Koneser Apartment by Soma Architekci
This 78 m2 apartment by Soma Architekci is located in a historic building of the Warsaw Koneser Vodka Factory.
Description
The apartment was designed for rental purposes, to fit the needs of 1-2 people living in the city center, who wanted to keep in line with its rhythm. Designed especially for a „connoisseur”, someone who will appreciate its unique location in an unusual development project. The building of a 100-year-old tenement house in which the investment takes place is a unique industrial building of a vodka factory called Koneser.
The Factory, which is located in Warsaw between Ząbkowska, Nieporęcka Białostocka and Markowska streets, is an example of European architecture from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Its red brick, is connected to the gothic style, along with narrow windows, characteristic cornices, towering towers and arched ceilings. The original architectural design is attributed to L. Iwanowski and K. Loeweg. The currently revitalized investment is to be a vibrant center of new life in Old Praga, a place that will be prestigious and unique.
The designers of the apartment assumed it was obvious the interior had to be consistent with the whole building. Reference to the loft style was an obvious starting point from the outset for both investor and designer.
The starting point in the project, were several walls cleaned of plaster with restored brick. The original interior door, once functioning in this building, dismantled for the time of the the construction work also waited for its new life.
The rest of the arrangement is a composition of contemporary and vintage elements placed against the original brick walls. The space is filled with modern and stylized furniture with details of black lacquered steel. Typical loft lamps and bare light bulbs; a lot of textiles (fabrics and rugs) to give the interior elegance and cosiness; decor from Polish designers, natural materials (veneers, stone). In the living room hangs a cult lamp made out of black strips of fiber glass attached to a metal structure, located just above the dinning table – this is the Vertigo model from Petite Friture designed by Constance Guisset.
The kitchen was designed as a nearly autonomous piece of furniture as to minimally disturb the restored brick wall. A large and comfortable bedroom designed with a light tongue in cheek. The decor of the bathroom is slightly related to the the building’s age – it was harmonized with the rest of the apartment: decorative stucco and freestanding. On the wall above the the bathtub an original photo from the well-known young photographer of beautiful women, Szymon Brodziak – the woman in the photograph was also captured in an industrial space.
The project and its implementation thanks to the trust the designers were given was created quickly. The concepts designed by the Soma Architekci studio were accepted almost without any changes. The final result of working together made the project a lot of fun for both sides.
Photography courtesy of Soma Architekci
- by Matt Watts
