160 m² apartment looks like a house with a green, pink and neon palette

In 2021, shortly after purchasing this 160 m² apartment in Ipanema (RJ), a young couple of entrepreneurs visited CASACOR Rio looking for an office to carry out a renovation and decoration project for their new home and, right away, they identified with the space designed by architects Cadé Marino, Michelle Wilkinson and Thiago Morsch, from the UP3 Arquitetura office . “At the time, we built a 140 m² loft-style house from scratch in the gardens of the exhibition, with decor in shades of pink and green, abundant vegetation and natural light, as well as lots of wood to reinforce the feeling of coziness,” says Thiago . “In fact, that was exactly what the couple asked us for – an apartment with a homely feel , spacious, comfortable and integrated spaces to welcome many friends and decor in the same color palette and materials,” he adds. In the new project, all the rooms in the apartment underwent changes to create a layout that met the couple's needs. The property originally had four bedrooms, but since the clients wanted a larger living room with an integrated kitchen , one bedroom was eliminated to accommodate their request. “The demolition of this bedroom also allowed us to expand the master suite and add more space to the closet,” says architect Michelle . In the decoration of the social area – now with the integrated kitchen, the occasional presence of bold colors (especially in shades of green and pink) brought a young and relaxed atmosphere, without visually weighing down the space, whose base in neutral tones can be seen in the furniture, flooring and carpentry. Here, three elements steal the show: the large green sofa (with six modules arranged in an L shape, which allows for the creation of an infinite number of bold combinations), the triangular dining table with rounded corners that seats up to 10 people (made of metalwork with sheet metal) and the extensive carpentry bookcase , all designed by the firm itself. “The bookcase was designed to integrate the entire living and dining area, with the lower part functioning as a rack and the part close to the kitchen with niches to accommodate a mini wine cellar and a beer cooler below and a bar above,” describes architect Cadé .

The kitchen repeats the same bold color palette present in the living room décor. Meeting all the couple's demands for functionality, the space has a dining table attached to the cooking island (which can also be used as a worktop) and can also be isolated by folding doors made of white metalwork and sandblasted glass to avoid blocking the passage of natural light. In the master bedroom, the architects opted for a neutral and light palette to help the couple disconnect from the rest of the house, encouraging them to relax. Note that the bedroom doubles down on the project's focus on wood finishes, which appear not only on the floor but also on the ceiling, reinforcing the feeling of warmth and welcome. In the couple’s bathroom, they took advantage of the fact that the apartment is on the first floor and incorporated part of the outdoor area to create a “ garden bathroom ”, thus recreating the homely atmosphere that the clients had been looking for from the beginning. “The presence of abundant vegetation and the natural wood deck helped achieve this goal”, says architect Michelle . The couple's closet was completely "wrapped" in wood, as if it were a "box", seeking, in addition to offering spatial organization, to awaken sensations, such as visual and tactile comfort and welcome. Here, the architects preferred to work with materials with similar characteristics – thus avoiding variations in colors, shapes and textures – to make the space seem larger and more comfortable. After all, the closet functions as a transitional space, separating the couple's private comfort area from the other rooms in the apartment. “Our biggest challenge in this project was to bring a sense of spaciousness and increase the presence of natural light inside the apartment, and also meet the clients’ demand for a young and bold space, without losing the essence and elegance that have become a hallmark of our projects”, concludes architect Cadé Marinho.