Sofia Penthouse

KNOF design (based in London and founded by New York designer Susan Knof) has completed its first major commission: the remodeling of a spectacular 360° penthouse in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, uniting two separate apartments into a single 3,600 sq ft space. The new, one-storey penthouse features floor-to-ceiling glazing all the way round and offers its owners incredible panoramic views over the city and adjacent mountains with all the benefits of continuous natural light, from sunrise through to sunset.

The light-privacy balance in the penthouse was achieved by fitting soft voiles all the way around the 360° glazing, as well as black-out blinds, so that the owners have the choice of completely open living; light-filled but private living using the voiles or else blocking the light out completely – perfect for watching movies for example.

The brief from the client was to merge two existing properties (an east and west apartment) to create a single, open living environment that allowed for an unobstructed kitchen, dining, living and entertaining space, where full advantage could be taken of the views, whilst also providing private areas for the master bedroom and children’s areas.

From an interior architectural standpoint, the main challenge of the project was the original planning of the overall building – especially the existing plumbing stacks, which allowed little possibility for exploration of different bathroom locations and the new design very much had to work around that. Structurally, there were also given core walls that had to remain in place. In addition, the full height windows also offered limited space for new ceiling and lighting logistics, and, most restrictive of all, the M&E services were planned along the perimeter full height glazing walls, seemingly blocking the views and the implementation of sheer or black-out curtaining. This was overcome by re-coordinating the mechanical layouts and plans, so that the air handling units were brought inside the internal core walls and concealed in custom joinery units.

Design: KNOF design
Photography: Assen Emilov