The Disappearing Boundary is a minimal apartment located in Shenyang City, China, designed by MANN Architects & Kanstantsin Remez. A young married couple is the client for this residence makeover project. The studio revised the usual floor plan of “three bedrooms, two living rooms, and two bathrooms” into one of “a huge suite + multi-function room” after ascertaining that they are the only users of the apartment. All unnecessary walls were taken down to create a huge, borderless open space, with the exception of the walk-in closet, restrooms, and multi-purpose room to the north of the flat. In order to establish a barrier that is easily invisible, a movable round cloth curtain is used to divide the living area and master bedroom in the best-lit south side of the house.

The cloth curtain can wrap around the master bed and is comfortable and soft. The master bedroom’s amount of engagement with the exterior space is determined by the degree of enclosure, giving the owners the power to define space once again. As the home grows more democratic and free, it stops becoming dissolved in trivial daily affairs and stops operating one way only for the sake of doing so. Here, home is a place that encompasses life, entertainment, social interaction, spiritual fulfillment, introspection, observation of the world, and expression of values in addition to being a place to meet one’s basic needs.

Photography by ACT Studio, Wang Yanjie