ApartmentF | Hans Tepe

Morphosis of a rented property I With consistent interventions, an apartment in an old building in Berlin is exceptionally transformed into a new quality of living.

This approximately 130 m² apartment is located on the second floor of a Berlin rental barracks dating from the beginning of the 19th century. By moving the kitchen from the back room of the side wing to the center of the apartment, it is possible to combine the living, dining and cooking areas. A "cupboard element" serves as a room divider. Among other things, it contains important load-bearing wall fragments. Their structural fusion into one volume opens up the small entrance area for daylight and people entering. In addition, the stepped suspended ceiling hides the former lintels of the doors.

Like an inserted block, the ceiling continues into the living and dining area and is supported on both sides by a wall disc concealing indirect lighting and old chimney projections.

Usually a dark corridor running parallel to the inner courtyard connects the rear part of the building in this building type of a Berlin tenement barracks. To brighten it, it is replaced by translucent multi-skin sheets.

Doors are partially dismantled or covered by pre-wall constructions. Their reduction creates clear room structures and smooth transitions. In this way, the newly gained floor space significantly increases the flexibility of the room layout.

In addition, the extension of wall projections by a few centimeters allows concealed, indirect lighting to be installed. Stucco work in the ceiling area remains untouched by cladding. Their stock stands in unusual contrast to the added components. Their surfaces end below the stucco and optically conceal the support surfaces of the LED strips.

Multiwall sheets in aluminum profiles renew the corridor and separate it from the wet room in the form of translucent wall and ceiling elements. This is divided into three areas. A free-standing wall, in which storage areas are hidden, divides the utility room area of the bathroom. The guest toilet, tiled and grouted in matte black, is illuminated by daylight, which enters through the ceiling and sliding door.