Industrial-Modern Studio in Slovakia
Architect Lukas Kordik’s vision for his apartment in Bratislava, Slovakia, based on three things: working together with the present structure, eliminating walls and obstacles, and creating an easy, open space. But describing his vision to his building team was another story. “They didn’t understand why I wished to leave the concrete vaulted ceilings and brick walls exposed once they were washed. They’re used to plastering over all,” he said.
Eventually, Kordik’s team got it right. What was once a”sad and odd space” is presently a light-filled industrial apartment that works perfectly for him.
at a Glance
Who lives here: Lukas Kordik
Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
Size: 516 square feet
Design challenge: Convincing the construction workers to leave the ceiling and brick walls exposed
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The robin’s egg blue kitchen cabinets provide the industrial space a lively splash of colour. Sight lines are kept open using an electric stovetop, an oven set flush into the base cabinetry and integrated handles. The kitchen unit of sink, cooker, oven and storage space operates from this vibrant block of colour and space-saving efficiency.
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Kordik’s customized kitchen shelf is part wall mounted, part storage wonder. Wineglasses, wooden spoons, spices, coffee, design books and a lot more are saved inside its floor-to-ceiling shelves.
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A translucent glass wall supporting the open shelving divides the kitchen in the bathroom. “I wanted to put a little dining table and work table in the kitchen and expand the apartment generally, so I had to push the bathroom back — way back. It was a match with millimeters; I had been working inside a strip of space that has been barely over 3 ft wide,” says Kordik.
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The proximity of the bathing and eating areas may not be for everyone, but the space works for Kordik’s needs. During the design process, he respectfully disregarded other people’s conclusions and adopted his own ideas.
Kordik cooks up a storm and eats in his kitchen. Pots, pans and skillets hang out of the shelving system and overhead rack — clues that this kitchen is a functioning kitchen.
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The feel on the ceiling of this apartment forces you to look up. The concrete’s coarseness and the brick walls comparison with the newly painted semi wall, completed oak floors and sleek lines of the contemporary furniture and appliances.
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Kordik has carved out a while for his crops, on the floor and the windowsill. Close to the speakersthey can benefit from just a tiny music therapy.
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This viewpoint of the living room shows how Kordik has devoted a niche next to the media area into some floor-to-ceiling bookshelf. Art both hangs on the wall and can be put casually on the ground.
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Natural light floods the apartment out of many windows facing the street. Spotlights streaming through the cement waves on the ceiling light the space at night.
One reason Kordik was drawn to the apartment was its access to the urban environment and a village-like neighborhood of coastal roads, single-family houses and, in the horizon, a view of the Lesser Carpathian mountains.
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Because of his 30th birthday, Kordik gave himself the orange midcentury armchair, where he often finds himself right by the window having a drink in hand and music playing in the background.