Under the attic

Bukarest, Romania

Photo © Andrei Margulescu

Conversions + Extensions

Architects: ahaa

Location: Strada Logofat Udriste, Bukarest, Romania
Year: 2013

The screed under the pitched roof is always left unused in most Romanian residential buildings as fire safety regulations do not permit for its use. A lot of potential space is left unexploited. This is also the case in this interwar period housing block where the young owner outgrew the apartment on the top floor with its cellular structure.

To create a feeling of spaciousness in the tight space, the project establishes various visual relationships in particular by breaking up the sanitary functions. The living and dining area surround a previously barely usable terrace extended inwards; the free-standing kitchen furniture divides it without cutting the visual reference. An astonishing abundance of space is created by introducing a third dimension. A previously dark, unattractive corner becomes the spatial heart thanks to the skylight. The project evades the usual clichés associated with attic apartments as the roof space is only integrated in a fragmentary way to create vertical accents in places.

Built-in corner furniture units accentuate the flowing space. A minimalist selection of materials avoids them competing with the spatial diversity. Like the resident, the apartment has something eccentrically cosmopolitan and modestly down-to-earth at the same time.