rodrigo bocater renovates 1960's concrete apartment into musician's home in rio de janeiro

rodrigo bocater arquitectos renovated an apartment for a musician, finished with exposed concrete and wooden details that open up to a lagoon view. located in rio de janeiro, brazil, ‘apartamento marchi’s redesign aimed to connect the interior spaces to each other to make them ample and integrated as living areas. 

images © luiza schreier

the architect achieved this by resizing the interiors and redistributing them into new living spaces that opened up to the stunning view. originally, the apartment included three bedrooms and service quarters, which were then transformed into social areas. a new space was opened towards the living room and the service area was reduced by half to become incorporated into the kitchen and laundry. 

constructed in the 1960’s, the original building had a robust structure with irregular and unaligned spans. this provided little flexibility for the needed spatial reconfigurations, however, rodrigo bocater skilfully rethought the spaces to have a functional yet aesthetic new purpose. 

the bedrooms and living room were placed at the facade faces, turning the kitchens and service areas towards the center of the apartment. the project proposes the removal of one of the three bedrooms, while the kitchen and the service facilities are unified creating a single space facing the view. 

the original structure of the building, made of reinforced concrete, inherently creates a rigid core for the home. the core becomes the apartment’s main bench, which centralizes and at the same time organizes social activities. the wooden flooring complements the concrete structure as the only expressive materials in the project emphasizing the desire to receive as much light as possible so the walls surfaces and metal bookshelves painted in white, are washed by external light.

project info:

architecture: rodrigo bocater

location: lagoa, rio de janeiro, brazil

completion date: 2017

illumination: reka iluminação

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: cristina gomez | designboom