Space-Savvy Family Apartment in Beijing with a Smart Mezzanine Level

ByMyProperty Life

Maximizing space does not mean you give up on aesthetics. This fabulous apartment in Beijing showcases how to get the job done as it turns a relatively small urban apartment into a charming and light-filled modern urban home. Built for a family of three, this Chinese apartment was designed by Hao Design keeping in mind the specific needs of the family that resides within. With homeowners who spend plenty of time within the confines of the apartment and bring work home regularly, it was important to create an effective, efficient and yet relaxing interior. The Starburst House accomplishes this using a backdrop that is neutral and still has ample textural contrast.

Open plan living area on the lower level of the Beijing apartment

The lower level of the apartment contains the living area, kitchen and dining space along with the kids’ room and play area. It is the top mezzanine floor that holds the master bedroom, bathroom and the study. A series of smart, space-savvy open bookshelves line the landing area of the mezzanine floor and offer ample storage space. Even on the lower level, space is maximized using modular wooden cabinets, a single-wall kitchen and a living room that borrows heavily from Scandinavian style.

Read another article:Design Trends for Creating a Vacation Vibe at Home

RELATED: Space-Savvy Italian Home Delights with a Nifty Mezzanine-Level Bedroom

View of the light-filled living area from the mezzanine floor
Wood and weathered tiles on the wall add warmth to the apartment interior
Dining area of the space-savvy Chinese apartment
Fabulous and space-savvy Beijing apartment design with mezzanine level
Gorgeous and space-conscious apartment design with mezzanine level bedroom
Minimal living room has a Scandinavian style about it
Single wall kitchen design for the small modern apartment
Staircase and floor brings concrete charm to the interior
Utilizing space under the mezzanine level inside the modern urban apartment

White tiles wit distressed finish on the walls, concrete floors and staircase and wooden cabinets along with the large glass windows make sure there is no monotony despite the minimal use of color. Smart and innovative ideas like the playzone crafted using colorful orange curtains, chalkboards walls in the kids’ room and bright curtains replacing bathroom doors put the final touches on an apartment that is anything but mundane.

RELATED: Think Vertical: Space-Savvy Kitchen and Mezzanine in Small Barcelona Apartment

Space-savvy use of open shelves for the mezzanine level study and bedroom
Study zone on the upper mezzanine level next to bedroom
Tufted headboard wall for the contemporary bedroom in white
Use of curtains instead of traditional doors saves precious space on the mezzanine level
Using curtains to create a smart playzone shaped like a tent

The mezzanine design gives an open public space, retaining the ceiling structure and height, and promoting visual penetration. The children’s room is under the stairs, which prevents the children from moving, and can also extend the fun of the secret base. There are shoes and chairs in the entrance area, and the entrance table is convenient for hanging on the left side. The schoolbags that children can come back from school can also be hung at a suitable height, and the storage is more flexible.

Blues and greens add brightness to the bedroom in white with slanted ceiling
Ceiling windows bring ample light in to the kids’ playroom with chalkboard wall
Combining the laundry and the bathroom designs to save space
Custom wooden decor along with natural greenery for the refined modern bedroom
Hint of green for the modern minimal bathroom in neutral hues
Mezzanine level bookshelf makes use of space with ease
Minimal and modern kids’ playroom with pops of bright color
Slanted ceiling allows the architects to experiment with the mezzanine level design
Read another article:Hot Trends: 20 Best Farmhouse Style Kitchens in White and Wood

You’re reading Space-Savvy Family Apartment in Beijing with a Smart Mezzanine Level, originally posted on Decoist. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Decoist on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Similar Posts

  • Dark and Sophisticated: Black Home Office Ideas You Will Love

    The last couple of decades have seen a drastic change in work culture and the idea of boring, repetitive cubicles has been dumped in favor of a more exciting office. But an even more significant change comes in the moving of workplace to home with more and more people starting to avoid the daily commute […]

    You’re reading Dark and Sophisticated: Black Home Office Ideas You Will Love, originally posted on Decoist. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Decoist on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

