The project is an apartment on the top floor of a pitched roof building. We took advantage of the height of the middle space to set up a mezzanine for the 58㎡ apartment, and set up two vertical paths to strengthen the connection between the upper and lower floors, thus forming a vertical loop path in the apartment. The path fully mobilizes the interaction between the body and the space, creating a series of behaviors such as climbing, sitting on the ground, and bending over.
Today, the developed urban system creates a huge barrier-free space. This seems to be a kind of humanistic care, but the other side is the lack of behaviors and feelings about human nature. Urban space gradually strips away human nature. Through the interaction between body and space, people’s instincts are re-mobilized, so as to gain the courage to continue to coexist with the city.
Space form and material design are all developed around the circular path. The largest volume in the path is the main staircase connecting the upper and lower floors. We hope that the main staircase can be passed comfortably without occupy on the space of the upper and lower floors. And visually reduce the impact on the openness as much as possible.
Our space configuration strategy is to dissolve the volume. The large volume of stairs is decomposed into multiple small volumes and integrated with furniture and ceilings. The counter top of the cabinet extends to the side of the staircase to form a step, and the shelf acts as a corner landing for the staircase. The two shapes are naturally combined to become an organic form, as if they had grown in the building originally.
The dining table is placed under the stairs. We set the lower steps as shelf to avoid bumps. The shelf highlights the presence of the shape here, which prevents people from approaching the area under the stairs to a certain extent. The cat bed and feeders are placed here , providing a comfortable and stable shelter for the cats in the family.
The gaps in the shapes provide the cats with passageways and viewing platforms. We have fully exploited the efficiency of the space and superimposed the four functions of stairs, sideboard, bookshelf and cat living area.
A small living room is set up in the highest area of the mezzanine. It is connected to the bedroom, cloakroom and bathroom on the mezzanine. Sunlight shines in through the small windows, bringing natural lighting and ventilation to the mezzanine.
We lowered the floor of the bedroom area. It ensures that people can still walk upright in the bedroom, and there is still a relatively comfortable height above the head of the bed. The bedroom and the living room are connected to ensure the circulation of air and sunlight in the space.
The study room is connected with the mezzanine living room through a small passage. The sloping roof squeezes the height of the passage, and we combined the door opening with the bookshelf to form a short passage. People need to bend down and squat or sit down after entering the passage. The passage is wrapped with wood veneer, and people can rely on the wall to borrow strength. This path strengthens the body’s perception of space and is also a buffer for entering the mezzanine area of the study.
The ladder with wheels can be stored by the wall without affecting the passage on the ground floor. In addition to the desk, there is also a combined cabinet with a bookshelf and a folding bed on the ground floor, and the study room can also be used as a temporary guest room. The bookshelves on the upper and lower floors are enough to carry the owner’s collection of books. When taking books up and down by climbing the ladder, it adds a sense of ritual to reading.