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      W Budapest hotel occupies 19th-century Drechsler Palace

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      Interior design studios Bowler James Brindley and Bánáti + Hartvig have transformed a 140-year-old neo-Renaissance building in central Budapest into the latest outpost from hotel chain W Hotels.

      W Budapest is set inside the 1886 Drechsler Palace designed by architects Ödön Lechner and Gyula Pártos, previously home to a grand cafe and the headquarters of the Hungarian State Ballet Academy.
      Bowler James Brindley and Bánáti + Hartvig have renovated Drechsler PalaceWorking with local studio Bánáti + Hartvig, London-based Bowler James Brindley (BJB) wanted to draw out the glamorous history of the building, which had stood empty for 15 years before being acquired by W Hotels’ owner Marriott International.
      BJB aimed to “playfully modernise” the interiors while drawing on the architecture of the surrounding area on Andrássy Avenue – a UNESCO World Heritage site that’s also home to the Hungarian State Opera House.
      The building now houses the 151-room W Budapest hotelAlongside 151 rooms and suites, the building now houses a restaurant, lounge, spa and speakeasy.

      “The challenge from the outset was not to be overawed by the beauty and strength of the building,” BJB partner Ian Bayliss told Dezeen.
      “Many original details of Drechsler Palace were studied and re-imagined, as were original colours and textures. Protected architecture has been carefully restored and celebrated, and original glazed tiles have been reused.”
      Gridded metal screens surround the beds in the guest roomsCentral to BJB’s conversion was the re-establishment of the palace’s two original entrances. This allowed the studio to free up the spaces bordering Andrassy Avenue and create a “living room” within the building’s light-filled inner courtyard, which has been enclosed by a glass roof.
      Tasked with modernising the building’s interiors while adhering to heritage protection rules, BJB made what it calls “second skin” interventions, which included the creation of new “corridors” within the palace’s ornate arches using freestanding, fret-cut installations.
      In the bathrooms, checkerboard tiles reference Hungary’s affiliation with chess”We wanted to respect the fabric and ‘skin’ of Drechsler Palace so we set about designing spaces, which created a new atmosphere while not touching the beautifully restored fabric,” Bayliss explained.
      The studio took the same approach to the restoration of the palace’s vaulted basement spa, which uses “Houdini-inspired” mirror illusions to create a feeling of never-ending space.

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      Curving bronze metal installations follow the vaulted ceilings, while dimly lit treatment rooms were inserted within the natural spaces left by existing columns.
      “In homage to Houdini, the treatment rooms are completely mirror-clad and essentially disappear, literally reflecting the existing architecture and the new second-skin installations,” Bayliss said, referencing Hungarian-born magician Harry Houdini.
      Turquoise wall panelling is contrasted with gold-toned detailsIn the guest rooms, turquoise wall panelling is contrasted with the gold-toned screens that wrap the beds, while mirrored checkerboard doors with brass details nod to Hungary’s long ties to the game of chess.
      The chess theme continues in the bathrooms, where monochrome checkerboard tiling is offset by handmade terrazzo-lined double sinks and lightbulb-framed Hollywood mirrors that pay tribute to Hungarian-American socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor.
      “The combination of a beautiful free-standing French Renaissance-inspired building by a famous local architect with a modern, idiosyncratic interior inserted into it could only happen in Budapest,” Bayliss said.
      The hotel opens later this monthSet to open later this month, W Budapest follows the opening of the brand’s Rome outpost in 2021.
      Previous projects by Bowler James Brindley include several guest rooms at the W Barcelona and apartments on the lower levels of Herzog & de Meuron’s One Park Drive skyscraper in Canary Wharf.
      Other hotels recently featured on Dezeen include a “thoughtfully designed” brutalist hotel in Mexico and Capella Hotels’ Sydney outpost, which is housed within a heritage-listed former government building.
      The photography is courtesy of W Budapest. 

