A New Home for Art and Collectors
Two modest attic apartments merged into one generous space
Two attic apartments were added to this 1890s building on Kantstraße in the 1990s. When the new owner acquired the top floor, he envisioned combining both units into one expansive 130 m² residence. Naturally, such a transformation required a thoughtful approach. Beyond bedrooms, living spaces, and a studio, the apartment needed to showcase the owner's impressive art collection—a challenge that demanded careful coordination of diverse functional and aesthetic priorities.
The Berlin-based firm Coordination was brought in to lead the renovation and interior design. They began by developing a new floor plan that distinguished between private quarters and more social spaces for guests. Bedrooms and living areas received new parquet flooring and soft pastel wall tones—the living room in a whisper-soft pale green, the bedroom in a gentle light blue to complement the dark blue bed and the adjoining bathroom's striking sapphire walls. Slender, delicate radiators harmonize beautifully with the generous ceiling heights.
A slim brass-framed glass door and soft drape mark the boundary between private and public zones, offering flexibility when privacy is desired. Beyond lies a serene multipurpose room—equally suited to quiet retreat or creative work—featuring a perfectly proportioned niche for a piano. The kitchen, dining, and living areas occupy the former second apartment. A raised platform subtly separates the living room from the kitchen, cleverly accommodating the higher ceiling in the unit below. From the living space, expansive windows open onto a generous east-facing terrace that also captures southern light.
Central to Coordination's work was orchestrating ideal display locations for individual artworks—and in some cases, deriving the entire color palette from the paintings themselves. The result is a refined apartment suffused with understated elegance, thoughtfully curated furnishings, and abundant natural light that infuses every room with warmth and vitality.
Photography Credits:
Anne Deppe
www.annedeppe.de
(Published in CUBE Berlin 03|22)
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