The undiscovered Gründerzeit apartment pearl is hard to find these days, even in Berlin. Here, then, is a run-down apartment, last renovated in 1965 by the previous owners (who apparently had no regard for old buildings), in the Beletage of a rather average late-nineteenth-century house in a very good Charlottenburg location, and unusually bright as well, being a corner apartment.

​

It required fundamental interventions, among other things the reorganisation of the floor plan in order to create a generous living situation from the bad former layout of the 120 square meter dwelling.

​

Through a tailor-made concept and clever use of space, a space-miracle is created here and works  the situation as well as can be.

​

Essential measures here were the three-dimensional addition of a mezzanine layer to the floor plan using the room height of 3.60m, customised storage spaces to "densify" the floor plan and careful exposure and healing of the remaining old building fabric.

​

Conceptually a functional spine, laid longer across the apartment with custom built-ins that open up every nook and cranny in a usable way, the apartment appears much larger and cleverly utilises the room height.

​

To leave enough room for play, closets and desks in the lower level of the children's room, sleeping is moved upstairs to the mezzanine. Here, there is a raised level that is clearly different from conventional loft beds, with mattresses integrated on both sides, hugging a chill area on tatami mats in the middle – with enough space to accommodate overnight guests.

Access is smooth through a three-dimensional steel tower - a sturdy sculpture, perceived by the children as hurdle-free, not the usual wobble up a ladder.

​

The walk-in wardrobe room – urgent request of the client as storage space with three children – offers space even for the racing bike and at the same time a buffer between the "public" area of the apartment and the private ensuite bathroom. The second bathroom – equipped with a generous shower and a landscaped gravel bed at the floor-to-ceiling window – is designed for guests and less hidden. Above the wardrobe, as a special feature, there is another sleeping area with a double bed, lighting, shelving for essentials and a window into the bathroom. In family jargon, this is called a "capsule hotel" – the owner's enthusiasm for Japan shining through.

​

All functions are designed to optimise space, and the living and dining areas are kept free of storage furniture. Everything that needs to be stored, books, supplies, a small home use printer, finds a place in a built-in cabinet wall in the hallway, leaving the living areas without need of storage surfaces.

The TV screen is installed in the living room wall, of which both sides are used: From the other side a shelf in the children's room is integrated.

​

The heart of the apartment is the L-shaped, stuccoed kitchen-dining-living room with southwest and French balconies, composed of two formerly separate rooms.

​

Several pathways make the apartment seem larger – there’s a roundabout connecting the spaces through the hallway as well as a direct and second access to the living room via the kitchen, leaving space even for the hobby workshop with sewing machine in a corner of the passage.

​

The double door into the children's room (instead of the preceding simple door, which wasn’t original anyways) makes the hallway a reception room, where one likes to move about or stay, and allows air flow to the mezzanine.

A “glowing” yellow wall above the library shelves in the hallway provides indirect light to lift the mood on greyer days, while the already very bright living and dining area is decorated in woodsy shades of green and blue.