Some ideas to share a house in multiple units

At one time the apartments were designed and built with a very large surface area that today is too big for modern standards. Families with fewer children, the economic crisisor simply the desire to exploit the full potential of their areas, pushing the buyers of these mega properties to divide them into several units.

This was the request launched by a couple of clients on CoContest , the first platform 2.0 for architecture and interior design competitions: having available an apartment of 140 square meters placed on the first floor of a building located in Rome, they wanted to divide it into 2 smaller accommodation.

Ben 33 designers have sent to clients their project and above all stood out the idea of ManGaArchitects . The ingenious intuition was to divide the space by going to exploit to the maximum without losing useful in surface (unnecessary) corridors. The old entrance area in the vicinity of the lift has been used to open new accesses of the two apartments. The smaller apartment of about 45mq grows in length and is exposed on 2 sides. You enter through a hall that separates the living area from the bedroom: a double room on the right and a sitting room with an open plan kitchen, a bathroom blind behind which is housed. The larger apartment instead is exposed on 3 sides, most obviously light must enter inside for heating a space and go so to generate a sense of harmony.

The entrance has been exploited to the maximum planning of the containers walls. From here you enter the living area: a continuum between the kitchen, living room and a room used as a study / guest bedroom. The latter has the characteristic of being able to be opened or closed due to the presence of large pivot doors, which closed if necessary make a real room in itself. To reproduce this ongoing between the parties, the designers used a single material in the apartment: the wood, used in parquet flooring in the kitchen cupboards, library / input filter or strips in the bedroom , with its warmth, it allows even greater lighting throughout the house, resulting in the most welcoming way.

The distribution of the spaces created by designers ManGaArchitects was successful because it allowed us to obtain two functional and simply furnished apartments, both well-lit and ventilated naturally, all of which not only required by the customer but also essential for those who live there.

In second place ranking Emiliano Zandri that has divided the large apartment with a sloping line, as if to give justice to the two units. Both apartments feature a design theme: the discovery through a path of the residential place. The entrance leads to the living area, open and bright in both proposals. In two buildings curved lines delimiting the sleeping area: double bedrooms and spacious ventilated bathrooms. What distinguishes the largest apartment is the presence of a room that can be used in several features: bedroom, guest bedroom or study.

Choice undoubtedly risky than the designer Andrii Savchenko who won however the fifth place, despite not having received the customer's request: separate homes with separate entrance. Certainly the project idea was not entirely wrong: the apartment is divided into two smaller ones, each of which has their own bedroom and their own bathroom, but the stylistic tone was to leave a big Living as a common area. This is characterized by a series of frames that are modular and can be left totally open or closed when necessary. So a choice for those who fancy a change but do not want to dare too.