When Studio Cross Scale took on the restoration of this Art Nouveau apartment, their challenge was clear: honor the past while embracing the present. The building's history needed to resonate throughout the space—preserving its original character while selectively reinterpreting key details. At its core, the project sought to uncover the apartment's defining architectural qualities and merge them seamlessly with contemporary living standards.

Signature Art Nouveau elements—geometric tile floors, wooden beams, and ornamental stucco ceilings—revealed themselves only as the architects carefully stripped away layers and removed subsequent additions. Original sliding and double doors were thoughtfully preserved, as they continue to establish spatial connections throughout the home. The color palette became the organizing principle: each room received its own thematic identity, with hues selected to create visual harmony across sightlines. A custom furniture element flowing through multiple rooms reinforces this spatial continuity. Raw plaster ceilings offer deliberate contrast to the striking wall treatments, allowing the faint historical ceiling painting and freshly restored stucco frieze—now highlighted in neutral white—to speak for themselves. The kitchen and bathroom underwent structural reconfiguration to restore their original proportions, having been awkwardly downsized during the apartment's previous commercial phase. During renovation, each removed floor layer told a story: original ceramic tiles surfaced in the kitchen, wooden beams in the bathroom. These discoveries prompted a creative shift—the architects left both elements exposed. The wooden beams now establish pleasant zones around the bathroom fixtures, making the space work beautifully for modern living. Soft pink, handmade cement tiles reinforce the room's inviting character. The kitchen echoes the historical palette of Atlantic blue tile inlays through its furnishings, complemented by warm wood accents that tie the scheme together.

www.studiocrossscale.com

Photography Credits:

Studio Cross Scale

(Published in CUBE Stuttgart 04|22)