Attic Apartment MALVAZINKY
With attic spaces, square metres alone do not tell you much. What matters more is where you can actually stand, walk, open a wardrobe or arrive comfortably at the top of a staircase. At Malvazinky, this was especially important. The upper level sits under a low roof, so the available height determined where the staircase could go and, ultimately, how the entire duplex would work. Instead of fighting the sloping roof, we used it. The staircase moved to the centre of the layout, lower zones were occupied by built-in furniture, and the upper floor was reserved for functions that do not require full standing height. The roof sets the rules, and the layout has to work with them.
Staircase at the centre
The staircase could not simply be pushed to the edge of the apartment to keep it out of the way. Upstairs, it would have arrived exactly where there was not enough headroom. So it had to sit in the middle of the plan. Once something this large occupies the centre of a living space, there is little point pretending it is not there. We made it one of the main elements of the interior. Oak treads sit within a black steel structure, while on the living-room side a conventional balustrade was replaced by long leather straps. The staircase divides the space without closing it off, separating the entrance from the living and dining area. The space beneath the stairs was also put to work as storage. The whole structure therefore does several jobs at once: it connects the two floors, organises the plan and hides the things that do not need to stay on display. The leather straps also connect naturally with the oak and copper details used throughout the apartment.
Kitchen under the slope
A kitchen beneath a sloping roof has one obvious problem: a standard row of wall cabinets often simply does not fit. You can accept the missing storage, or design the joinery around the roof. We chose the second option. The oak cabinetry above the worktop follows the slope and uses areas that would otherwise remain empty. Small appliances are hidden behind lift-up doors, so the worktop does not have to become a permanent display of mixers, cables and chargers. A large white island adds both working surface and informal seating. Because the staircase is already a strong element in the open-plan living space, the kitchen itself remains visually quieter.
Bed where you do not need to stand
There is little point placing standing functions beneath the lowest part of a roof. A bed, however, fits there perfectly well. We therefore used the lowest part of the bedroom for sleeping and kept the taller zone free for circulation and the adjoining dressing room. It is a simple move, but exactly the kind that makes the difference between an attic apartment where you keep noticing the roof and one where its limitations almost disappear. White surfaces and oak flooring keep the room light and calm. Large glazing leads directly onto the balcony, just as it does from the other main rooms.
The bathroom starts with the basins
In the main bathroom, we organised the layout according to what is used most often. Two basins are positioned immediately by the entrance. Only beyond them does the room continue towards the bath and separate shower. You therefore do not need to walk through the entire bathroom every time you simply want to wash your hands or brush your teeth. It sounds like a small detail until you start using the space every day. Neutral seamless finishes keep the room visually quiet. The exception is the wall behind the basins, where we used a black-and-white mix of graphic patterns. The timber vanity and large mirror then reconnect the bathroom with the material palette of the rest of the apartment.
Children’s room within the joinery
The children’s room uses the low part of the roof in a different way. A built-in wall incorporates a soft upholstered niche between the cupboards – a place for reading, playing or simply disappearing for a while when the rest of the world becomes less interesting. It is another example of why low attic space is not automatically wasted space. It simply needs the right function. White joinery is combined with a muted blue-green niche and a birch-tree wall graphic. The room is slightly more playful than the rest of the apartment, while still remaining part of the same overall material language.
The attic hidden above the apartment
The original apartment had been created sometime in the 1980s or 1990s and made almost no use of the attic above it. The living spaces ended at a flat ceiling, while the entire roof volume remained hidden and inaccessible. During the renovation, we removed the original ceilings and opened the apartment all the way up to the roof structure. Suddenly, a completely different volume appeared – taller, more open and, crucially, large enough to accommodate a second level. This is often the decisive move in an Attic Renovations: before adding another layer of interior design, first find out how much space is actually hidden above your head.
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21. 8. 2026