  • Good Haus

    The Good Haus celebrates the intersection between design and performance – and seeks to be an example of a “good house”. The house is the family home of principals Mela Breen and David Good (designer and builder) – and playfully gets it’s moniker from Dave’s last name. So what is our idea of a good house? In this case it is one that is pushing the possibilities of a site specific design while holding itself accountable to reaching the highest level of energy efficiency. Our good house is one that embodies our beliefs about resiliency, efficiency, health and comfort, beauty and playfulness. The DNA for the Good Haus is established by the site, a steep and rocky hillside that spills down onto a small neighboring foothill meadow. A limited buildable footprint, season drainage concerns, and an inviting flat outcrop of granite drove the initial design. Two intersecting geometric volumes were conceived, each reaching out to connect the building to the landscape, each intersecting the other and providing counter balance. The main first floor volume is a long south facing rectangle that stretches and anchors in the granite. A deep west facing porch protects the house from overheating, bridges a rocky drainage and links the open floor plan to the landscape with a large outdoor living space. The second floor volume runs perpendicular to the main living space and cantilevers to create a covered north entry, while a balcony on the south side cantilevers towards the oak canopy – creating a sense that the master bedroom is in a tree house. The exterior material pallet is in keeping with our love for the handmade modern. Cedar siding from trees grown on Mela’s childhood property and milled by her father is mixed with standing seam metal roofing that turns downing to clad the walls as a way to articulate the building form. Because the topography falls roughly 12’ over the relatively narrow width of the house, and the granite spine to the west hinted at what might lay below the soils (giant boulders and bedrock), we opted to build the first floor primarily on a steel pier and beam structure with a metal pan deck. This allows the building to float above the rocky drainage. The complexity of the design, with its cantilevers and steel deck foundation, require a heightened attention to the air sealing and insulation details. The super insulated, air-tight building envelope is wrapped in exterior Rockwool insulation, all the connections between interior and exterior structural members are meticulously detailed to avoid thermal bridges, and triple pane European windows and doors are used to maximize light, comfort, and performance. A CO2 heat pump water heater provides the most efficient domestic hot water delivery. Balanced heat recovery ventilation offers high indoor air quality and uniform temperature distribution. Indoor climate control is provided by super efficient ductless mini splits. A 6.5 kw roof mounted photovoltaic system is installed to offset the home’s energy usage (including the charging of an electric car) – creating a zero net energy building.

  • Creek House

    Set amidst a volcanic boulder field in a pine and fir forest, Creek House is a family retreat that inhabits an existing outcrop clearing at the edge of the spring fed Martis Creek. Near the base of Lookout Mountain at Northstar California Resort, the house is conceived in plan as three directional bars that slide between and alongside the boulders and trees. The largest contains the main living areas and sleeping quarters. A margin sized bar houses the entry and support spaces and connects the third bar that contains a tandem, drive-through garage to the house. A south facing, 140-foot long, insulated concrete wall demarks the spaces longitudinally and situates the house in the mountainous terrain.   A shift of the major bar to the west over the natural downslope of the site earns two requested rock gardens. The garden to the east is open to the sky and built into the void left by the displacement, with building height concrete walls retained to provide privacy for the master bedroom.  The gravel surface, set with site native basalt stones and framed with water, can be viewed only through a low, three-dimensional glass box that allows the garden to penetrate the room. A rectangular basin captures snow melt to create a protective and ephemeral pool of water around this most private area of the house. The second garden to the west lives under the cantilevered house that shields the lower level from the west sun and contains the largest boulders of the site. A glazed hallway floor above reveals a dramatic drop in the topography and car sized boulders. At the top of the slope, the one-story horizontal form presents a closed and secure face to the northwestern street exposure. Fire resistive steel rain screens and tempered glazing inhabit the territories earned by the concrete wall. The mass heavy house is designed as a long thin rectangle that faces the sun to maximize solar exposure during winter and minimize heat gain from the west and east in summer. The house is cooled by prevailing breezes that flow up and through the house from the west. Radiantly heated bluestone floors, solar assisted domestic hot water and LED electric light further reduce energy demands.