Warsaw-born Karolina Howorko, director and founder of the design firm Studio Hoka, is based in Amsterdam—but with a slate of new Polish projects in the pipeline, she spends ample time in her homeland, too. When she does, it’s at Studio H, a compact flat in Warsaw’s Old Town that she transformed to feel light and spacious.

“My mother bought it around 20 years ago because our family travels a lot,” says Karolina, noting how someone always seems to be passing through Warsaw in place of a need to stay. From the outside of the building—an old warehouse that was carved into apartments after World War II—Karolina observed that the apartment looked much higher than the interior’s low ceiling suggested.

So, putting her expertise to use, Howorko explored, and subsequently discovered, that this ceiling was indeed fake—a metal structure and a thin layer of concrete obscured the real one, and left the studio with an overall cramped feel. “I’m an architect, and I love to get into mathematical and logical matters,” she says with a laugh.

Karolina notes that visitors staying in the city center tend to be far more eager to rove about than stay indoors—but she imagined a more ambitious setting for her guests, and herself. “I wanted to make something nice, to not have the apartment seem so small,” she says.

Although she was faithful to the oak flooring—“It’s original, more than several hundred years old, and I wanted to preserve a part of the past,” she points out—Karolina was keen to otherwise build from scratch and conjure a Japandi aesthetic that fuses open, minimalist Scandinavian and Japanese design traditions.

Her first step was to uncover the original ceiling and create a multifunctional mezzanine that expanded the tiny space by 100 square feet, for a total of 312. Much of what gives the petite dwelling its quirky personality is the built-in functionality, which is not immediately evident at first glance. Karolina custom designed most of the furniture, and she has a deft knack for incorporating hidden shelving and drawers.

“I used to live in big cities like Paris and Mexico City, and I have seen a lot of small spaces that were inspirational for me—I think I have put the best of those elements into this apartment,” Karolina explains. “But there are also a lot of mistakes I have seen that I didn’t want to repeat—for example, I didn’t like having images of food in my head while trying to work, so, I visually cut off the kitchen from the main space with a curtain.”

From the living room sofa, no one can tell that the drawn curtain conceals a kitchen, complete with oven and dishwasher. Beside it is a sculptural block staircase that ascends to the mezzanine, and a table pulls out when desired for a quick breakfast or impromptu glass of wine. The sofa, which folds into a bed, provides comfortable accommodations for guests.

Above, the bed is joined by shelves and a collapsible desk—Karolina’s favorite aspect of the design—that buoys laptop sessions with beautiful views of a nearby park from on high. She even carefully considered the location of mirrors. “I placed the mirrors much higher to reflect the sky and bring in natural light—I don’t like seeing the reflection of just yourself in the mirror,” she says. “On the kitchen wall, I added white reflective glass to bring in more luminosity.”

In addition to being a talented architect, Karolina is also an artist—and her colorful paintings can be found throughout the home, contrasting with the predominant white motif that is otherwise bolstered by just a few pops of deep blue and dusty pink. “The main idea is that it’s all white—not to only make the space brighter and bigger, but to treat it as a blank canvas, so that I can do a mural here, or choose to paint it, ” Karolina says. “It’s a little apartment, but I wanted it to be a big playground.”

Related Reading:

11 Transforming Apartments That Make the Most of Minuscule Spaces

An Architect Transforms His Tiny Apartment Into a Minimalist Masterpiece

Project Credits:

Architecture and Design: Studio Hoka / @hoka_projects