Möja

    Löka, Möja, Sweden, 2010

    Interior renovation of a summer house from 1978. The house was considered claustrophobic, dark and with a clumsy fireplace blocking the space.

    Instead of seeing the fireplace as a problem, it becomes the central core of the house. All walls surrounding the fireplace in the main room are taken down and the space is painted white to increase the sensation of volume. Since you now come out directly from the bedrooms into the main space, a storage wall was placed in-between in order to create a threshold and a sense of privacy. Massive doors are changed into window-doors and a new connection is made to the back with a new door. The house’s relationship with its surroundings changes due to this new connection. Previosly, the house was only turned towards one side; now it is a house that you pass through, going from one part of your garden to the other.