A Big Green Box Adds Flair and Function to an Open-Plan Berlin Apartment

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Project Details:

Location: Berlin, Germany

Architect: Ester Bruzkus Architekten / @esterbruzkusarchitekten

Footprint: 1,292 square feet

Photographer: Robert Rieger / @robertrieger

From the Architect: "The apartment uses strong colors, natural materials, precise planning, contrasts of cool and warm—and a few surprises. By locating a single but complex green millwork box at the center of the long apartment, circulation can flow around all sides and the design makes the most of existing material conditions. The palette of rich colors and materials contrasts with neutral raw concrete walls and ceilings to harmonize cool and warm.

"Before Ester Bruzkus Architekten transformed the top-floor apartment into a cozy home for a Berlin couple living a vegan lifestyle, the empty apartment had floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides and exposed concrete walls on the other sides. It was raw and cool and open—and there was something nice about that to hold onto in the new design. So rather than create a series of conventional rooms that would close off the sense of openness, a single millwork box was positioned away from the walls to make rooms between it and the existing walls. The box, lacquered in a deep green, works with warm golds and violets and brown tones to play off the cool concrete ceiling and wall, contrasting materials and colors, and carefully crafted details to make a home that is at once cool and cozy."