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    ACME and BWM design adaptable interiors for MM:NT apartment hotel

    Modular furniture, app-operated doors and a self-serve bar are among the experimental ideas being trialled at MM:NT, a mini-hotel in Berlin that will constantly evolve in response to feedback from guests.

    Australian hotel group TFE Hotels worked with design strategist Philippa Wagner to develop the concept for a compact apartment hotel featuring interiors by architecture firms ACME and BWM that will operate in an ongoing beta mode.
    MM:NT is an experimental hotel in BerlinThe hotel operators describe MM:NT Berlin Lab as “a first of its kind mini-hotel laboratory, allowing guests to shape their own stay and actively change hospitality trends”.
    Occupying a renovated building in Berlin’s Hackescher Markt, the hotel has six standalone bedrooms and several shared spaces including a lounge in the foyer and a kitchen with a self-pour bar, all of which guests can access without the need for on-site personnel.
    The hotel has a self-service barInstead, guests use a concierge smartphone app to check in, check out and communicate with staff. The app also unlocks doors at the touch of a button and provides access to secure storage throughout the hotel.

    ACME was the lead interior designer for the project, working on the communal areas and four of the bedrooms, while Austrian architecture office BWM designed room 00.02. The rooms range in size from 11 to 28 square metres and are intended to act as prototypes for use across future locations.
    Lockers can be accessed via an appThe remaining bedroom 00.03 was created by project partner and fittings manufacturer Häfele to showcase furniture and digital technologies aimed at personalising the guest experience and enhancing operational efficiency.
    MM:NT’s design sought to optimise the compact spaces and create the most convenient experience for guests, whether they choose to spend time in their rooms or the public areas.
    In keeping with the hotel’s focus on reducing resource consumption, these spaces are furnished with vintage items or products made with recycled materials.
    ACME designed most of the bedroomsACME’s design for the bedrooms aims to create a sense of a home away from home, using a palette of tactile materials to bring layered texture to the compact spaces.
    “Calm, uncluttered spaces are essential to the MM:NT Berlin Lab experience,” said studio director Friedrich Ludewig.
    “Modular construction and using natural and recycled materials were essential to creating this. Compact rooms with smart storage solutions and built-in features to make the most of the available square metres.”

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    ACME also designed the communal spaces at MM:NT Berlin Lab, which include a snug with an area for lockers containing additional amenities that help to reduce clutter in the rooms.
    A multipurpose lounge space called The Counter allows guests to serve themselves coffee and sandwiches during the day, and drinks including locally sourced beers and wines in the evening.
    A co-working area beside the bar features a bespoke table made by materials design and manufacturer Smile Plastics. The table is surrounded by chairs designed by Snøhetta and manufactured using recycled ocean plastic.
    BWM designed one of the Middle roomsGuests at MM:NT can have groceries, laundry and meals delivered to secure lockers housed in an area called The Hub that can be controlled via the hotel’s app.
    The hotel offers three different room types, defined as Little, Middle and Big. The smallest rooms contain a double bed, shower room and modular storage, with the middle size adding a compact kitchenette.
    The smallest room takes up just 11 square metres and was designed by ACME to feel cosy and uncluttered. The sleeping area is wrapped in wood panelling and features smart lighting that can be adjusted throughout the day.
    Mint green details feature in the kitchenViennese studio BWM designed one of the Middle rooms, which features pull-out seating and foldable wall panels that enhance the adaptability of the 19-square-metre space.
    The hotel’s only Big room measures 28 square metres and is designed as a mini apartment, with a small kitchen and open-plan living and dining area. A fold-out bed provides space for an additional guest.
    Materials that recur throughout the guest rooms include bamboo flooring, recycled tiles and birch veneer furniture. The bathrooms feature Durat sinks made from post-industrial plastic waste and Foresso worktops made using waste generated from furniture production.
    Green tiles also feature in some of the bathroomsMM:NT Berlin Lab launched with a two-month experiment where guests stayed for free and were asked to provide feedback on the hotel’s rooms, services, atmosphere and ethos.
    The hotel will begin taking bookings in summer 2024 but will continue to operate in “beta mode”, with comments from guests helping to shape the spaces and service offering.
    Founded in London in 2007, ACME’s previous projects include a shopping centre wrapped in a latticed concrete facade and a modern family home that references a traditional Kentish oast house.

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    Eight bedrooms with decorative platform beds

    Our latest lookbook features bedrooms where raised platform beds add a stylish touch, ranging from a solid concrete bed in a home in Mexico to a sculptural wooden bed in a Tokyo flat.

