It is hard to believe that this showroom-esque apartment with its marshmallow colour palette was once a sad, cheaply fitted out space. When BoardGrove Architects first entered the space, co-director Holly Board explains that they were faced with ‘plastic timber look-alike floors’ and ‘laminate kitchen joinery.’ A dark corridor segmented the rooms, and a general malaise of tired design made for a bland and personality-less space.

The transformative renovation reinvigorated the space, by stripping back facades to expose raw materials, and introducing custom made design elements. A few minor adjustments to the layout also created multiple openings and pathways between spaces, allowing greater versatility in this compact home.

Peeling back daggy surfaces exposed the honesty of the materials beneath, including suggest precast concrete panels, with painterly textures from concrete pour, and builder’s marks. These textural imperfections show the material history of the site, and sit in contrast to the new minimalist kitchen.

The kitchen area is a new insertion into the apartment, and Holly explains their key objective here was to avoid a conventional layout. Instead, the architects created a ‘cooking area that appeared as a collection of sculptural objects, with the functional cooking equipment concealed within each element.’ A solid Corian bench, metal arched door, and complimentary arch reveal provide secret nooks for the sink, oven, stove, rangehood and fridge. The result is a sleek, and supremely versatile living space – that feels a little like looking into the future.