00:03I think multifunctional furniture is very important for small living. You have to
00:11accommodate so many functions in such small spaces that it enriches the
00:16concept of the design that you are trying to achieve.
00:27My name is Carol Borton. I'm an architect specialized in museography and scenery.
00:35The apartment is located in Palermo neighborhood in Buenos Aires City.
00:41It's a very lively and elegant neighborhood.
00:47The building is from the 1940s. It was always meant to be a residential building.
01:00The picturesque architecture of this building reflects in the lobby, the stairs and the apartments.
01:10The apartment is 54 square meters. The ground floor is 27 square meters and the mezzanine is 17 square meters.
01:26Even though the main use of this building is residential, this unit had been an office for
01:32the last 10 years when we first came. The unit was compartmented in three offices in the
01:38ground floor and it was really small and dark. In the mezzanine there was a bigger
01:43office with a kitchenette and a bathroom. The client's brief was to build a spacious,
01:52luminous and elegant apartment. We removed the kitchen from the mezzanine to the ground floor.
02:00We put the toilet and the kitchen and the main stair in one side of the apartment.
02:06In the mezzanine we put the main bedroom and the bathroom. The client decided not to put a laundry
02:13space in the apartment because the neighborhood is full of laundromats.
02:19The big window is the only light entrance the apartment has.
02:25Our design concept was to make a fluid and open space so as when you walk into the apartment you
02:33are directly drawn into the big window. The kitchen is one unit with a staircase.
02:43It's minimal but fully equipped with electrical stove and oven. To make this little kitchen a little bit
02:52more spacious. All the cabinets are designed in the lower part of the kitchen and we also built a floating
03:02shell.
03:04Under the stairs is part pantry and part storage and we also fit a fridge in there.
03:13The kitchen table was custom made for this apartment by Taller Numeros Primos.
03:20We wanted to create a flow from the entrance to the living room area so we decided to put smooth
03:27edges
03:28furniture in the kitchen so as to achieve that.
03:36We also included a small toilet next to the kitchen for the guests.
03:43For the living room our idea was to design a very flexible space.
03:52The only design in the living room was the multifunctional staircase.
03:59The stairs was built in one piece of folded metal. It has a structural beam under.
04:10The main bedroom is in the mezzanine. We decided to change the glass balustrade for a metal one
04:19in order to create a little privacy from the street.
04:24Due to the structure of the building and some odd angles behind the bed we had some space left where
04:31we decided to put the wardrobe.
04:36The division of the bathroom and the main bedroom is made out of three panels of fantasy glass to create
04:44some privacy but we wanted the natural light to come into the bathroom.
04:50We covered the bathroom from floor to top in terrazzo so you can have the feeling when you're
04:57inside of a wider space.
05:01We decided to use floating sink in order to get some more space in the floor in the bathroom.
05:09Most of the furniture pieces are multifunctional pieces and they were all custom made from Estudio T,
05:17such as a chair in the main bedroom that can be used as a cloth hanger.
05:23There's also a bookshelf that is used as a shoe storage and also to accommodate some books and magazines.
05:32So my philosophy when it comes to small spaces it's a combination of my awareness of demography
05:39and the need of cutting down consumption. The less materials you use I think the better the space
05:47responds to the user. I use a lot of calm design. What I really want to achieve is comfort.
05:58As life in city is becoming more expensive and denser, I think the refurbishment and restoration
06:05of apartments is very important. Community really feels alienated when politicians decide to tear all
06:15down and start all over again like a tabula rasa. We have to try to make these small apartments
06:22comfortable, healthy and accessible for all people to come to the city.
06:29Mixed use in residential areas is very important. Also, mixed class. It makes communities richer
06:38and more sociable and of course the result is a more livable city or neighbourhood.
06:52more danser.
06:56Lessons clasics.
06:58We aim to make these small apartments
07:01We really look at the same place.
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