Apartment Arabescato

Apartment Arabescato is a minimalist penthouse apartment located in London, United Kingdom, designed by Grafted. Few residential projects begin with such a counterintuitive brief – rather than relocating to a larger home, the clients chose to expand vertically by acquiring the apartment directly below their existing penthouse. The decision preserved their family’s deep roots in Fitzrovia while presenting grafted with an unusual architectural challenge: joining two distinct dwellings within DSDHA’s Corner House, a building whose angular geometry already demanded careful spatial negotiation. The result is a home where craft-led joinery, a deliberately restrained material palette, and an extensive art collection converge to create something far more cohesive than a simple renovation.

The connection between the two apartments is achieved through a newly formed opening and an industrial-style staircase with metal balustrades – a gesture that is structurally assertive yet visually restrained. This vertical link adds two bedrooms and 113 square meters of living space, a transformation driven by the practical realities of twin children approaching adolescence. What elevates the project beyond pragmatic expansion is grafted’s insistence on treating the intervention as an exercise in material continuity rather than addition.

Arabescato marble, the project’s namesake, operates as a unifying motif across both floors. In the kitchen, slabs were digitally mapped before fabrication to maximize yield and ensure precise book-matching across faceted splashback surfaces and worktops. Set against crisp chrome hardware, the marble’s veined complexity takes on glacial, almost geological qualities – transforming what could have been a purely functional space into one of visual calm. The meticulous pre-site planning reflects a broader ethos of resourcefulness that runs throughout the project. The existing Bulthaup kitchen system was retained and reclad in maple rather than replaced, a choice that speaks to the clients’ commitment to sustainability within a high-budget context.

Maple joinery recurs across the apartment as a warming counterpoint to the marble’s cool mineral tones. In the family room on the third floor, wall-to-wall cabinetry conceals the television behind sliding doors finished in chevron marquetry, book-matched in a radial sunburst pattern – a detail that nods to mid-century decorative traditions while serving a distinctly contemporary domestic function. The children’s bedrooms each interpret this maple vocabulary differently, from String-style metal shelving to inbuilt units angled to preserve sightlines to the trees outside. These are spaces designed with longevity in mind, furnished with adjustable desks and bespoke cabinetry intended to age alongside their occupants.

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