Home Renovation in Prague Reveals Desire for Interior Spaciousness

The architecture firm Malfinio adjusted the floor plan of a 19th-century apartment by removing a wall to reduce the number of smaller rooms and create more space.

In light of our recent publication “Top 3 Renovated Rooms in 2021 – What’s Next for 2022?”, we continue with a focus on a recently completed renovation project in Prague’s Bubeneč district. The architecture firm Malfinio, founded by Martina Homolková in 2020, reworked the plans of a 19th-century apartment for a young couple with children.

This particular project exhibits the complete renovation of an apartment rather than a one or two-room project. The concept development phase required five months, from October 2020 to April 2021, and the construction was completed in 2022. Martina Homolková modified the entire floor plan to create a more spacious central living room and bathroom while devising a more uniform connection between the parents’ bedroom and that of the children.

“The apartment, which originally consisted of smaller rooms, as was common in this period, saw several adjustments in its floor plan,” the architects stated in a press release. “First, by removing a wall, we created a central space – the heart of the apartment. This way, we altered the overall movement patterns in the apartment. This adjustment also made way for enlarging the bathroom. The central room opens to the children’s room with Montessori elements on one side and the bedroom with a workstation on the other.”

Having gained five years of experience working at award-winning firm Formafata, Martina Homolková established herself in the interior design scene. She emphasizes space and light, openings, materials, textures, combinations, layers and detail. In terms of materials, observe the use of oak veneer in white/smoky oil in the furniture designed by Martina Homolková, along with the solid oak wood parquet flooring, and the brushed stainless steel finish and blued metal on furniture by the designer. She applied cement wall finish to selected vertical surfaces, the washbasin cabinet and the kitchen.

We can see how she opened the apartment to provide more space for its inhabitants; as for light, she combined standard interior lighting with furniture lighting to create an array of lighting in the apartment. Lighting choices include Taraxacum 2 by Flos, 84sp by Bocci and Brass 95, Brass 96 by Gervasoni. Carefully selected products such as these enhance the atmosphere by bringing forward specific pieces of furniture such as Roly Poly armchair by Driade, the legendary Sofa Togo by Ligne Roset, Stella side table by Jiří Krejčiřík, Wishbone CH24 chair by Carl Hansen and Beetle bar chair and Masculo chair by Gubi. The apartment features pieces of author textiles from the Geometr Studio. 

She worked with the couple to create their personal story, tailored from the concept to the implementation. The clients, for example, requested specific elements such as a cement floor tiling with a distinct four-pointed star pattern and a supermirror kitchen island. The mastery, however, stems from the interior designer’s filter as we perceive it throughout the entirety of the project, notably in the hallway.

“The hallway allowed us to employ a wilder look. In its more tender layer, we complemented this space with a mirror play and a flow created by the colors changing on its distinct-patterned floor tiling, shading from medium grey to mustard ochre and powder pink. From the hallway, there are doors leading to a separate, hidden toilet or to a generous bathroom.”