    Often used in minimalist and brutalist interiors, platform beds with no clearance underneath have a monolithic feel that can really create a statement in pared-back interiors.
    Also among the examples below are a pale pastel-green bed in a Stockholm apartment and a bed in a Sydney cottage with a bath for a bedhead.
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring kitchens with natural and tactile materials and colourful patterned bathrooms.
    Photo is by Tomooki KengakuHiroo Residence, Japan, by Keiji Ashizawa

    Located in Tokyo’s central Hiroo neighbourhood, this apartment was designed to underline the quality of light in the interior and features wooden furniture that was specially designed for the home.
    In the bedroom, two matching wooden platform beds sit against wooden wall panels, adding a sculptural feel to the room.
    Find out more about Hiroo Residence ›
    Photo is by Gavin GreenFisherman’s Cottage, Australia, by Studio Prineas
    Studio Prineas added a three-storey concrete extension to a 19th-century fisherman’s cottage in Sydney that overlooks the harbour.
    A platform bed sits in one of the home’s bedrooms and has a solid stone bath at its end, which doubles as a bedhead. Its marble design contrasts with a wooden shelf underneath and matches the green colour of the bedding.
    Find out more about Fisherman’s Cottage ›
    Photo is by Gareth HackerHighbury House, UK, by Daytrip
    A cosy grey velvet platform bed adds to the tactile feel of this bedroom in Highbury, London, which was designed by local studio Daytrip.
    Integrated storage and simple, blocky furniture in muted colours create an uncluttered, calm atmosphere in the room.
    Find out more about Highbury House ›
    Photo is by Rupert McKelvieHolly Water Cabin, UK, by Out of the Valley
    A mono-pitched roof and sliding doors are among the features of this wooden cabin that opens up to an English farm.
    The wooden theme continues inside, where the material was used for the floors, part of the walls and a raised wooden bed, which sits at one end and has views out over the countryside.
    Find out more about Holly Water Cabin ›

    Hidden Tints, Sweden, by Note Design Studio
    Pastel colours decorate the walls in this Stockholm flat by local practice Note Design Studio, which has a platform bed positioned as a centrepiece in the bedroom.
    Its sage colour matches the pale green walls, while its simple shape is complemented by a sculptural lamp in black steel.
    Find out more about Hidden Tints ›
    Photo by Rory GardinerHoliday home, Mexico, by Ludwig Godefroy
    Inside this brutalist cube-shaped Mexico house, designer Ludwig Godefroy continued the concrete theme from the home’s exterior. The material was used not just to cover walls and floors but also to form a built-in platform bed.
    Sat beneath one of the house’s asymmetrically cut-out windows, the bed matches the rest of the building, creating a coherent and pared-back interior.
    Find out more about the holiday home ›
    Photo by Denilson Machado of MCA EstúdioHygge Studio, Brazil, by Melina Romano
    Named for the Danish word used to describe a sense of cosiness and contentment, Hygge Studio in São Paulo features plenty of tactile details that give it a sense of warmth.
    In the bedroom, a rust-red platform bed has a clever headboard that also holds a practical shelf for books and a bedside lamp.
    Find out more about Hygge Studio ›
    Photo by Sergio López courtesy of Grupo HabitaCîrculo Mexicano, Mexico, by Ambrosi Etchegaray
    Architecture studio Ambrosi Etchegaray referenced Shaker style for this Mexican hotel, which has contemporary, minimalist bedrooms.
    Here, plinths form seating and shelving as well as comfy platform beds topped with beige-coloured linens that match the white walls.
    Find out more about Cîrculo Mexicano ›
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring kitchens with natural and tactile materials and colourful patterned bathrooms.

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    Inga Sempé celebrates the joyful mess of everyday life in The Imperfect Home

    A full-size home interior installed inside the Triennale Milano showcases furniture and homeware by French designer Inga Sempé alongside dirty dishes, hanging laundry and personal trinkets.

    The Imperfect Home is a retrospective exhibition showcasing over 100 objects developed by Sempé since she founded her Paris-based studio back in 2001.
    The Imperfect Home features over 100 objects designed by Inga SempéDesigned with interiors office Studio A/C, the installation is a 1:1 scale home with seven fully furnished rooms and spaces. But, as the title suggests, this is no show home.
    According to curator Marco Sammicheli, the aim was to create the sense that the house was “lived in right up until moments before the exhibition opened”.
    The pleated PO/202 floor lamp, launched in 2002, features in the living roomAs a result, spaces are filled with traces of domestic life. Bedsheets are crumpled, candles are half-burned. There is even a clump of hair left on the bathroom sink.