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      Shiftspace brings IM Pei rowhouse in Philadelphia back to “original vision”

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      US studio Shiftspace has renovated a rowhouse in Philadelphia originally designed by Chinese-American architect IM Pei, restoring its original qualities after decades of alterations.

      Designed by Pei as part of a row of houses in the 1950s, the three-storey unit in the Society Hill neighbourhood had undergone several renovations and extensions over the years.
      Shiftspace was tasked with paring back these alterations to restore Pei’s original vision while enhancing it with contemporary details.
      Shiftspace has renovated an IM Pei-designed rowhouse in Philadelphia”Understanding Pei’s original vision for these houses, we approached this project with a sense of reverence that allowed us to see our design as enhancements to that original vision rather than starting from a blank canvas,” said Shiftspace partner Tim Barnes.
      Rowhouses are common in Philadelphia and sometimes referred to colloquially as “rowhomes”. Much of the city’s housing of this typology was built in the late-18th and early-19th centuries.

      According to Shiftspace, Pei designed the Society Hill townhouses to “bridge the gap” between these brick rowhomes and his nearby condominium, Society Hill Towers.
      It was originally built in the 1950sThe original exterior of the home has been retained. It consists of a mostly brick facade punctuated at the street-facing side by a large window with a small steel balcony.
      At the top of the home is a band of concrete-framed clerestory windows.
      Wooden louvres replace wallsInside, a central staircase that reaches from the basement to the third storey is essential to the redesign. Cleaving to Pei’s vision, Shiftspace has reoriented the home around this spiral stair and introduced a series of open-concept living spaces.
      The updated floorplans follow a typical format, with public spaces on the first three floors and three bedrooms on the fourth.
      At ground level, a curved breakfast nook with banquet seating leads to a kitchen that sits between the central staircase and a wall, and back into a dining area that has access to a garden patio. Here, some solid walls have been replaced with wooden louvres.
      The home is oriented around a spiral staircaseAbove are a living room and a study, separated by the staircase, as well as rearranged bedrooms and bathrooms.
      Two of the bedrooms on the top floor share a bathroom, while the main sleeping space has an ensuite. The bathrooms are tucked into spaces attached to the central core.
      “Our design reverted back to Pei’s original concept using a centralized core for all circulation, bath and mechanical spaces while reconfiguring for a master suite, kitchen, and entry area,” said founding partner Mario Gentile.

      “With IM Pei’s death, the last of the modern monument makers has passed”

      The studio added a new frame to the oculus at the top of the staircase that circulates additional light to the largely windowless structure. It also added skylights to the bedrooms.
      Minimising divides between rooms also allowed for further circulation throughout the home and for more light to penetrate the lower levels from the oculus.
      Shiftspace wanted to honour Pei’s original visionThe design was geared towards a more active lifestyle, which led to the addition of bike storage tucked away into nooks in the basement and on the ground floor.
      Shiftspace completed the renovation with a light-toned colour palette for the more public spaces and darker hues for the bedrooms and study.
      Pei was born in Guangzhou, China in 1917 and emigrated to the United States in 1935, where he founded a studio today known as Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. He designed a number of noteworthy buildings including Dallas City Hall and the Grand Louvre pyramid in Paris.
      Other buildings of his to be renovated include the Eskenazi Museum in Indiana.

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      Trellick Tower apartment revamped in line with Japanese design principles

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      German interior designer Peter Heimer and joinery studio Buchholzberlin used a restrained material palette of concrete, oak and aluminium when renovating this flat inside London’s brutalist Trellick Tower.

      The Grade II-listed building, designed by architect Ernö Goldfinger, originally opened in 1972 to provide social housing for the neighbourhood of Kensal Rise but has since become a landmark of brutalist architecture thanks to its distinctive lift tower.
      Peter Heimer and Buchholzberlin have renovated a Trellick Tower flatThe renovation works were carried out in a privately owned apartment on Trellick Tower’s 21st floor that had not been significantly altered in several years and as a result, was host to narrow rooms and lacklustre white walls.
      Its owners wanted the open up the 86-square-metre floorplan to create the impression of a “cool concrete loft” while offering better views of the surrounding cityscape.
      Views of the London skyline took centre stage”Their taste was also trained by contemporary Japanese design, so they wanted to use a reduced range of pure materials,” Buchholzberlin told Dezeen.

