Tasked by a couple of old friends with renovating a two-level apartment in Borek, a leafy neighbourhood in Wrocław, Poland, architects Diana Żurek and Gutek Girek of Furora Studio infused the modernist-era property with eclectic charm by applying a bold mix of contrasting patterns, textures and colours. Having established a reputation for artfully fusing different styles and periods to create distinct domestic interiors, the architects looked to the lush garden that the apartment opens out onto for inspiration, combining botanical motifs and natural materials with an Art Deco-minded geometric design language with  Las Vegas-inspired touches. Complemented by a curation of abstract and figurative contemporary artworks, including a commissioned mural and paintings by one of the apartment’s owners, Żurek and Girek’s avant-garde approach succeeds in creating a characterful ‘oasis’ that manages to harmoniously coexist with the no-frills architecture of the 1960s-built apartment block.

Reconfigured in line with the owners’ requirements, the compact apartment features a bright and airy living room and separate kitchen on the ground floor, with a bedroom and study upstairs. Boasting direct access to a verdant garden on the back of the property, the team introduced floor-to-ceiling patio doors in order to maximize views and natural light. A built-in bookcase on the other side of the room, rendered in a richly patterned wood veneer, adds to the nature-infused ambience as do numerous indoor plants and a balmy painting of a lush tropical landscape. Herringbone parquet flooring and iconic pieces such as Marcel Breuer’s Wassily Chair and Serge Mouille’s Three Rotating Arms Ceiling Lamp serve to inject mid-century vibes.

The living room’s verdant views are echoed in the kitchen and connecting corridor thanks to green-painted cabinets and walls, decorative floor tiles with floral motifs, and additional landscape paintings. Continuing the sense of the botanical, green and turquoise hues illuminate the staircase that leads upstairs thanks toa neon artwork that softly illuminates the area.

Upstairs, the colour palette becomes softer with creamy whites. In the study, wood panelling is accentuated by a marble-clad niche and a green lacquered desk, while in the bedroom, the decorative headboard, inspired by Japanese woodblock prints, adorns the otherwise pared down space with abstract floral motifs. The project’s eclectic flair also extends to the bathroom and guest lavatory, the former combining green tiling with pink-hued marble and wood veneer, the latter featuring a dreamy mural inspired by Kandinsky’s paintings by artist Bożena Grocholska. Having successfully combined a diverse mix of art and design to create such a well put together and yet idiosyncratic residence, the owners, pleased as punch with the result, jovially describe their new home as “a luxurious American hotel from the 70s, hiding an art house element with a touch of the tropics”.