Residence Alameda Campinas is situated in Sao Paulo, Brazil, designed by studio Maurício Arruda. After 10 years living in this small 516 square foot (48 square meters) apartment, the client´s first demand, a 40 year-old bachelor, was not to try to convince him to move to a bigger place. Used to living alone in a reduced size space, and aware of its limitations, the owner asked for a complete transformation of its interior, from layout to finishing, to lightning. The goal was to expand through the unity of both floors of this duplex apartment; the project features a restricted color and material pallet. Among the furniture the sofa, a 1962 Sergio Rodrigues´ Tonico – already owned by the client – was the starting point for the ground floor, influencing the assembly of shapes colors and texture of the projects.

In the upper floor, the caviúna panel, also from the 60´s and owned by the client´s family, covering the wall on the bed´s headrest dictated the usage of light wood and color in the intimate area To invert the often used “wooden floor and white walls” combo, white epoxy painting over the existing ipê floor was used on both floors and the walls were covered by a mix of gray and beige, known in the fashion world as “greyge”, which embraces the sobriety and masculinity of gray with a touch of warmth from the brown tones.

The woodwork from the ground floor has ebonized finishing, both in the living room´s shelves and in the kitchen cabinets. The only exceptions to the black-white-greyge pallet are the kitchen´s floral cement tiles, the Moroccan Berber carpet and the illustrations that compose his Brazilian vintage collection.

To give the feeling of higher ceilings, the walls´ baseboards were removed and the lighting is kept to just a pendant light over the kitchen counter and a ceiling light near the bedroom closets – respectively from the 60´s and 70´s. The rest of the apartment is illuminated at night by built-in lights to the woodwork and by the table lamps by the sofas and bed.

Photos: Fran Parente