    “I wanted to build a house because I don’t like exhibitions where objects and furniture are put on high bases, like those for sculpture, demanding to be looked at as priceless masterpieces,” Sempé told the Triennale Milano magazine.
    “I find that quite boring, and I don’t need to be looked at as if I were an artist; being an industrial designer is enough for me,” she said.
    The Pinorama pinboard, launched by Hay, showcases personal objectsThe living room of the Imperfect Home features one of Sempé’s earliest designs, the pleated fabric PO/202 floor lamp with Cappellini, alongside newer works like the Colorado rug launched by Nanimarquina earlier this year.
    The kitchen features the Column cabinet fronts for Reform, along with smaller objects like the Collo Alto cutlery from Alessi, the characterful Filigraani plates from Iittala and the playful Guichet clock from Moustache.
    Other details designed by Sempé include tiles, door handles, lighting, mirrors and bathroom fittings – her outdoor shower for Tectona is one of the standout additions.
    Toothbrushes and a clump of hair give a lived-in feel to the bathroomThe exhibition reveals the extensive scope of the designer’s output over the past 23 years. There are only a few pieces not designed by Sempé, most notably a 195os toilet by Gio Ponti and a 1970s basin by Achille Castiglione.
    Other focal points include pieces by artists Mette Ivers and Saul Steinberg.
    Personal objects are dotted throughout to give a sense of the house’s owner. For instance, the Pinorama pinboard from Hay displays jars of coins, postcards, and small models of a bird and robot.
    Another example is the study, where a map, ink and rolls of tapes are scattered over the desk.
    Sempé’s outdoor shower for Tectona also features in this room”I want it to look lively, as if the owner has just left to go and buy some bread, and has had a stroke or got hit by a car,” said Sempé.
    “The visitors should be like the police visiting the house to find his ID. So there should be crumbs, a couple of remote controls on the sofa, some invoices on the desk, leftovers in the fridge. But the owner does not necessarily need to be dead. He might just have a broken ankle. So we might find some socks.”
    The Imperfect Home is on show at Triennale Milano from 15 April to 15 September 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

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    Necchi Architecture takes cues from retro nightlife at Hôtel Château d’Eau in Paris

    Interior design studio Necchi Architecture has combined lacquer, chrome and retro design accents to evoke the “uninhibited atmosphere” of the disco era at the Hôtel Château d’Eau in Paris.

    The 36-room hotel is located on Rue du Château d’Eau in an area that was the hub of 1970s nightlife with the iconic club Le Palace, frequented by Yves Saint Laurent and Kenzō Takada, and the home of French musician Serge Gainsbourg, nearby.
    Necchi Architecture chose black lacquer panels to make the bedrooms feel more spaciousIt is this avant-garde attitude of Parisian nightlife that Necchi Architecture aimed to imbue into the sultry and highly stylised interiors of Hôtel Château d’Eau.
    “[We aimed] to reflect an attitude, rather than a particular décor; one that is reflective of the Château d’Eau areas recent history and character,” Necchi Architecture co-founder Alexis Lamenta told Dezeen.
    The lobby area is filled with collectible furniture and flea market findsUpon entry guests are greeted at a curved reception desk clad in chrome panelling and bookended by matching chrome lamps.

    The space, wrapped in a dark burgundy gloss, flows into an “intimate fumoir” featuring chrome columns, mirrored panels and wall mounted vases.
    Leopard print is used throughout the hotel’s interiorThe lounge area, which also doubles up as a breakfast room, is filled with antique and collectible furniture and decorative pieces, intended to create the feeling of a “suave and lived-in space” where guests can relax.
    Leopard print is introduced as a key design element with the placement of a pair of antique Italian ceramic leopards in the lobby area. This 1970s print is replicated throughout the decor, featured in soft furnishings, the hotels exterior signage and the winding staircase carpeting.
    Hôtel Château d’Eau’s interior nods to iconic nightclubs of the 1970sThe bedrooms are defined by deep pile carpets, with lower level floors featuring lime green, ascending to deep purple on the next floor, then graduating to a bronze-toned orange on the hotel’s top level.
    This statement carpet envelopes the lower portion of the bedrooms, covering the skirting, the bespoke side tables and the bedstead.

