W278

With its closed-off kitchen and strictly separated rooms, this apartment from 1972 no longer met today’s expectations of open, contemporary living. The aim of the conversion was to rethink the existing structure of this roughly 101 m² apartment in Offenbach am Main and create a living atmosphere that combines generosity, calm and everyday practicality.

By restructuring the floor plan, the kitchen, dining area and living room were merged into one open living space. The result is a flowing area that connects cooking, dining and living while offering room for both togetherness and retreat. An integrated library and reading corner adds a quiet, personal place to the space.

The private area was also reorganised: the bedroom is now arranged separately and directly connected to its own bathroom. Natural materials, coordinated colour tones and the green kitchen fronts give the project its calm, characterful identity.

As an architecture studio based in Frankfurt am Main, we plan and manage conversion projects like this one across the whole Rhine-Main region, from Offenbach through Frankfurt to the Taunus. The particular challenge with W278 was to achieve maximum spatial openness within the existing load-bearing structure without compromising the economic viability of the conversion. Together with the owners, we developed several floor-plan variants and compared them in terms of spatial effect, cost and construction time, before the final solution was implemented across work stages 1 to 4 – from design through to the building permit.

For us, W278 exemplifies how much design potential can lie within an unremarkable 1970s existing apartment. The careful conversion respects the existing building fabric while raising its living quality and energy efficiency to a new level – an approach we apply as alma:s Architekten to numerous other conversion and renovation projects across the Rhine-Main region. Whether it’s an apartment conversion, a loft extension or an energy-efficient renovation, what matters most to us is understanding what already exists before we develop it further.