      “Since Trellick Tower is subject to strict preservation requirements, our hands were tied so to speak. But we were able to push through with small improvements.”
      Oak was used to form the kitchen’s cabinetry and breakfast counterThe wall separating two former children’s bedrooms was knocked through to create a larger unified space that now serves as the living area.
      The team also exposed the building’s original concrete walls, laid oak flooring and installed slender aluminium lights across the ceiling.
      A bench seat with inbuilt storage boxes was fitted beneath a row of windows at the front of the room, allowing for uninterrupted vistas of northwest London and beyond.
      A pull-out guest bed is concealed within the desk in the studyThe two doors that previously led to the respective children’s bedrooms were left in place. Between them now stands a huge, double-faced oak sideboard.
      An inlaid mirrored panel reflects the distant skyline and in turn “brings an impression of the city into the apartment’s centre”, according to the team.

      “We couldn’t stop Balfron Tower from being privatised. In fact we probably helped it along”

      More concrete and oakwood surfaces can be seen in the kitchen, which occupies the former living area. Low-lying cabinetry was installed along the room’s back wall, while a large breakfast counter was placed at its centre.
      The counter was custom-built to stand at the exact same height as the railing of the apartment’s balcony, ensuring that sightlines aren’t compromised when the clients sit down to eat.
      The desk also discretely hides new water pipesThe former kitchen, meanwhile, was converted into a study with an oakwood desk snaking around the edges of the room.
      Its base conceals a network of water pipes that had to be redirected to serve appliances in the new cooking quarters. One side of the desk also conceals a pull-out bed that can be used when guests come to stay.
      An oak headboard wraps around the principal bedroomThe principal bedroom was left in its original place but – like the rest of the apartment – was stripped back to expose its concrete walls.
      Oakwood was used here to form the base of the bed and its lengthy headboard, which extends along the lower half of the walls.
      Heimer and Buchholzberlin also removed the time-worn laminate that once covered the small flight of stairs leading down from the apartment’s entrance, revealing the concrete steps beneath.
      Concrete steps were revealed in the apartment’s hallwayTrellick Tower is just one example of the striking council estates that can be found across the British capital, which were recently chronicled in a book by photographer Jack Young.
      Others include Holmefield House with its graphic tiled facade and the Brunel Estate, which has a monumental slide sweeping through its public pathways.
      The photography is by Heiko Prigge.

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      AI-generated engravings feature in Dragon Flat by Tsuruta Architects

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      UK-studio Tsuruta Architects has combined artificial intelligence with CNC cutting in a revamp of a home in London’s Notting Hill.

      Dragon Flat features engraved wall panels and joinery incorporating AI-generated images, including a map of the River Thames and a graphic floral motif.
      AI-generated engravings feature on both floors of the homeA CNC router – a computer-controlled cutting machine – allowed these designs to be directly transferred onto wooden boards, which have been used for surfaces within the interior.
      Taro Tsuruta, founder of Tsuruta Architects, said that he decided to experiment with AI because there wasn’t room in the budget to collaborate with a graphic designer.
      A map of the River Thames features in the living spaceUsing DALL-E 2, an AI program that transforms text instructions into high-quality images, he was able to create bespoke designs for the kitchen and bedroom space.

      “I typed a series of prompts and ran a series of variations, then came up with an unexpected yet expected result,” he told Dezeen. “It was like sculpting a form with a keyboard.”
      Upstairs, a tatami room features a row of engraved peoniesTsuruta’s clients for Dragon Flat were a young Asian couple who moved to London five years ago. The property they bought was a two-level maisonette in a 1950s council block.
      The renovation sees the home subtly reconfigured.

