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      Architect couple turns Edinburgh apartment into modern living space

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      Married architects Luke and Joanne McClelland have overhauled their own apartment in Edinburgh, Scotland, to feature a sequence of contemporary light-filled living spaces.The lateral apartment spreads across the drawing-room levels of two adjoining Georgian townhouses in Edinburgh’s Comely Bank neighbourhood.
      Joanne and Luke McClelland – who runs his own architecture studio called MCLND – purchased it back in 2018, having spent the past eight years living in a cramped flat in London.

      Despite the grander scale of the Edinburgh apartment, it still had some significant problem areas.

      The north-facing living area had hardly any access to natural light, the bathroom had a dated, 70s-style turquoise interior and the kitchen was small and felt isolated from the other rooms.

      To create a bright and modern home, the McClelland’s decided they had to completely reconfigure the floor plan.
      The former kitchen has been opened up and now includes a dining area, complete with white-painted walls and oak herringbone floors.

      Along the rear wall runs a series of matt-black and wooden cabinets which were all sourced from IKEA – although the architects both have previously designed homes for wealthy clients, they didn’t feel the need to use expensive brands to achieve a high standard of design.
      “Having specified kitchens at over 10 times our available budget, we tried to use affordable products to recreate the specific qualities that previous clients associated with luxury, simplicity, symmetry and integration,” said the pair.

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      To complement the cabinetry, black taps, pendant lamps and door handles have also been incorporated in the space. Black-frame chairs with woven seats have also been placed around the dining table.

      Doorways have been widened to let sunlight from the south side of the apartment penetrate the new living area, which has been created in a former bedroom.
      It’s dressed with a slate-grey sectional sofa, a couple of armchairs upholstered in forest-green velvet armchairs and a graphic monochrome rug.

      Jet-black paint has also been applied to the surround of the room’s fireplace, which used to be bright orange.
      “Whilst it didn’t fit with the Georgian property, there was a charm in the curved bricks and sheer brutality of the design,” the architects explained.

      The architects split the old living area to form two separate bedrooms, both of which feature original pine flooring and ornate cornices.
      A cupboard in the apartment and the disused pantry have together been transformed into a shower room. Stark white tiles have been applied in a grid-like fashion across its walls, while the floor has a striking triangle print.

      In the main bathroom, surfaces have been updated with glazed green tiles which clad the lower half of the walls and the front of the tub.
      The sink basin perches on top of a restored 1960s wooden sideboard by Danish designer Ib Kofod Larsen.

      Luke McClelland launched his own studio this year after leaving his position at Studio 304. He and his wife, Joanne McClelland, met whilst both studying architecture at the Edinburgh College of Art.
      Their apartment joins a number of design-focused properties in the Scottish capital.
      Others include Flitch House by Oliver Chapman Architects, which references the Arts and Crafts movement, and another home by studio Archer + Braun, which has a red-sandstone extension.
      Photography is by Zac and Zac.
      Project credits:
      Architects: Luke and Joanne McClellandStructural engineer: McColls

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      Rust Architects softens modernist Tel Aviv apartment with oak details

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      Tel Aviv studio Rust Architects has renovated an apartment in the Israeli city for a couple who both work from home.The apartment is in a residential building in the city centre built in the modernist-era international style.
      Rust Architects renovated the one-bedroom unit with a pared-down material palette and colour scheme.

      “It is in a modernist building, so we designed the interior as simple and modern,” Rust Architects founder Ranaan Stern told Dezeen.

      “Similar to Bauhaus buildings principles, the apartment has a large span that brings in natural light but maintains comfortable proportions for the space and the hot temperatures of the Tel Aviv summer months.”

      The apartment is for a young couple who are both professional photographers and designers.
      “Both homeowners work from home, so proximity and visual angles between different spaces such as the workroom and living room were essential,” the studio added.

      The apartment comprises an open-plan kitchen, living and dining area with sliding glass doors that access a terrace.
      An L-shaped hallway accommodates the entry and accesses a home office, which was custom-made by Rust Architects and enclosed by a metal frame with glass doors. The partition allows natural light to pass into the corridor.

      Various wood details also feature in the design, particularly a kitchen cabinet made of oak that houses the refrigerator and oven. Its rounded corner meets the hallway and has a series of shelves and doors.

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      A built-in media console in the living room nearby is also made of wood, and a wall in the office is clad in the same natural material.

      The touches of wood are contrasted with industrial details, such as an exposed concrete block wall in the living room and electrical systems on the ceiling.
      There were left exposed by the studio in order to keep the apartment’s original height.

      A variety of floor coverings provide visual depth across the unit, which otherwise features white surfaces and black window frames.
      Small, black tiles cover the bathroom floors and walls, the home office has wood floors and large concrete tiles cover the kitchen and living room.

