Toronto-based architectural practice, Rzlbd Atelier, has designed the Blue Pie project. Completed in 2013, the condominium unit is located in Toronto, Canada.
The property belongs to a 40-year-old family doctor who has a predilection for the colours blue and white. The transformation of the property started with the purchase of an image of an iceberg, a photograph that the architect had originally taken and a painting, ‘Back Alley Abstract’ by Sandra Duba-Shubs.
According to the architects: “The 450 sqf apartment has the shape of a quarter circle and resembles the slice of a cake. The interior design transformation began with removing the hardwood floors to expose the rough concrete slab underneath. The floor was then painted with blue oil based floor paint to create the platform that embraces the furniture. The serenity of the icebergs floating on the surface of the deep blue sea helped envision the blue pie that was yet to be born. Two solid walls frame the living areas while the large curved curtain wall allow for the natural light from southwest to fill the space. As a cost saving strategy the existing kitchen cabinets and appliances on the north wall were kept while the kitchen island was removed to make space for a built in dining table that cantilevers from the column just hovering above the blue floor. The east wall is a 65cm wide millwork containing the workstation, a lower bench and a wine rack. A blue hanging seat sits on the radius of the circle and is visually merged into the light that floats the space from the curved curtain walls. All lighting fixtures has been removed from the ceiling and only five spotlights are installed on a linear rail highlighting each of these arrangements.
“Space is normally accessorised after the architecture is born. But in this case the architecture itself is the accessory for the space. The built-in furniture that hovers above the floor and the millwork’s reveal that attempt to hide the edge of the contact with the surface of the blue concrete are architectural translations of icebergs, which, by laws of nature only, portray such serenity. The evolution of the Blue Pie was an inspirational experiment that truly fulfilled the individual needs of the client and trusted its fate in the art of the arctic nature.”
Images courtesy of borXu Design
