The architect raised his bed and with it the value of the mini-apartment by half a million

One of the smallest studio apartments in Prague was renovated by the studio at the owner’s instigation. His wish was to transform the apartment into an attractive and lively place full of color and originality. On 17 square meters, the architects had to fit a sleeping area, a sofa bed, a kitchen, a workplace, a bathroom and a toilet. Therefore, the reconstruction was preceded by careful planning, which put the individual functions of the apartment together like Tetris.

“The work was all the more difficult because we decided to use typical products so that the price of the reconstruction would not increase unnecessarily. We banished boredom from the mainstream with atypical elements produced on a 3D printer. The owner supported the use of colorful colors with the aim of creating a fun space – only because of this could it be created this unique apartment,” describes the head of the Purpura studio.

The studio has high ceilings (three meters), so the architects could design a bed in the air. This saved up to a quarter of the free area. “If a square meter costs over 125,000 crowns in Prague, by lifting the bed into the air you will get a value of at least half a million and that counts,” thinks Novotník.

Maximum use of space

The cozy and variable interior was also built last year by architects from the Zachar studio on an already existing floor plan. A studio apartment near Wenceslas Square has 25 square meters, and less than half of that is taken up by the main living space. “In addition, it was limited by a supporting column. Fortunately, the greater headroom allowed us to place sleeping on the gallery, which gave us an additional six free square meters,” Ivan Zachar describes the challenges of the reconstruction.

The built-in floor was made accessible by the architects via the miller’s stairs, which they placed in the space between the wall and the massive column. In the interior, it now functions as a boundary between individual zones – in one part there is a kitchen with a storage round dining table, a bar counter and a workplace. The other has a small living room. The architects custom designed the furniture because they didn’t want it to have just one function.

“Each place in the apartment must be universal. For example, we added a small kitchen counter with a board on the wall, which can expand the space for cooking, but during a party it can easily become a bar counter. The table built into the window serves as both a dining and working space, the armchair is fold-out to allow a guest to sleep in. An important piece of furniture is the C-tables, which can be moved, assembled and turned over in various ways,” explains Zachar.

Even an inserted floor can have several heights

Thanks to the different height levels of the slabs, the architect achieved different atmospheres down on the ground floor. | Photo: Aktuálně.cz/Iveta Kulhavá

Even the architect Jakub Žoha went for the reconstruction of the studio apartment by inserting a gallery with a bed. However, he divided the inserted floor into two different levels, which made the space more fragmented and at the same time obtained a cozy place for working from home. “The different heights of the upper plates are extremely important for the quality of the space below the floor, which created a different height and, thanks to this, a very different atmosphere,” describes the architect’s intention.

In addition, the head of the New Architecture studio was not afraid to experiment with bold colors in the spirit of the tricolor in the interior. The 35-square-meter studio has a colorful staircase, a distinctive entrance hall and white walls. “The entire new interior structure is highlighted with a deep blue color. And in contrast to the blue, the color used in the hall is deep red. I then matched the furniture to moderate tones to bring the entire interior together and ground it,” describes the author.

The advantage of a small apartment in Prague is a private roof terrace, which gives the studio an atmosphere of a loft apartment. The costs associated with the reconstruction cost the owner 385,000 crowns.

You can see all three interiors in the gallery.