In Berlin’s Mitte district, a new quarter planned by Herzog & de Meuron takes its name from the heritage-listed Kunsthaus Tacheles building. Facing one of the complex’s internal courtyards, the curvy facade of a residential building, also designed by Herzog & de Meuron, easily turns heads. It’s no wonder that Chilean architect and ArchDaily founder David Basulto and his wife, Ukrainian beautician Valeriia Karas, decided to call it home. To make the 900-square-foot apartment their own, they called on Kyiv-based firm balbek bureau to carry out a complete redesign.
“I noticed their work is always very forward looking. And it’s always comfy,” Basulto told AN Interior. “But also, as an architect, I was always looking at the details. I had this sense that in Ukraine, there was a good approach to fabrication in wood, steel, and stone, which I saw in balbek’s projects.”
Working with the couple’s eclectic set of inspirations—including the Japandi-style Soho House (Basulto and Karas met at a party at its Berlin location in 2017), the work of Sabine Marcelis, and a requested dining table and chairs by Sarah Ellison—Balbek expanded on the building’s motto: Living in the house of fine aesthetics. This included the careful selection of materials, including stone, wood, and steel; color; atypical lighting and furniture; and custom-made elements. Together, this approach led to a refined, yet cozy space that offers “a lighter atmosphere that you feel immediately,” as Basulto said.
As a starting point, the team worked with the 1-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment’s existing dark parquet floors and white walls. “In Berlin, where there are a lot of cloudy days, these finishes don’t make for a warm atmosphere,” said Balbek Bureau architect Yelyzaveta Schastlyvtseva, who led the project along with architect Nata Kurylenko.
To introduce balance, Balbek incorporated light wood throughout: custom cabinetry in the open-plan kitchen, the chunky Ellison dining table and light-colored leather chairs in the dining room, and a built-in desk at a bay window, which cleverly doubles as a makeup table.
In the bedroom, a curvy wall finished in varnished pine, installed behind the curved Porro Lipla bed, was inspired by the building’s facade. A semitransparent glass wardrobe is faced in doors that transition in a gradient from deep peach to matte white as an homage to Marcelis.
Many of the home’s design elements were custom-made by Ukrainian German carpentry studio PlanB, including marble vanities in colorful his-and-hers tiled bathrooms (Basulto’s is green, Karas’s is pink); wall-hung slabs of Caribbean quartzite as a backsplash in the kitchen, set above stainless steel cabinets; and a long, low stone shelf in the living room, where a flexible Edra sectional sofa and a floating aluminum bookshelf by Ben Hoek serve as visual centerpieces.
“[From] one side, you have something very open and flexible—this singular space of kitchen, dining, and living—but the bedroom turned out to be like a nest,” Basulto said. The paired spaces, furnished with a mix of design objects, suited the couple’s lifestyle. Basulto characterized the aesthetic as one that is “forward-looking but at the same time timeless.”
Perhaps the ultimate testament to their satisfaction: Now when the two return home from their travels, Basulto said, they no longer have the feeling of wishing they were still away. “We’re so happy to be back in our apartment.”