      “The concrete tiles on the floor produce a cool and pleasant feeling, especially during the summer months, and the natural oak in the carpentry creates a relaxed and warm feeling,” Rust Architects said.
      The studio, which was founded by Stern in 2016, has also redesigned a 1960s apartment and created a home with cubby holes, shelves and cabinets – both are in Tel Aviv.
      Photography is by Yoav Peled.

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      Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura remodels 1960s Brasília apartment

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      Brazilian studio Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura has opened up the layout of an apartment in Brasília built in the 1960s to meet a family’s contemporary requirements.The remodelled apartment is located in residential building 308S in Brasília’s model superquadra, one of the first completed apartment blocks of the urban design scheme conceived by architect Lucio Costa and landscape architect Burle Marx.

      Local studio Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura reconfigured the apartment’s standard layout, which split the main living areas into two separate spaces.

      In the updated floor plan the exposed concrete walls are cut open to form a single, shared space for the family to gather.

      The studio was careful to preserve modernist design elements in the apartment, including its granilite flooring and white cobogo screens.
      “The project is summed up in an exaltation of the Brazilian architecture lighting what is most typical in the city’s residences and buildings while joining the modernist and contemporary office technologies and references,” said the studio.

      Black cabinetry with corrugated glass doors contrasts with the white countertops in the kitchen. Natural light passes through the square cut-outs on the cobogo wall to brighten the narrow space.
      In the living room low-lying wood shelving units wrap around the space forming a bench in front of the large windows and a surface for storing objects along the interior wall. The lounge is furnished with a grey couch and wood tables.

      Bloco Arquitetos reconfigures 1960s Brasília apartment with translucent walls

      In the dining area and library, a massive wooden bookshelf is stacked with books and audio equipment.
      Three doorways that lead to the bedrooms and bathroom are concealed within the unit, which the studio custom-built.

      In the master bedroom, the backside of the shelf forms a decorative wall of wood panelling. Opposite the large windows, a row of black doors creates a closet that doubles as a doorway to enter the bathroom situated between the two bedrooms.
      Walls in the shared bathroom are clad with vertically-laid green tiles. A large rectangular mirror hangs above the wood vanity, which is topped with two circular sink basins.

      The existing cobogo screen and concrete wall from the kitchen continue into the second bedroom. In this bedroom the closet is covered with a series of mirrors that reflect the space’s wood furnishings and the decorative window treatment.
      Several of the wood furniture pieces in the apartment are designed by Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura architect Clay Rodrigues. The studio also cut a hole into the cobogo wall so the client’s cats could access their litter box.

      Brazilian studio Bloco Arquitetos also renovated an apartment on the same building block in Brasília. As part of the remodel the studio added sliding translucent glass walls.
      Other projects by Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura, which translates to English as Under the Block, include an abandoned hospital transformed into a contemporary art gallery.
      Photography is by Joana France.

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      Pale woodwork updates 1920s Riverside Apartment in New York’s Upper West Side

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      New York practice Format Architecture Office has reorganised a 1920s apartment with custom millwork in the city’s Upper West Side.The renovated apartment by Format Architecture Office is in a Gothic Revival building on Riverside Drive, giving the project its name, Riverside Apartment.

      Completed before the second world war, the original apartment building had large residences that were later converted into smaller homes, which the studio said formed “a series of unconventional layouts”.

      “The building was originally constructed in 1926 and arranged around opulently scaled residences with multiple bedrooms and gallery spaces,” Format Architecture Office added.

      “It was converted to cooperative ownership in 1968, which created a large variety of accessible unit types, but also a series of unconventional layouts, as formerly single apartments were subdivided into two or even three different units,” it said.
      The renovation reorganised the existing one-bedroom unit to include another bedroom that doubles as an office, as well as a powder room and a reorganised galley-style kitchen. The decor was updated with custom cabinets and enlarged wood-clad corridors across the 1,000-square-foot (92-square-metre) space.

      “The primary goals for the project were to create flexible connections between spaces, enhance access to natural light and maximise storage,” the studio continued.
      Upon entering is a foyer with a coat closet, and a cabinet with a glass portion above that pulls natural light in from windows in a home office. A bedroom adjacent is complete with an ensuite and walk-in closet.

      A sliding wood door separates the office from a living and dining room. The pocket door is in one of the home’s corridors, which are intended to mark different areas.
      “Large thresholds between public spaces celebrate transitions and become extensions of different wood-clad storage solutions that complement the myriad needs of a small domestic space,” said the studio.

      All of the millwork at Riverside Apartment, including the corridors and custom cabinets, are made from Anigre wood – an African hardwood commonly used for furniture and cabinetry.
      Other corridors are in the entry and kitchen, while built-in bookshelves are prominent in the living room and office.