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    “We imagined a scenario for the bedrooms where all needs are focused around the bed,” explained Lamenta.
    “The mini bar is integrated into the bedside tables, the wardrobes are exposed, and the desk is a mobile tray to place on the bed,” he continued.
    “This is a bit of a break from classic hotel traditions but we wanted the space to feel tailored to our daily actions.”
    Black lacquer was chosen to distort the ceiling height in the bedroomsMirrored glass and high gloss black lacquer panels were chosen in the bedrooms as a “functional detail rather than an aesthetic choice.”
    “We chose the black lacquer because it helps distort the ceiling height and increase the architectural space,” said Lamesta.
    “The gloss also brings in natural light at any time of day,” he continued. “We used lacquer and mirrors to eliminate any notion of volume, making the natural light more sensual, and – depending on the time of day – it has a vibrant effect.”
    Bronze-toned deep pile carpets are used on the top floors of the hotelNecchi Architecture also collaborated with Paris-based artist Géraldine Roussel on a series of geometric artworks hung above the beds, made from clear glass and inspired by the Op Art movement.
    The graphic identity of the bedrooms continues into the bathrooms with chequered wall tiles, which contrast polished stainless steel basins.
    The bedroom artworks are by Paris-based artist Géraldine RousselThe project is Necchi Architecture’s debut hotel and the seventh opening for Parisian group Touriste.
    Following Touriste’s previous more playful interiors, including Luke Edward Hall’s Hôtel Les Deux Gares and Beata Heumans Hôtel de la Boétie, Necchi Architecture were chosen to “bring something a little moodier and more grown up” to the group’s repertoire, Touriste founder Adrien Gloaguen told Dezeen.
    Necchi Architecture created custom stainless steel basins for the bathroomsOther retro-inspired interiors featured on Dezeen include Bella Freuds penthouse apartment designed by Piercy & Company and a north London townhouse by Studio Hagen Hall.
    The photography is by Ludovic Balay.

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    Dezeen Awards 2024 entries close tonight at 23:59 London time

    Today is the last day you can enter Dezeen Awards 2024 before the entry deadline tonight 30 May at 23:59 London time!

    Our online entry form is simple and we’ve even made you a simple five-step guide to make sure you get your project in on time.
    1. You can enter Dezeen Awards 2024 by going to the start your entry page, logging in and creating an entry.
    2. Answer four questions about your project in 300 words or less. Keep it short and stick to the facts! We advise doing this on a Word Document to have your work backed up.
    3. Upload a main image and up to 10 gallery images. These must be JPEG and under 10 megabytes (MB) each, with a maximum resolution of 100 Dots per Inch (DPI) and a maximum size of 3,000 pixels on the longest side.

    4. Make sure you have completely filled in your account details and entry form. Please note VAT will be charged to EU companies at checkout if a valid VAT number is not entered.
    5. Press submit and then pay by card or PayPal.
    Do you still need help?
    All the information you need to enter can be found here. However, if you have more questions send an email to [email protected] and someone from the team will get back to you.
    Remember to subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to hear about the latest awards news!
    Dezeen Awards 2024 in partnership with Bentley
    Dezeen Awards is the ultimate accolade for architects and designers across the globe. The seventh edition of the annual awards programme is in partnership with Bentley as part of a wider collaboration to inspire, support and champion design excellence and showcase innovation that creates a better and more sustainable world. This ambition complements Bentley’s architecture and design business initiatives, including the Bentley Home range of furnishings and real estate projects around the world. More

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    Tutto Bene balances steel and mirrors with wood and leather in Nightingale restaurant

    Design studio Tutto Bene drew on “the sombre elegance of theatre and museum lobby cafes” when creating the interiors for the Nightingale restaurant in London.

    The 60-square-metre space, which opens to a courtyard in London’s Mayfair neighbourhood, references Viennese coffee houses, known locally as Kaffeehäuser.
    “We thought London is missing spaces with the atmosphere that we know Kaffeehäuser for,” Tutto Bene co-founder Oskar Kohnen told Dezeen.
    Nightingale’s interior draws on Vienna’s coffee housesNightingale’s “stage-like” dining room was also informed by “the sombre elegance of theatre and museum lobby cafes”, Kohnen said.
    “Nightingale’s sloped ceiling, abundant drops of fabric curtains, as well as the curtain-like wall panelling play on this idea,” he explained.

