The pandemic began to change the habits of life and brought us all back home. But eventually, as the four walls of the house began to press, we again looked for opportunities to escape from the routine. Noticing the change in lifestyles, hotels also began to change – rooms turned into private one-table restaurants or new local holiday itineraries. Today, residents of the same city who want to escape from their home routine for a day, two or even a month choose the hotel experience, so hotel rooms have started to change, becoming cozy apartments.
Thus, the pandemic gave birth to an eight-apartment complex in the Old Town of Kaunas, which housed almost the entire interwar history of Kaunas under one roof. The eight apartments were inspired by eight bohemian stories, one of which tells about architecture.
The architect’s apartment was inspired by an interwar architect who drew monumental art deco and modernist lines in his everyday life, but practiced architectural jazz in his home and turned his own residence into an eclectic composition of forms. In the architect’s apartment, you will find a lot of architectural experiments, playing with arches, sculptures, patterns, textures, but everything – only in the frames of monochrome colors that will take you to the legendary White Villa.
These apartments are full of architectural games. Just two sq.m. the unused space became a single bedroom accessible by a pool ladder. The fluted glass in the arches tells of the interwar tradition of having skylights in bathrooms for natural daylight. The authentic arches of the building are rhythmically repeated in the canopy furniture of the kitchen and bedroom. The wind-blown curtains on the balcony create the effect of another living space. Apartments are designed for monumental experiences and escape from everyday life.
Author: Vaiva Mažonė
Photographer: Lukas Mykolaitis
Year: 2021
