A minimalist living and dining space with arched ceilings, white furniture, and light wood flooring.
The apartment’s surviving Baroque ceilings established the architectural language throughout the home for a couple in their mid-sixties.

October 23, 2026

Words: Joann Plockova

Photography: courtesy of SOA Architekti

Breathing New Life Into A Baroque Apartment In Slovakia

A delicate hand was applied to the renovation of this Baroque apartment in Kosice, Slovakia’s historic center. Designed for a couple in their mid-sixties, Prague-based SOA Architekti gently merged everyday living with the apartment’s exceptional historic fabric to create a calm, contemporary home that feels delicately defined.

“Given the strong historical character of the apartment, our main intention was not to disrupt the existing spatial qualities, but rather to reveal and emphasize them,” says architect Štefan Šulek, one of SOA’s founding partners. “We wanted the new interventions to feel natural within the space, while clearly belonging to the present.”

The departure point for the design was the apartment’s remarkable Baroque vaulted ceilings. “Its greatest value had survived,” says Šulek. “The beautifully crafted Baroque vaults, whose distinctive workmanship reflects Kosice’s architectural heritage.” Using this as the defining motif, SOA incorporated arches into doors, shelving, mirrors and the marquetry of a custom designed sideboard.

While the layout was largely kept intact, subtle interventions were integrated including brass detailing, a restored, historic skylight above the kitchen island and patterned black and white tiled floors.  

Walk Through The Home 

  • A hallway with a diamond-patterned tiled floor and a skylight, leading to a kitchen counter with three wooden bar stools.
    The entrance to the just over 1,500-square foot apartment in Kosice, Slovakia’s historic downtown reveals the home’s defining feature: it’s surviving Baroque vaulted ceilings.
  • Modern kitchen with light wood cabinetry, gold-toned backsplash and sink, and a central island under a large skylight.
    A historic skylight that dates to the late 18th century was restored and integrated above the kitchen island to bring in soft daylight.
  • A kitchen island with a white countertop and metallic gold base, surrounded by three wooden stools, set against matching gold cabinetry under a large skylight.
    Brass detailing on the kitchen island and cabinetry contributes to the apartment’s refined, delicate feel. The Enit stools are by Kave Home.
  • A living and dining room with a vaulted ceiling, herringbone wood floors, a white sectional sofa, and a long wooden dining table.
    The apartment’s surviving Baroque ceilings established the architectural language throughout the home for a couple in their mid-sixties.
  • A kitchen island with a brass front and gold faucet sits in a room with a skylight, wood cabinetry, and a black-and-white checkered floor.
    Looking back through the kitchen to the entry way, the tile floors, Alt Leipzig by Zahna Fliesen, reflect the geometric pattern in this historic lightwell above.
  • A white armchair and a small, cylindrical side table next to a large, wooden open-frame bookshelf against a white curved wall.
    The shelving in one of the two bedrooms reflects the established motif inspired by the Baroque ceilings.
  • An arched wooden closet next to a matching arched vanity nook with a circular mirror and a small white stool.
    Herringbone floors merge with the built-in niche and doorframe which reflect the curve of the Baroque ceilings above.
  • A soap dispenser with a gold pump sits in a tiled shower niche containing a jagged piece of raw stone.
    The apartment reveals its many layers of history. “The niche in the shower deliberately leaves a small part of [this history] exposed.”

“Historically, Kosice was a very multicultural city, with significant German and Hungarian communities, and these influences are naturally reflected in its architecture and material culture, says Šulek. “For us, using this pattern was another subtle way of connecting the new interior with that broader Central European context.”

A soft material palette of clay plaster, natural wood and small format porcelain tiling, together with the delicate brass accents, help to create the apartment’s quietly, refined atmosphere that ties together the past with the present.

“Behind the plaster, the walls reveal a mixture of stone and brick masonry,” says Šulek. “The niche in the shower deliberately leaves a small part of this structure exposed—almost like a little window beneath the finished surface of the apartment.”

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