What is a typical guest room? Usually it’s a bed with very simple side tables and, hopefully, a fully-working closet. Any sense of style or design is rarely displayed or built upon. Flipping that dynamic on its head, Czech studios Mjölk Architeki and DDAANN teamed up for a noble cause: to create a welcoming room with an obvious minimalist twist. It is possible to instil charisma into intentionally bare rooms.

Taking cues from Japanese wood grids, the room infuses a great deal of personality with geometric lines for the cabinets, a surprisingly equipped kitchen and a clever duo of sofa/bed right in the middle of the room. Unlike most guest rooms, the architects guaranteed a great deal of autonomy and comfort for long sojourns in Prague (kudos for visitors cooking for the hosts).

On the access corridor there’s a good-humoured intervention, going against what most minimalist projects would dare, a neon green pedestal showcases the owners bicycle. A feature in itself breaking the mould for most bike-racks, an explicit call for colour inside a white room. Audacious move.

To offer a guest the possibility to enjoy a well-though out space, oozing contemporary style and visual lightness, isn’t for everyone. Until this is a common move for all extra rooms, both architecture firms deserves all the praise they can get.

Photography by BoysPlayNice.