Architecture News Plus (ANP) – Architecture and Design Magazine

Cetatuia Loft

This is a project by In Situ and it is located at Brasov, Romania. Project's program: Block of flats and interior design of a loft. There are twenty four images for Cetatuia Loft.

: © Cosmin Dragomir

Project details

Project name: Cetatuia Loft
Location: Brasov, Romania
Program: Block of flats and interior design of a loft
Area: Site Area: 415 m2 • Project Area: 1,500 m2
Year: Project Year: 2007-2009
Project by: In Situ
Team: Architects: Ion Popusoi, Bogdan Preda

Project images

Designer's statement

The site is situated on Cetatuia Street on a slope land free of any constructions, at the edge of the historical center of the town, with an extraordinary panoramic view to the mountains and historical center of the city, with the streetscape characterized by heterogeneous development.

At the left side of the building, down the street there is a 4-levels housing block from the 60's with flat roof, at the opposite in the upper side there is a modern house with one level and the pitched roof.

The building was designed as a residential housing consisting of 6 apartments (2 per level) and 2 lofts, with semi-underground parking. This led to a compact building, very conscious of the value of the site and of the panoramic views it could offer.

The clear and uncomplicated shape of the construction is enriched using the contrast and interaction between different materials with specific textures and colors. The building suggests elegance and balance by it’s proportion and scale.

Windows with a system of Venetian blinds reach to the floor, which makes the room appear larger, flooded with light. Moreover in the two attic apartments roof windows bring daylight deep down into the living room through the glass flooring.

The last 4 levels of the front façade, framed and covered with panels of high pressure laminates symmetric and asymmetric at the same time are situated on the basis of stone – half buried in a slope site.

The loft:

Developed on the last three levels the loft was designed, very conscious of the value of the site and of the panoramic views it could offer.

The first loft level is an open space comprising the kitchen, dining room and living room, the annexes, technical spaces, office and access hall, connected to the second and third levels by a wooden staircase.

The daytime area of the loft (located on the first level of the loft) is organized on two parallel lines, kitchen-dining room, united through the design of the ceiling, and living room-circulation areas. The differences in height and the arrangement of furniture emphasize the virtual separation between the two regions.

Windows reach to the floor, which makes the room appear larger, flooded with light, while roof windows bring daylight deep down into the living room through the glass flooring.

The stair was reduced to its minimum – the steps.

Railing was almost de-materialized by transparent glass, thus non-essential elements that altered the clear perception of the space where eliminated as much as possible.

The glass wall on the last floor for the master's bedroom opens a new direction to the living room and farther to the city through the roof windows.

Without these glazed surfaces – horizontal and vertical – the house would have lost a very important spatial dimension and the relationship between the interior and the landscape.

Strongly emphasized verticality of the living room walls is attenuated by the gallery of openings of various sizes and depths, connecting this room to something beyond the wall, either inside or outside the house. These are actually the interior decorations of the house.

On the second floor there is an extension of the living room with fire place, sleeping room, bathroom and storage. The last floor is for master's bedroom and a generous bathroom opened to the outside through a series of roof windows and a partially glazed wall.