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      The lower level is opened up, allowing the kitchen to become part of the living space, while the upper level has been adapted to create more storage.
      This revamped upper level includes a walk-in wardrobe and a tatami room – a typical space in traditional Japanese homes – as well as a main bedroom.
      The designs are etched into OSB wall panelsThe River Thames image features in the new living and dining room. Engraved plywood panels front a grid of cupboards, creating an entire wall of storage.
      The floral pattern, designed to resemble “an army of peonies”, can be found in the tatami room.
      Images of these flowers are etched into white-washed oriented strand board (OSB), which forms wall panels. This creates a colour contrast that allows the design to stand out.
      Whitewashed surfaces allow the floral design to stand out”We did quite a few sample tests, changing the needle size of the CNC router to get it right,” said Tsuruta.
      The aim here, he explained, was to create a design that playfully references Arts and Crafts, a movement that embraced floral imagery but rejected the technological advances of its time.
      “Arts and Craft was very labour-intensive,” said the architect. “Our process is the opposite, but we share a common goal of enriching the lives of occupants.”
      The addition of a walk-in wardrobe frees up space in the bedroomCNC cutting has played a pivotal role in many of Tsuruta’s projects. Examples include The Queen of Catford, a group of five flats filled with cat faces, and Marie’s Wardrobe, a home with a highly intricate custom staircase.
      Dragon Flat is his first completed project to incorporate AI, a process he said provides infinite options but requires human input in order to achieve a successful result.
      A floating timber staircase allows light to filter through”This process is pretty much the same as with any tool,” he said. “At the end of the day, we were the ones to select and move on to the next variation or stop there.”
      The interior also features other playful details, including a floating timber staircase. Built in the same position as the original stairwell, this perforated volume allows more light to filter between spaces.
      OSB and marble contrast in the bathroomThe bathroom combines marble with OSB, creating an intentional contrast between luxury and low-cost materials, and also includes some small motifs showing bats.
      “The symbolic meaning of peonies, dragons and bats, together with the Thames River, is ambiguous,” added Tsuruta.
      “We want people to keep thinking and talking about them, but overall they are believed to bring prosperity and a happy life.”
      The photography is by Tim Croker.

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      YSG draws on beach clubs of Ibiza and Cancun for redesign of Sydney coastal home

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      Australian interiors studio YSG has updated a holiday home in Sydney’s Palm Beach suburb, layering it with a maximalist mix of colours, patterns and textures.

      The 400-square-metre house belongs to a young family who wanted a place to escape during the holidays while still providing space for remote working.
      YSG renovated a holiday home in Sydney’s Palm BeachThe home’s original furnishings were included in the sale but the clients were less than enthused by the nautical colour palette, seashells and model yachts.
      “The weathered features and cliched seaside tropes, amongst other things, deterred their visits,” said Yasmine Ghoniem, founder and director of YSG.
      Its living and dining area are separated by a small stepYSG took cues from the rustic beach clubs of Ibiza and Cancun for the revamp, with a touch of French Riviera refinement to create “a palpably playful mood for entertaining”.

      The house was given a full overhaul, with worn floorboards sanded back to reveal warmer timber accents while windows and doors were replaced with more slimline versions.
      Details from a painting in the lounge were carried over onto the wallsIn the sunroom, tongue-and-groove panelling was removed for a more contemporary look while a mirrored wall was taken out because it caused the room to overheat.
      A new rose-tinted marble floor extends to skirting height, amplifying the sense of space while helping to keep the room cool. In the kitchen, YSG added a stone island “that recalls the ombre shades of a freshly poured tequila sunrise”.
      Chequerboard tiles surround the poolThe couple also asked for a second master suite, so that they could each have their own retreat while working remotely.
      “We designed integrated marble and timber desks, enabling both to simultaneously work privately from their rooms whilst enjoying views from the upper level,” Ghoniem said.

