Designing a small apartment that feels open yet provides distinct, private zones is one of the most common challenges in urban residential architecture. The client wants as few doors as possible, but still needs rooms that feel separated. The 97-square-meter Letná Apartment in Prague, redesigned by Markéta Bromová Architects, offers a compelling case study in how architects solve this tension. The solution involved stripping the space to its structural core, inserting freestanding boxes to define rooms, and using materials to guide how each zone is perceived. The result is an apartment where rooms exist without conventional walls and doors.
Client-Centered Design Drives Spatial Decisions
The success of a small apartment renovation depends on how well the design matches the client’s actual lifestyle. Before any layout decisions, the architect must understand how the occupants move through the space, which activities happen simultaneously, and where privacy matters most. In the Letná project, the client wanted to minimize the number of doors while still maintaining room separation. This single requirement drove every subsequent design decision. Architects who follow a thorough understanding of client needs before construction produce spaces that feel tailored rather than generic.
Translating Client Preferences into Design Parameters
Every client preference creates a set of design constraints. Fewer doors means zones must be separated by other means: level changes, material shifts, furniture placement, or freestanding volumes. These constraints become creative drivers rather than limitations. In the Letná Apartment, the architect used freestanding boxes made of different materials to define the bedroom, bathroom, and library zones without a single partition wall running floor to ceiling. The client communicated their desire for openness, and the architect translated that into a box-in-space concept that defined rooms through enclosure rather than separation.
Identifying Non-Negotiable Requirements
During the initial consultation, sort requirements into three categories: non-negotiable, strongly desired, and flexible. Non-negotiables in small apartments often include a separate sleeping area, visual privacy for the bathroom, and acoustic separation between the bedroom and living areas. Strongly desired items might include a dedicated workspace, a library nook, or a guest sleeping area. Flexible items cover decorative preferences that can change without affecting the layout. This prioritization prevents the design from trying to satisfy every wish in a constrained space and instead focuses on the elements that matter most to daily life.
Creating Open Space Without Losing Room Definition
The central design question in the Letná Apartment was how to create one open space from a large multi-room apartment without needing a door between rooms, while still making each zone feel distinct. The architect’s answer was to insert boxes into the open volume. These boxes are freestanding structures made of different materials that contain a room within the larger space. A green box holds the bedroom. A dark paneled volume wraps around a corner into a library. A kitchen island lined with patinated brass panels anchors the cooking zone. This approach to organizing a small apartment creates clear spatial definition without conventional walls or doors.
The Box-in-Space Concept
A box is a room within a room. It has walls, a ceiling, and a door, but it sits inside a larger volume rather than being enclosed by the building’s outer walls. The space between the box and the building shell becomes circulation, secondary zones, or visual buffer. The box can be positioned anywhere in the floor plan, not tied to exterior walls or window locations. This freedom allows the architect to place rooms based on how they relate to each other rather than how they connect to the building envelope.
| Box Function | Material | Height | Degree of Enclosure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bedroom | Painted drywall (green finish) | Full ceiling height | Full enclosure with door |
| Library | Dark stained paneling | Full ceiling height | Open on one side, wrap-around |
| Kitchen island | Patinated brass panels | Counter height (900 mm) | Open, defining zone by footprint |
| Bathroom | Tiled or waterproof panels | Full ceiling height | Full enclosure with pivot door |
The bedroom box in the Letná Apartment has three entrances, giving multiple access points around its perimeter. This allows the occupant to move between zones without retracing their path and makes the small apartment feel larger by offering multiple routes through the space.
Unified Flooring for Visual Continuity
Flooring choice is one of the most impactful decisions in an open-plan apartment. Running a single material through the living area, kitchen, bathroom, and hallway creates a seamless visual plane that makes the space appear larger than its measured area. The Letná Apartment team considered terrazzo but abandoned it after a structural analysis showed the floor could not support the additional weight. They selected brushed concrete screed instead, applied uniformly throughout the apartment including bathrooms and shower spaces. This decision unified the entire apartment visually while respecting structural constraints.
