The minimalist, brushed stainless-steel kitchen adds to the cohesive open design.
The renovation of a rooftop apartment in Berlin by Architekt BDA introduces continuous light and openness to a 1990s extension redressed for contemporary living.
Favouring adaptive reuse over new builds, the starting point for the studio was to address the residence’s spatial planning. Located within a typical Berlin altbau in Prenzlauer Berg, the apartment “had ample natural light, but the floor plan was divided into small rooms with a narrow, corridor-like kitchen and bathroom”, says Architekt BDA founder and architect Christopher Sitzler.
Sitzler is known for his thoughtful, research-based approach to adapting existing buildings. For this project, era-specific architectural details were preserved while reworking the floor plan to suit the clients’ current needs. The redesign removed interior walls to create a light-filled living, dining, and kitchen area. “By spatially combining different functions, open and generous living areas were created, giving the apartment a sense of spaciousness.”
With an understanding of the building’s history and potential, the studio provided elegant, future-focused outcomes for the clients, blending room functions and adding texture and warmth. “Fittings include a minimalist stainless-steel kitchen, monolithic kitchen block, a vintage Parisian dining table, and custom speakers”—additions that improve and enrich the home’s materiality. The wood-panelled ceiling paired with colour-matched flooring, poured on site, create a sense of warmth and cohesion. And the project name, “it’s just my internal ascending project number,” Sitzler says.
A continuous mahogany-panelled ceiling and poured floor by Senseo in matching tones gives warmth and unity throughout the apartment. Pictured: Flos Taraxacum pendant lamp designed in 1960 by Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni.
The bedroom remains private, opening onto another revitalised open and well-considered space, reconfigured as the primary en suite. This area features “beige-tiled flooring, which also highlights a half-embedded bathtub” and separate shower. A custom-built vanity, bedhead with fitted speakers echoing the living room joinery, and ceiling panels all in mahogany add material continuity. “Handcrafted wood and elegant flooring visually expand the space beyond its actual size”, explains Sitzler. Generous floor-to-ceiling linen drapery, here and throughout the apartment, provides additional uniformity and a diffused soft light.
Terracotta tones in the small guest bathroom and the same integrated speakers highlight the practice’s thoughtful and consistent detailing. “We wanted to create a little cocoon for this room in contrast to the open bathroom in the main bedroom.”
Ceiling and built-in furniture made of mahogany with panels supplied by Europlac.
The Cassina 2 Fauteuil Grand Confort sofa and Percival Lafer armchair.
Completed in 2024, the renovation reflects the studio’s sensitive design approach and focus on reuse and urban renewal. Previously compartmentalised rooms are reimagined, transforming “the limitations of the original narrow plan” while details such as the original rooftop windows and skylights are carefully maintained to retain city views and architectural character.
The project took around eighteen months to complete with plans underway to further develop the apartment to include a sauna—behind a bookshelf in the living room—with views across Berlin’s rooftops through a “newly opened window façade”. For now, says Sitzler, the client is using the space as a study, “showing the importance of flexibility in a floor plan to react to changing conditions.”
Herzbach fittings bring a renewed element to the apartment.
Floor-to-ceiling red tiles in the guest bathroom.
