The phrase “paint-by-numbers” is frequently applied disparagingly to denote a job that adheres as well carefully to an recognized template. But the stating takes on new that means in a Prague renovation by No Architects, where a painting of two numerals encouraged a playfully by-product combine of dazzling colors, daring forms and intriguing textures.
The artwork in issue, a favorite of the maisonette’s house owners, is by Czech painter Vladimír Houdek. Throughout 4 panels, he explores the visual similarities in between the digits 6 and 9. (And while the architects note that the variety 69 “has a specific that means for the homeowners of this area,” they clarify that it is not because of its, uh, “sexually coded reference”.)
A lot of of the two-storey unit’s most eye-catching things can be traced again to this canvas, now prominently suspended amongst the kitchen area and dining location. Initially, there is the home’s color plan, which carries the painting’s daring blue through to both equally the lower kitchen area cabinetry and a stroll-in hallway closet (equally of which, like all of the project’s home furniture items, are custom manufactured).
The pale pink employed on the higher kitchen area cupboards and wall-mounted cabinets introduces a dynamic counterpoint, while other shades of blue pop up all through the property to build areas that sense harmonious but not a person-note.
Meanwhile, the mottled border around Houdek’s artwork informs the tough edge that runs alongside the bases of the kitchen’s upper cupboards — a instant of rawness that makes for a exciting distinction to the tender hues and gentle curves that surround it.
Apart from inspiring the space’s numerous rounded forms, the sinuous shapes of the painting’s integers also surface through the household in less summary means. On closer inspection, the perforations in the home’s steel vent grates are truly a pattern manufactured up of a lot of tiny 6s and 9s.
This depth hints at the numerous practical challenges that had been resolved in the course of the renovation — along with modifying the unit’s layout to enlarge essential areas, the architects also revamped the heating process and put in an air conditioning device. The new stairs symbolize one more major upgrade, illuminated by less than tread lighting and framed by a wall of wood that curves all-around a corner and swoops up onto the ceiling as one reaches the next storey.
During the maisonnette, other artworks from the family’s selection tell additional design and style features. Teardrop-shaped lights reference equally the melancholic tone of a painting by Josef Bolf that hangs in the dwelling room, as properly as a close by waterfall mural by Patrik Hábl that’s noticeable via the window.
All in all, the concluded house is a prosperous extension of the artwork it showcases. And for the reason that it’s born from an equation which is equivalent areas imitation and imagination, the ultimate resolution seems to be anything but formulaic.