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      For the all-important exterior areas, which wrap around the house on each level, YSG provided a material refresh by removing the old heavy paving and weathered grey timber as they distracted from the views.
      The pool area now features a chequerboard pattern of tumbled marble cobblestones while the dark blue pool tiles were replaced with a lighter finish and the chrome fence posts were powder-coated in a soft white tone to prevent glaring reflections.
      The home’s stone kitchen island is made from thickly veined stoneYSG added a playful painting in the living room that acted as a starting point for the home’s entire interior scheme, including the colour palette of ochres, yellows, and reds.
      Its motifs such as palm trees and fruit are repeated throughout the house across prints and cushions, as well as being hand-painted onto walls and doors.
      The home also has a second lounge areaEven the painting’s chequered top border is continued as a hand-painted datum line across the living room to enliven the otherwise plain walls.
      Ghoniem also repeated the same device on the side of the raised step that lead to the dining area, “artistically acknowledging a trip hazard”.
      The bedrooms were designed to provide space for remote workingIn the sunroom, hand-painted swirls soften the beams while in one of the master bedrooms, the vertical red lines of a nude painting were playfully continued onto the wall above the artwork.
      The rich material palette features many types of marble, including Giallo, Toledo and Tiberio along with honed travertine and French wash walls, while the textiles include linen and kimono silk.
      Chequerboard tiling also features in some of the bathroomsYSG has completed a number of projects across Sydney, including another house in a coastal suburb with tactile finishes and a penthouse for a couple of empty nesters.
      The photography is by Prue Ruscoe.

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      Oak panels and slatted screens adorn Carroll Gardens Townhouse in Brooklyn

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      New York studios Starling Architecture and Emily Lindberg Design have renovated a Brooklyn townhouse for a young family, combining two units into a single home and unifying them through the use of white oak.

      The Carroll Gardens Townhouse was previously laid out as a two-family dwelling, but the owners needed more room for their growing kids, so decided to connect the units.
      White oak acts as a unifying element throughout the renovated townhouseStarling Architecture and Emily Lindberg Design were initially briefed to convert and cosmetically upgrade the townhouse, and add spaces such as a mud room, work-from-home and living areas, and a large dining room.
      Once the project was underway, the scope expanded to include a complete overhaul of the layout, a new staircase, an extensive millwork package, and the replacement of the furniture and artwork.
      A large dining area was created to accommodate group gatherings”Aside from giving everyone a little more space to work, live and grow, we also quickly focused on bringing in more light and connection between the various levels,” said Starling Architecture founder Ian Starling.

      Spanning five storeys, the building has a total living area of 3,700 square feet (344 square metres), with four bedrooms and four-and-a-half bathrooms.
      Oak millwork continues in the kitchen, which was relocated from the centre of the houseRearranging the program involved moving the second-floor kitchen from the centre of the plan to the south facade, where it received much more light.
      The dining room occupies the adjacent space, enveloped in European white oak panels that extend from a long built-in bench seat, across the ceiling, and down to a slatted screen in front of the stairs.
      Cool hues offset the warm oak flooring throughout the home, including in the lounge areaA walnut table with rounded corners provides enough space for hosting friends and extended family.
      White oak is continued on the staircase across all levels and the flooring throughout, to a corridor and the mudroom, powder room, office and wet bar at garden level.
      Oak panels define a corridor at garden level”All wood for the house was sourced from the same mill in Belgium, where they custom fabricated and finished it to our exact specifications,” said Starling.
      “All of the panels were CNC cut, so we were able to specify exact panel sizes based on as-built dimensions and each panel was divided into equal veneer widths.”
      A mud room was created as part of the renovation scopeThe earthy tones of the wood helped to guide the remaining decor choices, which include cool blue undertones offset by family-friendly materials like purple slate and clay brick.
      Cork lines the office space, while the children’s playroom in the cellar features brighter colours without feeling too juvenile.

