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Project Details:

Location: Berlin, Germany

Architect: Studio Karhard / @studio.karhard

Footprint: 1,022 square feet

Builder: PlanB Works

Sound Engineer: H.A.N.D. Hifi

Light Programming: Room Division

Smart Home: m.integration

Photographer: Robert Rieger / @robertrieger

From the Architect: “Twenty years ago, the German architecture firm studio Karhard designed one of Berlin’s most famous clubs—Berghain. That project inspired a German-American couple, the founders Thomas Karsten and Alexandra Erhard, to commission the studio to design their secondary residence in Kreuzberg.

“It was obvious that they liked the club’s technical, raw atmosphere – something you wouldn’t usually expect in a private home," says Karsten. “So we tried to turn that into something cozy.” The apartment was to reflect the clients’ lifestyle, with more storage space and a generous kitchen for entertaining guests. After first exploring a few smaller ideas, the architects realized that the existing proportions didn’t quite work. They therefore proposed a full renovation—a new spatial layout that transformed the original two-room apartment into a three-room dwelling: now featuring a separate bedroom and workspace.

“At the heart of the new floor plan stands a curved glass-block wall that divides the entrance and the living area without blocking daylight. ‘Playing with light was one of our first ideas,’ explains Karsten. ‘The translucent blocks are lit from within, and the illuminated wall lends the space an almost cinematic mood—quite unusual for a Berlin apartment.’”

“Studio Karhard structured the apartment through light and atmosphere, using deliberate contrasts between bright and dark zones. Particularly striking is the ‘mystical’ guest bathroom, a miniature homage to the techno club, complete with a metal grid ceiling, color-adjustable lighting, and an almost theatrical effect. ‘I briefly considered adding a fog machine,’ laughs Karsten. ‘This little room plays with the futuristic theme.’ In terms of materials, the studio combined cool metals such as stainless steel and untreated brass with tactile textures like structured plaster, terrazzo flooring, and rich velvet upholstery, which Karsten says evoke ‘the Milanese style of the 1960s.’ ‘Everything we do revolves around materials,’ he emphasizes. ‘Here, classic substances meet the warm tones of walls and fabrics.’”

“The result is the product of intensive collaboration with the clients: ‘The owners were involved in every detail; it was like a game of ping-pong,’ says Karsten. ‘They gave us freedom, and we worked closely with craftsmen to develop tailor-made solutions.’ The outcome is an interior that translates the spirit of Berghain into a domestic setting: atmospheric, layered, and uniquely personal.”

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