Terrazzo Ties Together This Berlin Apartment by Studio Loes
Nothing unites urbanites quite like swapping stories of apartment quirks. And for designers, such spaces often present long awaited opportunities to flex some creativity. When faced with turning a dysfunctional 1,453-square-foot Berlin apartment into a family home, Studio Loes founders Gonzalo Lizama, Onur Özdemir, and Lukas Specks took a two-fold approach: first, they repositioned the kitchen, bathroom, and living area, creating a central hub; then they designed custom furnishings to fit perfectly within the narrow space. “The whole space was not really efficiently used, so we came up with a concept to merge the bathroom and kitchen area more in the center so living could happen more freely around it,” says Lizama.
For a timeless element that reflects the building’s historic bones, the designers worked with a local stonemason to incorporate three different types of Italian Terrazzo stone throughout, with warmer hues in the kitchen and deep greens in the bathroom. In the dining area, the team built a custom table that seats 10 and is illuminated by custom blown-glass swivel lamps, which sits next to an 85-foot-long floating terrazzo sideboard that runs the length of the space.
After seeing the impact of the custom pieces in this home, the firm’s founders decided to launch their own furnishing line, LOES.BETA.GMBH. “From an architect’s view, we deal with problems… and we wanted to make something to distribute next to our architecture practice,” shares Özdemir, noting that structural details often shape the overall aesthetic of a space. “The pieces we added were not really added, we took [the apartment] as one big entity,” adds Lizama. “The materials we chose have something that gives it an eternity feeling.” Considering the finishes and furnishes were made to fit this very apartment, the designers hope they remain a part of it for years to come.
