A ground floor in the heart of Kreuzberg, Berlin’s fascinatingly diverse district, was the location chosen for the new home and office for Mark Ask Plus architects.
The sad state of what was once a Schlecker supermarket called for a white canvas intervention. The renovation included new floors, ceilings, walls, partial removal of structural walls, new electrical and water installation. Now, the 180 squared meters ground floor is divided in two; the commercial space looking out the street and the home giving to the courtyard.
Common to all spaces are the high ceilings, concrete polished floor with floor heating and beautifully stucco-style rendered walls. All the elements needed were carefully designed to be built-in wall to wall. Doors and closet doors are frameless floor to ceiling and are rendered in the same stucco finish as the walls. The geometry is then very potent and the dusty surfaces softens it.
In the living part; the old small windows were replaced by 4 huge 3m high oak windows made in Denmark. They brighten up the home and open it to the small private garden in the courtyard. The central piece of the common spaces is the kitchen, it orchestrates all the main activities of the home. A 3,60m long concrete island was casted directly on site with a gorgeous terrazzo-like texture. A 3m long wood dining table comes by its side, beating at it’s rhythm. Between this big kitchen-dining-meeting area and the living room there’s a change of height that gives the living room it’s own place in an otherwise open plan. The set back for it is a wall of closets. They lead to the bedroom and bathroom. The bathroom is a clean concrete cube, where the elements are hidden and the visible surfaces rendered in microcement. The floor comes down to form a built in bathtub. A fake skylight on top adds up to the dramatic effect.
