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M Rangel Design & Construction

M Rangel Design & Construction

Caracas, VE

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Architectural projects during a dictatorship: How to create a balanced environment facing financial and social difficulties

Moises Rangel
Feb 22, '21 3:05 PM EST
Cover - View from kitchen to living
Cover - View from kitchen to living

"During the crisis in Venezuela, governments of the United States, the European Union, Canada, Mexico, Panama, and Switzerland applied individual sanctions against people associated with the administration of Nicolás Maduro." Wikipedia

However, the sanctions expand to all the economic ecosystem. Especially, the construction industry. Where finding the necessary materials can be challenging.

Nevertheless, with certain design techniques, Moises Rangel could still create a beautiful project.

The Project:

With the idea of designing a modern and sophisticated interior for this apartment, our client still wanted to "feel" at home. No matter how futuristic we could get, it was important to have a comfy and welcoming impact on every corner of the spaces. Taking into consideration that the family (a young couple with two kids) has an active entrepreneurial life, we decided to design based on their lifestyle and needs.

The Spaces:

From the kitchen to the family room, we can find a variety of materials from Carrara stone to MDF boards for the wall mixed with sliced-gold panels and chairs that blend in just perfectly with our led illumination design that starts in the entry and goes all the way to the back of the living room.


 Going through the main hallway we can find again our built-in led designed illumination style alongside a grey wall paint that just cut to the middle between a white-grey combination. Leaving the white area to play peacefully with two decoration elements until the end of the hall where we can find all the elements converging perfectly into the second bathroom entrance, main bedroom entrance, and a piece of art under the drywall illuminated ceiling

 Entering the guest bathroom, we mixed Carrara porcelain again, wood-treated slates, wood porcelain, hexagonal rustic floor, and black-and-white elements alongside drywall illuminated ceiling and bathroom furniture also illuminated with led lights. Creating a balanced modern and relaxing-spa style atmosphere.

 For the kid's bedroom, the design was quite a challenge since they wanted a playful style room without too many elements. We went on to create an entrance with a wood stair in the wall and wood slats in the ceiling accompanying our climbing wall, a blackboard wall, and a Nintendo switch-based TV frame.


In front of the kid's room, the idea was to create a playroom for the dad. Adding a small office, closet, and bed for visitors. The idea went beyond and we created an all-in-one bunk-bed style furniture for the office, bed, and closet and on the other side of the room, we put the game area alongside a led illuminated drywall ceiling going all the way to the wall. 


 Finally, for our main bedroom, bathroom, and walking closet, we kept in mind all the elements used in the apartment before but improved them in usability and style. From a wood-slatted tv wall with led lights and jungle-style wallpaper to the wood-slated headboard and 3d gypsum panels with sliced-gold details that guide us to the walk-in-closet. Where we found it quite a challenge since the space for the closet is under-minimum requirements and we improvised with the positions of the hangers in order to fit all the clothes our clients needed and their shoe collection. All of this illuminated with led lights of course.

 For the end of the project, our main bathroom included blue-gray painted 3d gypsum panels with sliced-gold details. Gold veined porcelain outside the shower and wood-style porcelain for the shower. All of this illuminated with cold and white led lights.

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