B9 Apartment | Antonio Andabaka

Refurbishment Zagreb / Croatia / 2017

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3 Love 1,339 Visits Published

The apartment is located in the wider center of Zagreb, more precisely in a zone that was intended for military officials in the mid-20th century, and today is very popular among young families due to good connections and rich infrastructure.


The apartment building was built in the 1950s with recognizable elements of the period. For example, the horizontal structure is made of lightweight, semi-prefabricated double-sided rib slabs, solid brick walls as well as ‘terrazzo’ and parquet floor finishing. Since the apartment was initially very well designed, it was necessary to make only minor layout changes to meet the needs of the clients and contemporary way of living.


The clients are a young couple who enjoy the cultural life of the city and frequent gatherings with their friends. The main requirement was the separation of the kitchen and the dining room from the living room, by leaving the possibility of visual and physical connection. Given that the apartment originally had a separate toilet and a storage in the future dining area, it was necessary to increase the space by demolishing the partition walls. In addition, a net area of the existing rooms did not fit the new requirements, so all partition walls were demolished to reorganize the floor plan.


The project task was to provide a comfortable bathroom, entrance hall with wardrobe, separate kitchen and dining area with storage as an extension for kitchen appliances, two bedrooms and a living room. Moreover, it was necessary to activate the balconies to get in touch with the street on the west and the patio on the east side. Since the apartment has a lot of natural light and a very interesting environment, the inner and outer spaces are connected through some interior elements.


The bathroom remained in the same place; however, the layout of the sanitary wares was modified to improve the functionality of the space. The bathtub was replaced by a 'walk in' shower, providing a magnificent view of the existing courtyard trees. By putting a large horizontal mirror above the washbasin, a bathroom gained the apparent spatiality and reflection of natural light.


The entrance hall is neutral, white-colored, with a single coloristic emphasis, a zone that connects and divides different purposes in the apartment.


As mentioned before, the kitchen and dining area are separated from the rest of the apartment and as such create a unique gathering venue that can be extended into the living room. The clients also wanted a counter with integrated drawers as a place either for breakfast or a quick meal. A large glass sliding door allows contact with the inner courtyard, serves as smoking corner and stresses out the solid brick as an element that will be repeated later in the living room. In response to the existing terrazzo, the floor is covered by a cement based monolithic coating that corresponds to the pendant lights over the counter.


The living room is meant to be an intimate place with ambient lighting, several plants and exposed solid brick as an exterior element that is repeated in the interior. The clients expressed the desire to preserve a piece of old furniture, so we decided to restore the old sideboard and put it at the same place where it was found originally.


With these interventions, all together demonstrated the utmost respect for the epoch and quality that greeted them when they had first entered the apartment.

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    The apartment is located in the wider center of Zagreb, more precisely in a zone that was intended for military officials in the mid-20th century, and today is very popular among young families due to good connections and rich infrastructure. The apartment building was built in the 1950s with recognizable elements of the period. For example, the horizontal structure is made of lightweight, semi-prefabricated double-sided rib slabs, solid brick walls as well as ‘terrazzo’ and...

    Project details
    • Year 2017
    • Work started in 2016
    • Work finished in 2017
    • Main structure Masonry
    • Contractor TEH-GRADNJA d.o.o.
    • Status Completed works
    • Type Apartments / Interior Design / Refurbishment of apartments
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    Lovers 3 users