Terrazzo vs Concrete Screed for Apartment Flooring
Terrazzo offers a polished, high-end look with embedded aggregate that creates visual texture. But it is heavy, typically adding 75 to 100 kg per square meter to the floor load. Concrete screed weighs 40 to 60 kg per square meter, making it lighter and more suitable for apartment buildings where floor loading limits exist. Concrete screed also costs 30 to 50 percent less than terrazzo installation. The brushed finish provides subtle texture without the weight penalty. Both materials can be sealed for water resistance in wet areas, making them viable for bathrooms when properly detailed with falls to drains and waterproof membranes beneath.
Exposed Structure as a Design Feature
One of the defining moves in the Letná Apartment was exposing the reinforced concrete ceiling structure with its ribs. Rather than hiding the structure behind a suspended ceiling, the architect used it as a raw, textural element that gives the apartment character. Exposed concrete also adds ceiling height by eliminating the dropped ceiling assembly. In an apartment where every centimeter matters, reclaiming even 100 to 150 millimeters of height improves the sense of spaciousness. Building code compliance for exposed structure requires attention to fire ratings, acoustic performance, and thermal bridging, but the visual payoff is substantial.
The Visual Impact of Ribbed Concrete Ceilings
Ribbed or coffered concrete ceilings create a rhythmic pattern of beams and recesses that adds depth and visual interest to what would otherwise be a flat white plane. The ribs run in one or two directions depending on the structural grid. In the Letná Apartment, the ribs run in a single direction, creating a linear pattern that guides the eye through the open space. This structural expression gives the apartment a loft-like, industrial character that contrasts with the refined finishes of the kitchen and bathroom surfaces. The combination of rough concrete above and smooth screed below frames the space between two textured planes.
Working with Existing Structural Parameters
Every apartment has existing structural parameters: column locations, beam depths, slab thicknesses, and load capacities. Working with these constraints rather than against them saves money and produces more authentic architecture. In the Letná Apartment, the existing reinforced concrete ceiling with ribs was a given. Instead of covering it, the design team cleaned it and made it a feature. The static analysis that ruled out terrazzo flooring was another constraint that led to a better material choice. The best small apartment designs emerge from accepting and expressing these constraints rather than fighting them.
Material Palette for Zoning in Open Plans
When walls are removed, materials define zones. The Letná Apartment uses a curated palette of materials that tell you where you are without needing a door. The kitchen island is clad in patinated brass panels, a warm, reflective surface that catches light and marks the cooking zone. The bedroom box is finished in green, a calming color that signals rest and privacy. The library is wrapped in dark paneling that suggests a quiet, introspective corner. The bathroom uses tile and waterproof surfaces. Each material has a purpose and a territory. Learning to observe houses through an architectural lens means noticing how material changes mark transitions between zones, even when the floor plan remains continuous.
Selecting a Three-Material Palette
A disciplined approach limits the material palette to three primary materials plus one accent. In the Letná Apartment, the primary trio is brushed concrete screed (flooring), exposed ribbed concrete (ceiling), and painted drywall (boxes and walls). The accent materials are patinated brass (kitchen island), dark wood paneling (library), and green paint (bedroom box). This restraint prevents visual chaos while allowing each accent to stand out. When every surface competes for attention, no zone feels distinct. When the background is consistent and accents are reserved for specific zones, the eye knows where to focus.
The lessons from the Letná Apartment apply broadly to any small urban dwelling. Start with a clear understanding of what the client actually needs. Use boxes rather than walls to define rooms within an open volume. Choose a single flooring material to unify the visual field. Consider exposing structural elements as a design feature. Curate a material palette that signals zone changes without blocking sightlines. For architects exploring how historical and modern design meet in apartment buildings, these strategies offer a framework for creating homes that feel larger than their measured area and more personal than a generic open plan.