apartment with a total area of ​​240 m2 Tamara Voronkova, Oleg Galitsky

Passing the gallery

A photo: Mikhail Stepanov

Text: Alexandra Shapiro

Architect: Tamara Voronkova, Oleg Galitsky

Painter: Nikolay Solomakha

Magazine: N5 (28) 1999

In the history of architecture and design many curiosities. The interior, blindly (albeit accurately) copying the outward signs of a particular artistic style, but not corresponding to the philosophical spirit of the era, is doomed to creative failure in advance. “Yes, it’s hard to expect any artistic effect from the crudely imitated Renaissance French palace, hoisted in the shape of a hat on a bare brick seventy-story brick tower, or from the lobby in a“ luxurious ”, extremely vulgar“ Moorish ”style in a bank or hotel”, - wrote A.D. Chegodaev Fortunately, the fate of the apartment, about which we want to tell, was more successful. “For me and my family, I wanted a real, extraordinary tale,” the landlady says. And for the realization of this dream, she chose a beautiful, striking look Baroque - a style designed to create an unusual, "elevated" mood in the interior. It was necessary to keep the balance on a thin line: the rooms should not resemble the halls of the palace-museum or, even worse, the pavilion for the filming of the film about Louis XIV. Needed "normal" living quarters. So, we turn to the planning solution proposed by the architects and begin with the Picture Gallery. Very gracefully and naturally, Tamara and Oleg turned into an unattractive (with four bearing columns), as if a corridor compressed from all sides of the rooms into a kind of "avenue". Now, it would be desirable not to run quickly, but solemnly march. Yes, and its functional purpose has changed dramatically: "the passage connecting the individual parts of the apartment" became a gallery with a collection of paintings. To begin with (by reducing the area of ​​one of the rooms) the corridor was slightly extended. Then arches were constructed in it and columns were erected. The precise vertical rhythm of the Corinthian order columns (made from marbled and covered with brilliant-colored polyurethane), the refined form of the arches (drywall) created the impression of lightness and upward tendency. Ceilings as if "soared" above their original 3.3 meters. The white and beige color scheme "spread apart" the walls - you can’t say that the distance between them is 2.6 meters. But the strongest was a thoughtful illusory effect. It was necessary to hang at the end of the corridor a huge “Venetian” mirror, as the space deepened. It seems that the parquet "path" does not end, and disappears over the horizon. And only after some time you begin to recognize your own reflection in the figure. Especially beaten and the location of the rooms. In the Russian baroque palaces, the rooms followed each other in the manner determined by European etiquette: the main hall, the evening assembly hall, the music room, the sofa, the study room, the library, the boudoir, the dining room, the bedroom, the bedroom, the main kitchen. Private chambers completed the enfilade. In the apartment almost the same principle is observed: the living room, the dining room are at the beginning, and the master bedroom and the children’s bedroom are at the end of the corridor. Well, now let's spend a small tour of the apartment.Salon or small living room An ideal place for receptions in the daytime (comfortable sofa, armchair, small table) or romantic seclusion in the evening (the muted light of the "candelabra"). Previously, the hostess called this room “scary, boring and falling out of planning”, and Tamara Voronkova identified it as “corridor corridor” without humor. To fix the situation, I had to round the corners, put forward the curtain rail for the curtains, cut niches in the wall and place small mirrors in front of each of them. The inset in the parquet marked the middle of the room. As a result, impeccable symmetry of classical architectural forms and strict organization of composition prevailed here. Remarkable and optical game with space. From the kitchen, located on the opposite side of the corridor, it seems that the sofa with chairs still has to go and go. Here, the same illusory effect as in the corridor, only the window plays the role of a mirror. From the corridor-gallery, the salon looks very intimate, like a boudoir in the bedroom. Well, when the guest passes through the columns and enters the room itself, it suddenly opens wide in the sides - to the left, to the open doors of the living room, and to the right, to the owner's office.Music lounge Here the baroque theme reaches its climax. Complex decorative and artistic decoration of the ceiling and walls (stucco made of polyurethane, pilasters, painted capitals), exquisite border pattern on the floor, draped with bay windows, a combination of white and gilded, luxurious chandelier, wall candelabra, floor clock in a rich case, mirrors - all this together makes the living room a solemn, ceremonial hall. And, of course, the furnishings: sofas and chairs built in a symmetrical composition with armrests in the form of volutes and wave-shaped backs, console tables with intricately curved legs, angular slides with porcelain and glass. Soon a white grand piano will appear in the living room, and it will really become "musical".Blue dining room In such a dining room dinner becomes a royal festive meal. The magnificent, deep color of the walls, created by mixing several colors, harmoniously harmonizes with the gold of the lush decor of furniture.Burgundy cabinet In its restrained, masculinely solid interior, luxury and elegance are brought to perfection. The tone sets the furniture with the monograms of the owner. In the best traditions of the Baroque, carving, bronze carved lining, inlay with shales and tortoise shell are used in its decor, leather and velvet (artificially aged) are upholstered. And the colors are associated with Elizabethan, Russian Baroque, when the walls were covered with red cloth or damask crimson shades.Velvet bedroom In the XVII century, the bedrooms were considered ceremonial rooms, almost cult. For example, in Versailles the royal bedroom was included in the system of the palace enfilade, and the bed of the monarch was separated by a low balustrade. In other palazzo and mansions, beds with grand canopies and curtains of precious fabrics were erected on the podium. In this case, the design of the bed is somewhat different: the canopy is attached to the wall console, without supporting speakers. Thus, the volume of the bed is not visually accentuated, not subtracted from the space of the room. The sculptural draperies of the canopy, curtains and lambrequins of light velvet of very fine dressing are amazingly beautiful. Well, let us quietly close the door, finally admire the paintings in the Gallery and our own distant mirror reflection and, saying goodbye to the owners, leave this amazing interior baroque tale.