Moscow apartment with a total area of ​​97 m2 Olga Slezkina

Passing the gallery

A photo: Evgeny Luchin

Stylist: Yevhen Shuer

Text: Nadezhda Nadimova

Architect: Olga Slezkina

Magazine: Free (Cat) 2004

From the point of view of the traditions of residential design in an apartment designed by Olga Slezkina, everything is turned upside down. Here they sleep in the living room, and in the bedroom they drink Japanese tea. Here, the kitchen functions as a bar, and the usual sofas, beds, tables are missing at all ... And that's not all To begin with the fact that in this apartment there is no familiar division into the guest and private areas, which, however, has a simple explanation. The fact is that the owners do not live in Moscow permanently, but when they come here they don’t crave for privacy, trying to spend time with friends. Therefore, their apartment was supposed to be a place of rest, friendly meetings and parties, and not everyday life in "work and time." Based on this, a new zoning was invented, based on the dualism of the concept of rest as the pastime of active or relaxing. In a large two-room apartment, the former living room combined with the kitchen occupied a large hall with a dance floor, and the bedroom turned into a cozy oriental teahouse with soft low seats. At the same time, the sleeping places “moved” to the living room-hall, where the role of the master bed is played by a huge mattress recessed in the podium (3.20x2 m). Not isolated from the dance floor, it also serves as a seating area for guests, replacing the usual upholstered furniture. The customers wanted to see the living room as spacious as possible, so the objective world here is reduced to the necessary minimum. Even video and audio systems were hidden behind the pier, where a special sensor sends a signal from the console. The glass door of the living room can also disappear at will (as if it never existed), moving into the narrow gap between the wall and the mirror partition and leaving the square arch of the entrance open. The overall solution of all interiors is extremely concise. The expressiveness of the walls is based on the contrast of rough brickwork and smooth plaster, as well as glossy surfaces of metal, glass and mirrors. In most rooms light tones dominate, visually expanding the space. The paints thicken a little only in the "eastern" part of the apartment. Here, unlike the European living room, life flows slowly, slowly. Leaving shoes and all unnecessary items in the vestibule and taking a step on a low oak podium with a square depression in the center, where the patterns of a Japanese rock garden are laid out under a frosted glass, and guests and owners can plunge into the atmosphere of silence and truly Eastern comfort ...Olga Slezkina: "Customers wanted a lot of light and space, so we widely used glass, metal, mirrors - materials from a high-tech arsenal. If you define the style of an apartment that combines classical layout, 'old' brick walls and modern design, perhaps the word fusion is more appropriate" .