Location: Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic
Architects: Plus One Architects, Kateřina Průchová and Petra Ciencialová
Apartment styling and furniture: Janský & Dunděra; Archtiles, KLER, Cappellini, MCDJ, Todus, Dechem Studio
Photos: Radek Úlehla
In a residential building constructed in the last century, not far from the thermal baths for which the Czech city of Karlovy Vary is famous, this apartment had undergone many alterations over the years that had distorted the airy division of spaces, openings and original materials. The almost philological work of reconstruction by the architects started first and foremost with the total removal of structures, claddings and ceilings accumulated over time so as to restore freedom and equilibrium to the arrangement of the living spaces and the combination of the (few) materials.
Leitmotiv and backdrop to the whole apartment is the original mural painting that extends across the walls and ceilings of all the rooms, now exposed to view and natural light, a vigorous but not intrusive material presence, with its decorations faded over time and palette that mixes reds and pinks. To which is added the most intangible design element: natural light that fills all the spaces – from the living room to the two bedrooms and the bathroom, also thanks to an internal ‘window’ cut into the wall between the kitchen and the living room – and that gives consistency to both the colours and the white used as a visual counterpoint. The tiles and sanitary fittings in the bathroom are white as are many of the few furnishings chosen to contribute to the calm and serene atmosphere reinstated with this new design.
