When a family with three preschool-aged children commissioned Le Atelier to build them a home in Moscow, the firm not only designed it around the wee ones, but executed the project on a tight construction budget of about $90K. This necessitated, as explained by the architects, being on the lookout for the "cheapest" design solutions that were also "easy to construct." For starters, the place is rather minimal, both in finishings and furnishings, which is a great response to being short on funds, as any Ikea fan will tell you, because minimal is a good look anyhow.
One of the firm's cheap, rugrat-aware design solutions involved turning the biggest part of the house into a double-height children's room, with small bedrooms branching off of the main space, and a homework-devoted loft on the second level. To be "sure about ergonomics and safety," Le Atelier built a full-scale prototype of the staircase, and had the kids test it first, removing the sharp edges and painting them bright colors that matched the orange and lime green scheme of the home. The children were even let in on the design process themselves, by way of a mural separating the kitchen and dining room that could be traced by hand, in a way such that "mistakes and disproportions which occur" during the drawing process only "improve" final graphic.
Almost all of the furniture was built-in or custom made, which allowed the firm to "reduce the cost and use the space at a maximum efficiency." Look the result over below, and visit Arch Daily for a full set of interior photos.
· Low Budget House / Le Atelier [Arch Daily]
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