    The restaurant has a colour palette that emphasises green and cream colours, with a floor made of cement tiles in various green hues.
    A pale green floor contrasts with white wallsCream-coloured walls and curtains contrast against silvery details, with a monolithic stainless-steel bar functioning as the room’s centrepiece.
    “The courtyard plant life suggested the green colour,” studio co-founder Felizia Berchtold told Dezeen.
    “Based on this we added light and shadow through layers of black and white,” she added. “The surfaces interacting with the daylight create an abundance of hues in an overall calm tonality. It’s simple but dramatic.”
    Tutto Bene added a stainless-steel counter as a centrepieceMirrored, tiled columns add to the theatrical feel of the space, for which Berchtold also designed the sculptural Satellite Pendant, a spinning chandelier.
    It was manufactured by the Austrian brand Kalmar, which has a history of designing lights for Viennese coffee houses, and features pleated cream lampshades that orbit around a steel axis.

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    “I initially drew the lamp during my travels in Japan last spring,” Berchtold said.
    “It was inspired by paintings of sea roses and the craft of fan making, as well as ideas around motion and dance. We developed the design together throughout the year.”
    Felizia Berchtold designed the Satellite Pendant lamp for the restaurantKalmar’s vintage glass scones decorate the mirrored glass columns, while Tutto Bene’s angular Sketch lamp sits on the wait station and its round Oblo lights can be found on the ridged walls.
    The studio also worked with a variety of materials to give the space a tactile feel.
    Nightingale features tables made from burl wood and stainless steel, which was also used for the bar and as a detail on the wait station, where it contrasts against swathes of cream cloth.
    The studio also designed the furniture for the spaceTutto Bene’s Cafe Chair, made from stained wood and saddle leather, was used for seating along with wooden benches in the same style.
    “The material palette balances crisp and formal materials such as steel and tiles with texture and playful warmth, resembled in the ever-changing drapes of fabric, the burl wood tables and saddle leather chairs,” Berchtold said.
    Tutto Bene recently created a Streamline Moderne-informed New York store for eyewear brand Cubitts. Also in Mayfair, design studio Pirajean Lees designed an Arts-and-Crafts inspired restaurant called 20 Berkeley.
    The photography is by Ludovic Balay.

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    Cutwork designs co-living developments for single-parent families

    Parisian architecture studio Cutwork has unveiled plans for housing designed to allow single parents and their children to live more closely together.

    Rental housing provider Commune commissioned Cutwork to design co-living specifically for single-parent families.
    The design includes private living spaces that cater to both adults and children, plus communal spaces where families can spend time together and support each other.
    Commune offers co-living for single parentsThe concept puts a new spin on co-living, a type of housing that typically offers residents smaller homes but instead gives them access to a range of shared amenities.
    Co-living is typically marketed to single people, but Commune founders Tara Heuzé-Sarmini and Ruben Petri believe it is equally desirable for people navigating the challenges of single parenthood.

    A study by the British Red Cross found that 83 per cent of mothers aged under 30 experienced loneliness, while 43 per cent said they felt lonely all the time.
    The private units each include a bathroom and kitchenette”Commune and Cutwork are convinced that we need to put human relations and interactions back at the core of the places we evolve in and that buildings need to serve our basic need for connection,” said Heuzé-Sarmini.
    “Spatially and architecturally, we have translated this into living spaces that encourage encounters and break the vicious circle of loneliness, while preserving the privacy of single parents and their children.”
    A unified colour and material palette features across shared and private spacesCommune opened its first location in Poissy on the outskirts of Paris in late 2023, describing it as “the first co-living in the world dedicated to single-parent families”.
    The building, which accommodates 14 families, is now being renovated in line with Cutwork’s concept.

