Photography: Gidi Boaz
Winner of the "Ot HaItzuv" design award 2013
Before the renovation
The family decided to renovate the apartment in which they had already been living for two decades.
The apartment had a small, impossible children’s room (two children took turns sleeping in the room) and a large but dysfunctional (very little work surface and lots of wasted space) kitchen, plus a large parents’ room and a super-sized living room that was out of proportion to the size of the flat.
The work process was a learning opportunity, for both us and for the residents. Cooperation and inclusion in the planning was a learning process for us and for the residents. As the level of cooperation rose, the level of preciseness of the apartment fitting the family’s needs also rose.
New Proposal (see glossary)
Bathroom attached to the bedroom
Spacious kitchen
A place where the family can eat and drink together
Places to store clothing
Somewhere to keep the shoe collection
A place in the entrance of the home where keys can be kept and shoes kicked off
An additional challenge was to make the kids’ fondest wish come true by providing a toilet and shower attached to each child’s room.
In the center of the home, a piece of furniture was designed that would be used on one side for the living room (television and media center) and on the other side doubles the area of the kitchen, insofar as storage and work surfaces are concerned.
A glance from the entrance of the home into the living room
A glance into one of the children’s rooms from the living room.
Pristine facade: the back of the closet in the parents’ room, entrance door to the parents’ room and a service cabinet hide in one unit
1. In the center of the home is a custom-designed piece which is used on one side in the living room (Television and media cupboard) while the other side doubles work surface areas and storage space in the kitchen.
2. Cabinetry planned into the parents’ bedroom – The television was placed at the farthest point from the head of the bed and then, we fitted doors were made for the closet behind it, so that every space in the home could be functional.
3. The back of the closet in the parents’ room is in place of the wall that was supposed to divide between the kitchen and the bedroom. This allows us to fully exploit maximum space and to add in a different texture. This plan allows the inclusion of a number of systems. (closet + door + linen cupboard) Custom-built furniture allows us to full use all spaces in the home to their maximum potential. The carpenter is an inseparable part of the designing process, from the beginning through to the very end.
The parents’ room and attached shower are separated by a glass partition.
The glass is frosted to cover what it needs to cover – shower area and toilet -- and clear in the other areas. This gives a feeling of continuation and comfortable space. The parents’ space plus shower give a feeling of one large room
An encounter between the bathroom floor and the bedroom floor.
A diffrence in hight was created to prevent water entering the bedroom.
Very small children’s rooms (3.5 x 2.10 meters)
Huge windows help a lot in this type of room, giving room for the eyes to move far away from within the room, giving a feeling of larger depth. The entrance from each of the children’s rooms to the bathroom allows for privacy, pampering the kids with a “private meeting space” in the back hallway that was created in the bathroom.