      Format Architecture Office imbues Manhattan office with “boutique sensibility” and cafe seating

      Contemporary details are accompanied by the apartment’s existing elements, like original wood-panelled doors with the glass transoms.
      Format Architecture Office aimed to emulate the early 20th-century style through other details to create “a mixture of clean lines and pre-war inspired details to celebrate the eclectic tastes of its owner”.

      The glass wall in the entry is a reinterpretation of existing glazing, which bring light through the home. Another ribbed glass detail partially conceals the dining room from the kitchen.
      A wood table, 1950s Eames Wire Chairs and a minimal white light fixture furnish the dining room, while the living room has a blue sofa and an Eames moulded plywood lounge chair from the second world war.
      Off-white walls are paired with white moulding and new oak flooring for a pared-down aesthetic, while an orange-painted front door adds another pop of colour that complements teal accents.

      Format Architecture Office founded in 2017 by architects Andrew McGee and Matthew Hettler, who met as undergraduates at the University of Michigan. The studio is based in Brooklyn and has also designed an office for a tech company in New York’s Midtown area with cafe-style seating and muted interiors.
      Other renovated homes in the Upper West Side are an apartment with a built-in bed by Stadt Architecture and a townhouse by Space4Architecture with a white spiral staircase.
      Photography is by Nick Glimenakis.

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      Renovated Montreal house by Atelier Barda contrasts black and white

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      Black furniture provides a stark contrast to the white interior of this Montreal residence, which has been overhauled by local architecture studio Atelier Barda.Atelier Barda’s Portland Residence project involved adding an extension to the rear of a historic stone house located in Montreal suburb Mount-Royal, and reconfiguring the floor plan to improve the flow between spaces.

      “This innovative redesign has freed the building’s spirit from its original constraints, giving it fresh expression in a setting that is both classic and resolutely contemporary,” the studio said.

      Architectural details like rounded walls and simple mouldings were preserved and then painted white to offer a contemporary update.
      The team then installed a box clad with black anthracite oak to span all three levels.

      The volume includes storage, a bathroom, kitchen appliances and a staircase, and forms a passageway between the main living space and the bedrooms.
      Its black hue stands out against the white backdrop and chevron-patterned oak parquet floor, defining the material palette throughout the interiors.

      Black steel mullions also frame the glass curtain wall of the extension, which the studio said it chose to protect the house from harsh climatic conditions.
      The windows wrap the kitchen, living and dining room, offering views of the garden and natural light.

      Atelier Barda renovates Montreal apartment with minimalist finishes and custom furniture

      In the living room, translucent white drapes cover the space’s large windows matching the colour of the walls. A circular, plush sofa from de Sede and a grand piano provide touches of black, while the fireplace is grey stone.
      Foraine par Atelier Barda, the firm’s design studio, designed a number of furnishings in the house.

      Many are built with solid black anthracite oak like the rectangular dining table and bench, which have wide legs detailed with thin grooves, and a circular coffee table.

      Smaller round tables for the bedrooms are wrapped in the oak panelling and fronted with drawers.
      The bedrooms and a private office are located on the upper levels of a house. A skylight is situated above the stairwell to bring natural light into the space.

      In the bathrooms, white vanities are finished with a lime and tadelakt plaster and topped with marble, which is used to cover the floors as well.

      Atelier Barda was founded by Antonio Di Bacco and Cécile Combelle, it has completed a number of renovations in Montreal including a loft apartment with black and white interiors and custom furniture and the conversion of a shop into a two-storey residence with pastel accents.
      Photography is by Alex Lesage.

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    • 113 Shares199 Views

      Bloco Arquitetos reconfigures 1960s Brasília apartment with translucent walls

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      Brazilian studio Bloco Arquitetos has stripped back an apartment in Brasília built in the 1960s and added in translucent glass to reveal the existing concrete block facade. 308 S apartment is located in Brasília’s model superquadra, which is one of the first completed apartment blocks of the urban design plan conceived by architect Lucio Costa […] More

    • 138 Shares129 Views

      Stained plywood box houses kitchen and bedroom in renovated Seattle condo

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      US architecture firm GoCstudio has inserted a dark plywood box into an apartment in Seattle that doubles as a studio space for an amateur photographer. Western Studio is a home and studio designed for a client who enjoys photography and hosting guests. The 1,000-square-foot (92.9-square-metre) open-plan unit is located inside a commercial building in Seattle’s […] More

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      Pine-and-glass shelving encloses office for tech company in Ecuador

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      Architects Juan Alberto Andrade and María José Váscones have built a wooden office in Guayaquil, Ecuador with a wall of angular windows that pop open, as shown in these photos with people wearing coronavirus face masks. Local architects Andrade and Váscones designed the structure for technology services company Mendotel to create a private area for […] More