Urselmann Interior's circular apartment renovation in a 1939 Düsseldorf building

Local practice Urselmann Interior has renovated a flat in a 1939 Düsseldorf building on one firm principle: everything should come apart again. Joinery is held with dry joints, screws and reversible adhesives so materials can be sorted later, nine manufacturers including Vitra, Tarkett and Bosch have agreed to take their products back, and the kitchen appliances are leased rather than bought. Straw, cork, wood and seagrass do the heavy lifting, and the studio reports a net-negative carbon balance under a German circular assessment standard.

Two walls and a door went to make one open run of entrance, kitchen, dining and living space, with textiles doing the dividing. A heavy curved curtain wraps a sleeper sofa to make a guest room; in the bedroom, a three-tier timber platform holds a desk, a meditation spot, the bed on top and a pull-out wardrobe beneath, all hidden behind a full-height curtain by day.

The details reward a slow look: a Barragán-inspired Mexican Pink corridor, turquoise tiles, wall tiles pressed from construction rubble, a coffee table of marble from a demolished bank, and kitchen cabinets glazed with glass from the flat's own old doors. The original bath was repaired, not replaced.

It is a private home, shared through designboom's reader submissions, so one to study rather than visit.

Our summary of a story from designboom, published 25 October 2026. Read the original

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