Apartment with Three Domes in Berlin

In the Mitte district of Berlin, FAR frohn&rojas have converted an office from the early 1930s into an apartment. The new 211 m² living space offers open-plan areas spread over two floors. The loft-like structure is divided into a serviced and a serving area. The architects implemented the latter as a layer of space that wraps around the entrance area along the long side. Level 0 contains the bathrooms, a kitchen, various built-in furniture and a work area.

The gallery echoes the monochrome colour scheme. © Tobias Wootton

Above the service area on level 1 is a gallery with a sanitary centre and sleeping area. It opens onto the main room and is connected to it by a white steel spiral staircase. A concrete ceiling covers the apartment. Other elements include a grey terrazzo floor on level 0, the white plastered walls of the existing building and the all-white functional core. White-coated steel railings provide fall protection on the gallery. There are also white curtains to divide the space and neon tubes on the concrete ceiling. The sanitary core in the gallery is lined with grey felt, which, together with the grey carpet, is intended to improve the acoustics of the hard surfaces.  

The serving area wraps around the entrance to the apartment. © Tobias Wootton

The spacious main room, with its two-storey high ceiling, is divided by three oversized lampshades. They are three metres in diameter and positioned at head height. On closer inspection, they reveal themselves to be architectural references to three iconic domed buildings: the Pantheon in Rome, the great theatre by Hans Poelzig and Marlene Moeschke-Poelzig in Berlin, and the geodesic dome by Richard Buckminster Fuller. Their ornamentation adds a subtle, playful touch to the industrial design and enriches the living ambience.