WENDT

PARTIAL TRANSFORMATION OF AN APARTMENT IN GENEVA

The client’s wish was to create a guest bedroom with its own bathroom instead of the kitchen, and to create a new kitchen in the living room. Our challenge for the partial transformation of this lovely crossing apartment in the heart of Geneva was to imagine a simple but inventive intervention, allowing us to stay on a tight budget and to maximize the use of space. Our main intervention is developed around a multifunctional sculptural element, a custom-made piece of furniture inserted in the entrance. This element creates an entrance area, like a passage allowing to visually separate the entrance from the kitchen / living room without partitioning. This volume, tinted in brick red, structures the space. It begins in the living room with a library section, continues towards the entrance with a multitude of integrated cupboards, creates a bench and a storage compartment in the entrance hall, and finally leads us to the sleeping area with two bedrooms. This element is both strong and soft, present throughout the apartment, bringing dynamism, but without being imposing and with minimal hold on the ground. Imprint of sobriety, the corner kitchen evolves towards the living room with a slight inclination for a smoother transition. A low cabinet that fits into the kitchen cabinets and encompasses the living room fireplace could complete the project as a second step. It would thus overflow onto the imposing terrace, thus accentuating our desire to turn the day space outwards, the terrace becoming an extension of the interior space. The bedroom is designed as a small hotel suite, with its alcove including shower and sink area. A single sliding door can be used to close this bathroom space during the shower, and thus reveals a storage cabinet.

photos: Paola Corsini