Upgrading the awkwardly formal layout of this 1950s apartment involved reorganising the floorplan and creating new transitions from one space to the next. From the entry, the corridor is lined with American oak for a cocooning arrival experience – a beautiful timber portal where shoes are removed and belongings stowed before continuing into the living area. 

Within the compact apartment, the wood panelling also serves to separate private from public space, seamlessly concealing doors into the bedroom, bathroom and storage area.

Key interventions included removing walls from the north-facing kitchen to combine it with the living area and bring the daylight with it. In the bedroom, a south-facing window to a communal corridor is obscured with a freestanding walk-through wardrobe with in-built bedside shelving.