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      “With a new layout overall, the clients were in an ‘out with old in with the new’ mentality, going forward with some bold splashes of color along the way,” said Starling.
      “There is a purity about much of the palette, working with organic texture and form rather than applied pattern,” added Lindberg.
      Cork covers the walls in a room used as an officeStarling Architecture is based in Brooklyn, while Emily Lindberg Design has a presence in both New York City and Providence, Rhode Island.
      The two studios previously collaborated on a similar project for friends of the Carroll Gardens Townhouse owners, who recommended them for this job.
      Brighter colours are introduced in the children’s playroom, located in the cellarBrooklyn’s townhouses are in high demand, and new owners waste no time in renovating these historic buildings to meet their needs.
      Recently completed examples include a property on Warren Street, for which Studio Vural used Kyoto merchant houses as a reference point, and a home in Park Slope that was designed to meet Passive House standards.
      The photography is by Eric Petschek.
      Project credits:
      Architecture: Starling ArchitectureInterior design: Emily Lindberg DesignContractor: Euro Art ConstructionWood surfaces: Madera Surfaces

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      Capella hotel takes over former government building in Sydney

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      Architecture firm Make and interior design practice BAR Studio have converted Sydney’s heritage-listed Department of Education building into the latest outpost from Capella Hotels.

      The adaptive reuse project involved adding a modern extension with curved glass corners to the building’s roof, set back from its sandstone facade to respect the original Edwardian Baroque architecture.
      With these four additional floors, the building now measures eleven storeys high and houses 192 guest rooms alongside bars, restaurants and a 20-metre swimming pool that occupies the former sixth-floor gallery.
      Sydney’s Department of Education building was converted into a Capella hotelSince the Department of Education was constructed in Sydney’s historic Sandstone Precinct in 1912, its interior had been compromised with countless ad-hoc changes, according to Make.
      The studio worked to restore the sense of grandeur envisioned by the original architect George McRae, for example by reinstating the internal garden courtyard on the ground floor.

      “Stitching together the existing Edwardian Baroque-style structure with a new contemporary layer of architecture is one of many things that makes this landmark project stand out as a hotel,” Make designer Michelle Evans told Dezeen.
      It now houses 192 guest rooms and restaurants including Brasseries 1930″Capella Sydney has been a joy to work on, as it builds on our growing portfolio of reusing and adapting existing and heritage buildings,” she added.
      Picking up the baton from Make, hospitality design firm BAR Studio was tasked with creating luxurious yet contemporary interiors for the hotel that work seamlessly with the history of the building.
      “The heritage building that houses Capella Sydney provided us with the underpinning for the interior design,” said co-founder Stewart Robertson.
      A swimming pool occupies the building’s sixth-floor galleryWhile the building’s exterior was largely intact, only a few areas of historical significance remained inside.
      Some of these spaces offered incredible opportunities for reinvention, such as the gallery on the former top floor, which has become the Auriga spa and pool.
      Meanwhile, references to the original steel-framed windows were incorporated into the interiors via a recurring motif of framed forms.

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      Steel in black and bronze finishes was used throughout the building to frame doors, windows and screens, making a subtle reference to the district’s origins in the age of industry.
      This serves the practical purpose of delineating and dividing spaces but also brings a restrained form of embellishment, Robertson said.
      “We’ve used framing techniques to create separation but also to build an organic connection between the public spaces,” he explained.
      “We wanted the colour and finish to feel appropriate to the original era but also for these elements to read as new and sophisticated insertions.”
      The same floor also houses a spaA palette of natural materials brings a sense of subtle luxury to the bedrooms and communal spaces.
      Steel was used alongside honed marble, sandblasted travertine, natural wall coverings and light and dark timber. This approach enables the heritage features as well as the art and objects to become the focal points.
      The colour palette, too, is simple and neutral, taking its cues from the material palette with stone-coloured walls and tan leather upholstery.
      Each treatment room sits under a one of the original roof lanterns”The neutral base palette of cream stone and dark and light timber integrates with the existing architectural and design elements but sets a warm and soothing mood, creating a real sanctuary from the surrounding city,” explained Robertson.
      In keeping with the light touch of the new architectural interventions, much of the furniture draws on the concept of campaign furniture – traditionally made for military campaigns and therefore easy to transport.
      “These portable and ingenious pieces bring the comforts of home to remote places,” said Robertson.
      A recurring motif of framed forms features throughout the hotel’s interiorsOther Capella hotels include the Norman Foster-designed Capella Resort – set on an island off the coast of Singapore – and the Capella Sanya, which won the 2020 AHEAD Asia award for best landscaping and outdoor spaces.
      The photography is by Timothy Kay.