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    The scheme extends to both the building’s layout and the interior fit-out, with bespoke furniture designed for both the private and communal living spaces.
    The architects aimed to create three types of space. These are referred to as “a world for the children without their parents”, “a world for the adults without their children” and “a world for all of the families to meet collectively”.
    Communal areas include a playroom”At Cutwork, we envision a world where shared architecture and design inspire us to think differently about being together,” said Kelsea Crawford, co-founder and CEO of Cutwork. “Our partnership with Commune perfectly encapsulates this mission.”
    “We’ve considered the design for each part of the Commune experience, integrating compact living spaces designed to host parents and children with shared communal areas that promote a strong sense of community and support for single-parent families.”
    The design includes both adult- and child-specific featuresAvailable for one- and two-child parents, the private units each include a bathroom and kitchenette, with distinct design elements for adults and children.
    The communal areas include a shared kitchen, a living and dining room, a playroom, a co-working space and a garden.
    Child-focused aspects of the design include “doors placed low down and often hidden away or disguised as other things such as a wardrobe or TV cabinet”.
    For adults, spaces include reading nooks and a “speakeasy-style” bar, accessed via a fake fridge door.
    Commune’s first location in Poissy is currently under renovationCutwork aimed to create “an environment that feels both modern and comfortable with child-friendly designs that sit alongside a sleeker aesthetic suited to parents”.
    A unified colour and material palette is intended to make all areas feel homey, rather than emphasising the divide between shared and private spaces.
    “This design strategy extends the notion of ownership of all spaces and subsequently the feeling that the entire house/building belongs to each user and is a stable environment within a dynamic experience,” said the design team.
    A range of different unit sizes are availableCutwork specialises in co-living and co-working, with previous designs including social housing that can turn into emergency housing and co-living flats at Paris startup campus Station F.
    With this project, the designers hope to highlight how housing might adapt to the reality that the nuclear family is no longer the norm for many.
    In France, one in four families is a single-parent unit. This is not just due to high divorce rates, as research suggests that more individuals are consciously choosing single parenthood.
    “This changing dynamic calls for a new and sustained approach to housing,” Cutwork said.
    The design is set to be applied to future Commune properties. The company plans to open its second location for 28 families in Roubaix, Lille, later this year.

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    Shovk completes Japanese-infused renovation of Dzen House near Kyiv

    Elements of Ukrainian and Japanese architecture combine at this pared-back residence on the outskirts of Kyiv, which local architecture studio Shovk created for a client with a passion for Japanese culture.

    The project involved the transformation of a basic bungalow built in 2010 into a two-storey dwelling that makes the most of its picturesque setting in a garden lined by conifer trees.
    Charred wood was used to clad the exterior of Dzen HouseShovk lead architect and partner Anton Verhun oversaw the design, which was informed by the owner’s travels to Japan and his respect for the aesthetic simplicity and practicality of traditional Japanese interiors.
    “Dzen House was conceived as a place where the client and his family could feel in harmony with themselves and the world,” Verhun told Dezeen.
    The two-storey home was originally a bungalow”They wanted somewhere they could simply watch the rain outside the window, warm themselves by the fireplace and practice yoga on the tatami mat near the round window,” he added.

    Shovk implemented several references to Japanese architecture in the project, including a large roof with overhanging eaves and an exposed wooden structure.
    A wood-fired oven features in the living roomThe exterior of the first floor is clad with Japanese-style yakisugi charred wood that provides natural weatherproofing. The blackened timber contrasts with the traditional Ukrainian mazanka plaster finish applied to the ground floor’s internal and external surfaces.
    The house’s entrance leads directly into a kitchen and dining space at one end of the largely open ground floor. A functional core at the centre of the plan separates this space from a lounge at the opposite end.
    Shovk’s interior scheme was informed by traditional Japanese designThe volume containing the staircase, utility room and shower room delineates the communal areas while allowing free-flowing circulation that helps to create a feeling of spaciousness.
    Throughout the building, large openings including frameless floor-to-ceiling windows on either side of the living room provide a strong connection to the gardens.

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    A fireplace located near the centre of the living area creates a focal point within this room. Its stainless steel chimney passes through the bedroom above, helping to warm the spaces on both floors.
    The new first floor was constructed from timber to minimise loading on the existing walls and foundations. Its interior is lined with birch plywood that has a similar thermal expansion coefficient to the pine frame, thus helping to prevent any cracks caused by movement.
    One room was dedicated to meditation and tea ceremoniesA simple plywood staircase ascends to a sequence of low, attic-like spaces including two bedrooms, a study, bathroom, utility room and a Japanese-style room with tatami mat flooring.
    Verhun added a circular window as an expressive element that “brings softness and naturalness” to the space, used for tea ceremonies, yoga and meditation.
    The compact main bedroom features a podium bed set next to a large frameless window that looks out onto the nearby trees. Built-in wardrobes provide discreet storage, while the exposed chimney adds a distinctive feature.
    A plywood staircase leads up to the second floorAccording to Verhun, the house’s owner has temporarily moved to another Ukrainian city for his own safety due to Russia’s invasion of the country.
    The project was completed despite long power cuts, air raids and missile attacks that forced the builders to spend hours in shelters.
    Birch plywood lines the upper-floor interiorVerhun also said that Shovk has begun taking on more projects abroad due to a decline in its Ukrainian work resulting from the ongoing war.
    Other recently completed projects in Kyiv include an apartment renovation by Modektura and a dance studio that was furnished using materials sourced from around the city in the face of wartime shortages.
    The photography is by Yevhenii Avramenko.

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