Manea Kella converts art-nouveau home in Romania into boutique resort Casa Popeea

A home on the breaking point in Brăila, Romania, has been given a brand new lease of life by London-based structure studio Manea Kella.

Manea Kella labored with native workplace Penta Stil Studio to transform the dilapidated property into an 11-room boutique resort, Casa Popeea.

The renovation riffs on the home’s art-nouveau particulars, with modern particulars constructed from easy however high-quality supplies.

“The restoration and restore of the present was pushed by the concept that the unique construction ought to be emphasised in its spatial context and unique materiality,” stated architects Adrian Manea and Elena Kella.

“The brand new displays the misplaced with out imitating it.”

Casa Popeea was first in-built 1900 by a Greek service provider. Nonetheless a part of it needed to be rebuilt following a fireplace in 1923. Then later, after the second world conflict, it was confiscated by the communist authorities.

The home was deserted when the regime collapsed within the late 1980s, so it has been largely derelict for the previous 30 years. Because of this, the architects had quite a lot of work to do to make it liveable once more.

“The constructing had extreme structural issues with a excessive danger of collapse,” defined Manea, who grew up in Brăila. “Given the area’s seismicity, the hazard was imminent.”

“Moreover, as a result of constructing altering use and possession over a few years, a lot of the interior options have been both gutted or broken past restore,” he instructed Dezeen.

The brand new inside design centres across the few interval options that stay.

A grand oak staircase was briefly dismantled and despatched to a carpentry workshop in Transylvania to be restored, whereas unique mouldings and terrazzo have been repaired by specialist craftsmen.

“We have been lucky to work with wonderful craftsmen, that are exceedingly troublesome to search out given the exodus of Romanian labour to different EU nations,” stated Manea.

New particulars have been added to enrich these unique particulars.

The oak staircase is mirrored in new bespoke joinery, together with a desk and bookshelf within the reception space, monumental doorframes and a neatly detailed elevator corridor.

Within the brasserie restaurant, herringbone parquet flooring stands out alongside blue velvet upholstery and easy black tables.

There may be additionally a espresso store that includes monochrome marble surfaces.

Within the spacious visitor suites, beneficiant wood beds are accompanied by neutral-toned blankets and fuss-free lighting.

Brass pendant lights hand from the ceilings, each right here and all through the remainder of the resort.

The format of the constructing was altered from the unique ground plans, to permit for its change of use.

Partitions have been opened as much as create extra move between rooms, in addition to to permit extra daylight to succeed in the interiors.

The basement was transformed right into a spa, with a supplies palette that features Bulgarian limestone, in addition to oak and marble.

Pictures is by Cosmin Dragomir.