Apartment in Tel Aviv / Michal Shilgi Architecture + Rebecca Citrin Interior Design
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Text description provided by the architects. Three apartments converted into a unique 140 square meter duplex in Jabotinsky Street, central Tel Aviv. A stylish bachelor pad for a new immigrant, and provide a holiday home for his extensive family visiting regularly from London
Virtual project management – We initially met the client a few days before Covid really hit in early 2020. The client’s mother, who was to manage the renovation, planned to visit from London every few weeks but very soon a round of lockdowns began in Israel and in England, which meant we couldn’t meet the client in person for the entire project. All communications moved to WhatsApp and Zoom, whether regarding budget management, contractor management, and design choices, requiring some creative forms of presentation and plenty of 3D rendering.
Bespoke furnishing – Almost every item in the apartment was tailor-made using local artisans – from lighting, carpentry, windows, furniture, to the beds and closets. We also focused on using unconventional combinations of ceramics or wallpaper, bold color combinations, and textures.
Design features for multi-functionality: The design style was stylish urban with middle eastern touches, but the apartment als
o had to fulfill multiple functions to suit a variety of lifestyles and needs:
- A fun bachelor with a busy social life so we gave a trendy restaurant vibe, with a beer tap in the kitchen countertop, high bar, and seating corners scattered around the house and balcony.
- A holiday apartment for visitors from London, giving everyone their own space, with some tourist touches, for example, in the guest toilet we designed a floor-to-ceiling wall mural of a Tel Aviv Street map interspersed with vintage Tel Aviv Street photos.
- Tel Aviv real estate is among some of the most expensive in the world, so we had to make every inch count such as a kitchen island that also functioned as the banister for a spiral staircase, a vertical garden wall on the balcony to save valuable floor space but still give a sense of a garden, guest suite with open plan bedroom/bathroom and freestanding bath, a ‘chill-out zone located in the open area between the bedrooms, that can be converted into an additional bedroom.
- The client wanted a flow between indoors and outdoors, so we used visual tricks like corner glass, continuing the outdoor balcony floor partially into the main floor, a continuation of the line of the indoor sofa with the outdoor seating, a double-sided fireplace for the salon as well as the balcony on winter evenings.
- Whilst the client is single today, he wanted to future-proof the apartment to suit family life with comfort and child-safe solutions like the iron gate on the stairs that blend into the design and a zoola area that can be both a play area or closed off for the afternoon naps.
- Sliding doors between the master suite and open living area downstairs, so that when the bachelor doesn’t have guests, he can create one large open space (see the library, desk, and spiral staircase downstairs.
