An Annex Condo Gets a Space-Making Reno

Renovating the spartan, ‘70s-era suite was going to be difficult. With concrete walls and shared structural glazing systems, little could be done to its existing constraints. But Gloria Apostolou, founder of Post Architecture, was up for the challenge. “We couldn’t easily gut the apartment because of the construction,” Apostolou says. “On our part, it was a matter of how to make a meaningful impact knowing that we could not do what we typically do.”

Unable to build out, Apostolou turned inward to find space. Demolishing what interior partitions she could, she reclaimed almost five square metres and installed sliding doors throughout, saving a square metre of functional space apiece. She also leveraged a number of skillful millwork interventions in a subtle, space-lightening blue-grey wash, to provide much-needed storage space and knit the 84-square-metre interior together with a unified graphic accent.

With the walls gone, Apostolou was free to rejig the location of major kitchen appliances, gaining 11.5 cm for the galley configuration. A generous island now meets a floor-to-ceiling unit that, in addition to housing the relocated fridge, is backed with ample storage and a hidden cubby to disappear the coffee machine and toaster. It also functions to visually divide the open area from the surrounding space. To reinforce the airy feel, the upper cabinets were elevated 61-centimetres above the counter and painted bright white, almost receding against the bold cabinetry below.

“We stole from wherever we could,” says Apostolou. In the bathroom, for instance, a wall cavity became the prime site to insert a medicine cabinet, while open shelving in the living area holds the owner’s impressive library.

A dressing area — a “walk-through closet” of sorts — was created with an almost two-metre-long, low-slung dresser, which also helps balance out the narrow proportions of the space. Cleverly backing the laundry with the bathroom wall meant that the appliances could be integrated into the adjacent closet, veiled with a slatted door that slides back into the system.

While fitting out such a small space with this much storage could easily drift into heavy and claustrophobic territory, the final renovation retains a luminous and refreshing atmosphere, the perfect backdrop to the homeowner’s vibrant art collection. “It was a conversation,” Apostolou says of the process, “about how to balance these hiding places with a sense of openness.” POSTARCHITECTURE.COM