{"id":609442,"date":"2026-07-29T05:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T05:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/609442\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T05:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T05:30:19","slug":"gudbjorg-simonsen-designs-a-thoughtfully-downsized-stavanger-apartment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/609442\/","title":{"rendered":"Gudbj\u00f8rg Simonsen Designs a Thoughtfully Downsized Stavanger Apartment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Moving from a large villa into a 1300-square-foot apartment might seem like a loss, but this apartment in Stavanger, Norway, designed by interior architect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gudbjorgsimonsen.no\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Gudbj\u00f8rg Simonsen<\/a> for a couple in their early 50s, treats the reduction as a design opportunity rather than a constraint. The result is an interior organized around subtraction, where the discipline of limitation becomes the design language itself.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/design-milk.com\/gudbjorg-simonsen-stavanger-apartment\/norwegian-apartment-gudbjorg-simonsen-24\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-607669 nofollow noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-607669 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/norwegian-apartment-gudbjorg-simonsen-24.jpg\" alt=\"Modern dining area with a wooden table, four upholstered chairs, dark cabinetry, marble backsplash, and two spherical pendant lights. Floor-to-ceiling window with sheer curtains on the right.\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photography by Arne Bru Haug<\/p>\n<p>The clearest evidence is in how storage is handled. Rather than furnishing the rooms with cabinets and wardrobes, Simonsen absorbed storage into the architecture, running integrated volumes along the central circulation so that the corridor doubles as infrastructure. The approach recalls Danish designer Kaare Klint\u2019s emphasis on storage tailored to everyday use, though here the idea is expressed through sleek <a href=\"https:\/\/www.poliform.it\/us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Poliform<\/a> joinery. The wardrobe becomes less an object in the room than an extension of the walls.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/design-milk.com\/gudbjorg-simonsen-stavanger-apartment\/norwegian-apartment-gudbjorg-simonsen-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-607677 nofollow noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-607677 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/norwegian-apartment-gudbjorg-simonsen-2.jpg\" alt=\"Modern living room with green armchairs, brown leather recliner, glass coffee table, TV, and large windows with beige curtains. Neutral color palette and minimalist decor.\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photography by Arne Bru Haug<\/p>\n<p>The living room, dining area, and kitchen occupy a single open volume along the park-facing facade, while the two bedrooms and bathrooms sit deeper in the plan. What makes it work is that the apartment carries no visual debt: There is no freestanding bookcase, no sideboard, no accumulation of the containers a larger house permits. Every object that remains earns its place.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/design-milk.com\/gudbjorg-simonsen-stavanger-apartment\/norwegian-apartment-gudbjorg-simonsen-31\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-607668 nofollow noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-607668 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/norwegian-apartment-gudbjorg-simonsen-31.jpg\" alt=\"A dark modern hallway with a mounted antelope skull leads into a minimalist bedroom with a tufted headboard and hanging bedside light.\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photography by Arne Bru Haug<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Simonsen describes the apartment as \u201csuite-like,\u201d drawing on the hotel suite\u2019s carefully considered balance of comfort and restraint. Having recently downsized from a large villa, the owners embraced an interior that prioritizes atmosphere over abundance, with lighting and furnishings by <a href=\"https:\/\/bocci.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Bocci<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ochre.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Ochre<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/apparatusstudio.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Apparatus<\/a> contributing to its calm, residential feel.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/design-milk.com\/gudbjorg-simonsen-stavanger-apartment\/norwegian-apartment-gudbjorg-simonsen-9\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-607672 nofollow noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-607672 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/norwegian-apartment-gudbjorg-simonsen-9.jpg\" alt=\"Minimalist bedroom with a beige blanket on the bed, a dark nightstand with a book, modern pendant light, and a doorway showing a lit wall sconce in a dark hallway.\" width=\"1280\" height=\"1920\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photography by Arne Bru Haug<\/p>\n<p>                                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/leo-lei-200x200-1-100x100.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"avatar\" alt=\"\"\/>                                    <\/p>\n<p>Leo Lei is the founder and editor of <a href=\"https:\/\/leibal.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Leibal<\/a>, a publication dedicated to minimalist design, architecture, and interiors. Through his writing and curatorial eye, he highlights thoughtful contemporary work from around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moving from a large villa into a 1300-square-foot apartment might seem like a loss, but this apartment in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[267],"tags":[82828,365,362,363,364,257344,257345,366,18,117,257346,19,17,257347,257348,257349],"class_list":["post-609442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-apparatus","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-bocci","tag-built-ins","tag-design","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-gudbjorg-simonsen","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kaare-klint","tag-ochre","tag-poliform"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117001626511040917","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}