Little Venice Apartment

Before the alteration, the flat was a typical London house conversion – a series of compartmentalised rooms divided by doors. A primary concern was to open the spaces up to one another, so that every room looks through and into an adjacent space or spaces. As the openings were formed along the external walls each space borrows light from the windows in the space adjacent to it. By opening up areas of the wall, from floor to ceiling, and creating frameless openings, the apartment appears much more spacious than it actually is. Moving through the flat also became more fluid, as the openings in the walls allow different entry and exit points into and out of the spaces. Relatively minor changes to the interior walls therefore result in an alteration to the way in which the spaces are used and experienced, as well as to the quality of light in the rooms. The renovation involved stripping out all the existing surfaces, and then adding back a limited number of materials – timber, rubber flooring and white lacquer. The emphasis is on the colour, texture and grain of the hardwood and veneer timber joinery (also the most costly part of the renovation), which forms the kitchen counter, full height sliding screen door between the kitchen and living area, and the two long benches parallel to the former pieces. Timber handles are integrated into the joinery and are shaped to fit the hand. The timber pieces are intended to be robust, warm and substantial. They are finished only with natural oil to preserve the physical presence of natural wood. As counterpoints to the richness and colour of the timber, the other surfaces are more neutral. All full height cupboards are white lacquer in the same plane of the walls. In contrast to the expressed linear handles of the timber units, the white wall cupboards have recessed concealed handles. The floor is laid with large light grey rubber tiles and the windows are screened with light diffusing white roller blinds.