VOV APARTMENT
Custom-made furniture, contemporary works of art and design pieces even for the bathroom with tapware by FIMA.
An apartment extending some 100 square metres over two levels that, with a precise artistic taste and a playful character, manages to encapsulate the needs and passions of a family unit, becoming an iconic and memorable project from the bright minds of young architects. We refer to ATER.ARCHITECTS, a creative duo formed by Oleksandr Ivasiv and Yuliia Tkachenko, the minds behind the VOV Apartment, a space for living in the centre of the city of Kyiv, created for the founders of the Kyiv Academy of Media Arts.
The prerequisites for the project included a clear division between common and private spaces, to meet the needs of the couple who have a young child and an absolute trust in the expressive capabilities of the designers. It is easy to see how the division over two floors led to the organisation of the sleeping and living areas.
On the ground floor opens up a large open space, a fluid environment in which the kitchen, living room and dining area intertwine. The second floor, rather, is entirely dedicated to the bedrooms and the generous master bathroom, which was enlarged precisely at the request of the clients. The focus on wellbeing and self-care is also reflected in the choice of furnishings suggested by the architects themselves, with products from recognised and strongly design-oriented European brands such as FIMA Carlo Frattini for the tapware.
BRUSHSTROKES OF COLOUR AND PAINTINGS TO ATTRACT ATTENTION
The understated and contemporary VOV Apartment plays on a neutral colour palette with bright and intense accents. At the base is the grey concrete of the ceilings and load-bearing elements of the structure, which have been kept in their original state except for an anti-dust treatment, along with the white plaster of the walls and the natural wooden parquet flooring. Touches of colour are then distributed throughout the space, between the cobalt blue furniture with a Pop flavour, the custom-made furniture (such as the purple bookcase under the metal staircase) and the pink glass kitchen backsplash that dialogues with the black of the shelving and the matching or contrasting worktops.
Yet, every space also has a precise point designed to capture the attention, highlighted by a work of art carefully chosen by the home owners, who have long been immersed in the world of contemporary art and design.
In the open space, the focus is on the corner near the window, where a digital piano stands against the concrete wall embellished by a painting from artist Francoise Oz. Above the stairs, a collage by Oleksii Kondakov has been expertly placed, precisely in line with the specifications of the designers who sought a large, vertical painting to go with the light installation created with Flos lighting. Moving to the master bedroom, a colourful abstract painting by Stepan Ryabchenko is displayed above the headboard.
Not so much a work of art but certainly a focal point of the project is the custom-made shelving unit in the living area that houses the 2000 vinyl records collected by the clients, who are also music enthusiasts.
A UNIQUE SPIRIT FOR EVERY BATHROOM
The VOV project counts two bathrooms, one on each level of the apartment, with very different and distinct characters.
The guest bathroom flanks the living area in a small but absolutely impressive space.
Pinkish tones permeate the space from floor to ceiling, stunning at first glance. The cement blocks of the non-plastered wall are pink, the wall tiles are pink and the self-levelling resin floor is pink.
The central element is a console washbasin in acrylic with black and white graphic motifs, where the black detailing reinforces the colour of the fittings.
Here we find FIMA’s SPILLO UP collection in the Black Matt version, bearing an intense finish that is pleasant to the touch and makes a bathroom as elegant as it is Pop. The chosen model is a two-hole wall-mounted mixer tap that leaves the counter free and clean in its geometry. A playful touch comes instead from the asymmetrical mirror illuminated by a white lamp in the shape of a monkey.
Yet another style has been created for the bathroom for the sleeping area. Spacious and well laid out, the master bathroom is divided by function to accommodate both a shower area and a comfortable back-to-wall bathtub in the same niche. Here, the cladding is made to measure. Concrete panels with a shaded effect alternate with white 10×10 tiles, with an obvious black joint to create an interesting visual impact. Both the shower column and the bathtub tapware are by FIMA Carlo Frattini, again from the SPILLO UP collection, here in the Black Matt finish. The shower in particular is an outdoor thermostatic model, wall-mounted and very popular in renovations due to the features and flexibility.
The tapware for the washbasin area is from the same series, where two SPILLO UP concealed mixer taps complement the basins in the wall-mounted console.
In contrast to the wellness niche, here the space is a black box, with an original grey concrete ceiling and full-wall mirror. Completing the design, with the usual playful and creative accent, is the under-basin cabinet coloured in forest green and fluorescent pink, where a purple neon light creates a unique and fun atmosphere also in this bathroom.
