Loft in Chişinău
If there is one concept in contemporary design that never seems to go out of date, it has to be the white box loft, “the new black” in interior decorations, mainly thanks to the freedom it leaves for building a unique, original image, one where each element projected unto generous white surfaces can become artistic instead of merely functional or decorative.
Situated on the topmost level of a new apartment building, with a view unto one of Chişinău’s lakes, the loft decorated by the team at Grosuartstudio covers a surface of 210sqm and is structured around a central open space (living room, dining room and kitchen). This space initially served as an attic; the architects kept the metal beams in the roof in plain sight, as well as most of the pipe installation, which lends an industrial air to the apartment.
The central space destined for the day area and delineated by a U-shaped furniture enclosing, with the kitchen to one side, partially separated from the dining room for breakfast, faces a glass wall that offers an ample view unto the lake. The interior decoration was intended as a point of contrast: the white walls, ceilings, metal structure and furniture are counterbalanced by the warm olive wood color of the floor and the black accents (the pillows on the living room sofa, the seats on the bar chairs in the kitchen, the wall supporting the kitchen counter). The vibrantly colored paintings (portraits done in brash colors) and the decorative objects, carefully chosen and exhibited on the white shelves in the living room create the feel of an art gallery. Seen as such, the architectural concept establishes clear correspondences: white for the background, color for the accents. Starting from this simple scheme, for the most part, the structure of the furniture pieces (the dining room table and chairs, the sofa, the kitchen furniture), even the carpets and the audio system speakers become the backdrop for what is perceived as the noisier elements: the floor, the paintings, a few decorative objects, an armchair. The lighting system contributes a great deal to the overall image; the unidirectional spotlights with a hi-tech look, hanging down from the base of the triangular beams of the roof – the Samurai floor lamp next to the sofa in the living room and the Ameba hanging over the dining room table, both by Vibia – all of these elements complete the artistic display of the interior.
The height of the sloping ceiling, starting at 4.5m, modifies the proportions of the space; in order to establish a harmonious full-hollow ratio for the interior, the architects chose a door height of 2.7m (excepting the entrance door). In the three bedrooms, the texture of the olive wood and the white of the walls, the ceiling and the furniture are a faithful reiteration of the scheme in the day area. Here, however, the main element in the composition is the bed, formally and chromatically contrasting the rest of the room. The round bed, placed near a generous window, with two likewise round night-stands, or the irregularly shaped, organic headboard reminiscent of the shape of the dining room lamp, fully clad in blue textile material, all of these elements are complemented by simple, minimalist furniture pieces in rectangular shapes.
The bathrooms are carefully studied geometrical compositions in which black ceramic tiles with 3D patterns (Porcelanosa) are combined with the white of the other sanitary elements (Flaminia) and the marble floor in ratios that are entirely different from the rest of the spaces. The glossy black finishes completely alters the atmosphere in the bathrooms, lending them a subtle touch of glamour.