A 1970s Apartment Reorganized for Contemporary Living

The project concerns the renovation of an 85 sq.m. apartment on the first floor of a 1970s residential building in Neapoli, Nikaia. The owner’s main request was to keep the intervention as limited as possible, while also creating sufficient storage space for everyday use.

The design is based on an open plan that unifies the living areas, reinforces a sense of through-space and allows natural light to spread throughout the apartment. Through a small number of precise moves, the apartment is reorganized in a way that significantly improves its daily use.

One Unified Living Area

The main intervention involved removing the partition walls that separated the living room and dining area from the corridor and kitchen. This allowed the previously divided spaces to merge into a more connected and functional layout, bringing natural light even into the corridor at the center of the plan.

The demolition revealed the main structural elements of the building, including the column at the center of the unified space and the beam that runs lengthwise through the apartment, from the entrance to the bedroom. Rather than concealing these elements, the design incorporates them into the new spatial organization.

 

 

A Bookcase as Spatial Filter

The apartment is organized into three distinct zones: the entrance and living areas; the transitional zone leading to the private rooms, including the bathroom, storage room and corridor; and the bedroom with the auxiliary room-office.

A bookcase placed beneath the beam plays a central role in the new layout. It operates as a dividing piece of furniture, separating the living areas from the private zone without fully closing them off. Its ribbed-glass back allows natural light to diffuse toward the corridor, while limiting direct visual contact and preserving privacy. The material also refers to the aesthetic character of the original 1970s apartment.

The Kitchen as a Place of Gathering

The kitchen is treated as an integral part of the open plan. It is directly connected to the dining and living areas and develops along the north-south axis, becoming a vital component of the unified living space.

A secondary island provides additional work surface while allowing the kitchen to function as a place of gathering. In this way, its role extends beyond functionality and becomes part of the apartment’s everyday social life.

 

 

Storage Through Limited Interventions

The new organization responds to the initial request for improved functionality and storage, without requiring extensive construction work. A built-in wardrobe is designed at the entrance, part of the bathroom is used to create a storage room, and the lower section of the bookcase provides additional storage.

These solutions improve everyday usability while preserving the openness and continuity of the apartment’s new living core.

Earthy Palette and 1970s References

The material and color palette is based on soft, earthy tones, combining the grey of the structural elements with warm off-white shades and natural wood. Stronger color accents appear in the kitchen and bedroom, where green dominates, and in the bathroom, where blue is introduced.

In the bedrooms, the existing flooring was preserved after maintenance, while large-format ceramic tiles were used in the unified living area, reinforcing the sense of continuity and spatial integration.

 

 

Furniture, Objects and Personal Identity

Some of the furniture was custom-designed for the apartment, while a Danish armchair from the owner’s collection, lighting fixtures, artworks and handmade decorative objects with curved forms contribute to the space’s personal identity.

Through the composition of geometric forms, natural materials and contemporary design lines, the renovation achieves a balanced coexistence between old and new. The apartment is redefined as a flexible and ergonomic living environment, with clear architectural identity and functional organization.