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      Brazilian architects renovate Brigadeiro Apartment for themselves

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      Architect couple Leandro Garcia and Amanda Dalla-Bona have renovated a 1970s apartment in Curitiba, Brazil, for themselves, reconfiguring the layout and choosing eclectic furniture.

      All of the electrics and plumbing needed to be replaced, and the floor plan was rethought to create “a place to pause and retreat”.
      The couple remodelled the apartment to suit their needsThree bedrooms were replaced with two to make room for a larger living and dining area, which could be integrated with the existing kitchen.
      Original features including the window frames and the imbuia parquet floor were retained and restored, while a variety of new materials were introduced.
      The living space with brightened by white walls, large rugs and translucent curtainsThe Brigadeiro Apartment has been in Dalla-Bona’s family since the 1980s – it was her parents’ home as newlyweds and where her older sister was born.

      After moving out when they planned their second child, the parents rented out the 108-square-metre space for 30 years.
      A concrete column was exposed while reconfiguring the floor planDue to its central location, Dalla-Bona always discouraged them from selling it, as she had intentions to move in herself one day.
      When that time came recently, she and her partner Garcia decided to remodel the interiors to better align with their needs.
      The architects custom-designed a 4.5-metre-long dining table for themselves”From the apartment the view is expansive, a rare characteristic in the city centre, and we were both captivated by the natural light, the sun and wind streaming in through the windows,” said the couple.
      “Walking a few blocks, we arrive at our favorite cafes and restaurants and in our studio, where we work together,” they added.
      Removing a bedroom allowed the living space to be opened up to the kitchenTerrazzo countertops and a backsplash of hydraulic tiles were added in the kitchen, while a concrete column in the living room was exposed.
      The remainder of the lounge area is brightened by white walls, textured rugs and translucent curtains.
      Terrazzo countertops and hydraulic tiles were introduced in the kitchenAn assortment of vintage modernist and newer furniture pieces – mostly by Brazilian designers – add colour and character to the interiors.
      Mid-century seating by Percival Lafer, Flavio de Carvalho and Geraldo de Barros are among the couple’s choices, along with a collection of lamps, stools and tables.

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      “In the living room, the furniture – not only the armchairs, but also the carpets, must be soft to sit on the ground – was chosen, thrifted and positioned for conversations and readings,” they said.
      Garcia and Dalla-Bona also custom-designed a 4.5-metre-long wood dining table to accommodate their various daily activities, and host their friends and family for meals.
      A variety of vintage furniture pieces were sourced for the interiorsBesides the cabinetry in the kitchen and bathroom, all of the storage and furniture is moveable.
      In the bathroom, the floor and walls are covered in small white mosaic tiles, affixed with matching grout for a clean, minimalist appearance.
      White mosaic tiles and grout create a minimalistic look in the bathroomCuritiba, in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná, is the site of several projects completed by Garcia, Dalla-Bona and their team, including the renovation of a compact apartment renovated for a journalist.
      The studio has also overhauled a family’s holiday home near the beach in Matinhos, and filled it with vintage Brazilian furniture.
      The photography is by Fran Parente.

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