‘Doing More With Less’: Transforming a Tiny 1970s Apartment

#TheBaeTAS began life as a 1970s top-floor apartment, divided into miniscule rooms with a low, flat 2.4m high ceiling and carpeted floor. The architects removed the walls to create one main space and a bathroom. Raising the roof in two places generated volume, height and drama, with skylights opening the space to the sky. ‘Light from the skylights tracks across the apartment throughout the day, and the raised points of the ceiling create zones’, says Liz. ‘The birch plywood paneling also creates a sense of volume’, she adds, ‘and the walls and ceiling flow into each other, wrapping the space’.

Simple lines and brass fittings are woven into the kitchen, which is also striking for its use of materials – the architects experimented with barestone, a fibre cement sheeting traditionally used for exterior cladding. ‘We loved the suedy texture and solid utilitarian character’, explains Liz, ‘and liked the idea of transforming a standard and common external cladding into something more.’ The kitchen is compact, and so they needed appliances that were practical but compact – ‘a bar fridge wasn’t going to cut it’, Liz says.

With its pared-back, unexpected material palette, distinctive raised ceiling and clever configuration of joinery, in 26m2 #TheBaeTAS does more than could possibly be anticipated. It finds beauty in simplicity, light and tactile details, and generosity where it counts, highlighting that great design need not be reliant on space.