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Celebrating the life and character of classic Copenhagen apartment for a modern family.
Location: Frederiksberg, Denmark
Status: Built and completed
Year: 2020
Client: Private, 70 m2
Responsibilities: all phases of the project
Architect: Danila Lampis
Photography: Rozbeh Zavari
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Tina and Birger sought help as they no longer felt their home was functioning optimally.
They had lived in the ground floor apartment in Frederiksberg for many years, but no longer they felt the apartment could accommodate the new family’s need to gather together.
The wishes included also a more spacious kitchen and the feeling of a better experience of the apartment hallways and flow.
Prior to engage with Danila Lampis arkitekt, Tina had done some foundational roundwork in terms of get in touch with a kitchen company.
But she doesn´t need just a new kitchen.
She talked about to remove a wall and the desire of a completely new exsperience in the whole apartment.
With much question and concern in getting the space just right, Danila was brought in to make a diagnosis of apartment’s current strengths, weaknesses and where improvements can be implemented.
Like most old apartments in Copenhagen, the apartment follows a traditional and rigid layout.
The hallway acts as the common thread that binds all rooms together, and is therefore a very dark “space”.
The kitchen is experienced as an enclosed room, to cook and to store food.
Kitchen and living room are disconnected by the presence of internal walls. View and space esperience trought the space is locked into the traditional “rooms”.
The kitchen room acts as isolate space, with not so much optimised space for storage and for moving around freely.
The project works with the existing parameters and features. By removing the wall between the kitchen and the allway, the space gets finally a new light and functionality.
The kitchen is converted into an open room instead of an enclosed space, so then the light flows in, creating a new visual connection.
With much question and concern in getting the space just right, Danila was brought in to make a diagnosis of apartment’s current strengths, weaknesses and where improvements can be implemented.
Working collaboratively with Tina within a Pre-design workshop, we gained clarity and were able to set a project’s roadmap. By recalibrating an aim we would be able to tap into the functionality and the aesthetic of the apartment as a whole.
We challenged her with a few questions and received valuable answer that were rooted from: “Who is living in the apartment? How do you live and work through your space today? What do you want to achieve by getting a new and more functional kitchen? And why is it important for you?”
With a clear space strategy process Tina got:
Clarity of why and what she wants
Understanding of project´s functional needs
List of priority according to the budget to invest
Workshop´s main goal is to gain clarity. By understanding your house features and future needs, your own personality and the project´s historical context, we create a list of aesthetic and functional priorities, according to the budget to invest.
Getting to know Tina´s needs based on lifestyle interviews, understanding building history and seeing what is in between her expectations. You might have the same building or apartment, but every project brings a very different result.
Clear project methodology and design process = controlled design results.
The design process is a series of consecutive phases, where design and functional goals are achieved and approved by the client, for a move forward in each project´s phase.
The process follows a linear progression, where the design is gradually detailed: from the inspiration moodboard, to the concept to the construction documents with finishes and details.
Each phase is based on the information and decisions achieved in the previous one. That’s why the design process requires commitment and positive collaboration with you and your architect.
Renovations should respond to contemporary uses of spaces, connecting the old and the new with unexpected and joyful solutions.
From the street facade, the apartment is part of a full aesthetic experience. It cannot be separate from the architecture that contains it.
One of the main requests from Tina was to maintain the style and have the sensibility to keep the historical value into the future interior changes.
So the carpentry work is sitting on not-straight walls and angles, adapting itself to the old structure of the building.
The project started with a simple request: demolish the wall between the existing kitchen
and the hallway. The main goal was to connect the rooms more visually and physically.
Tina´s vision of success:
• demolish a light wall
• open more the space in the entrance – hallway
• new functional kitchen with good amount of storage but with the same layout
• stay on budget
Projects outcomes after strategy and discovery:
• moving the sink on the left wall
• let the kitchen top continues as a unique surface in front of the window
• new sitting/working area in front of the window for two
• kitchen cabinets from the floor up to the ceiling as a unique surface to maximize storage
• place the fridge in a niche and create a small niche for keys in the entrance
• new floor with integrated floor heating
• elegant palette to define the kitchen and the hallway from the rest
Evolution of the design proposal: from keeping the original kitchen´s layout to activate the window.
DANILA LAMPIS ARKITEKT