two-level villa (580 m2) in the foothills of Azerbaijan Ragim Seyfullayev, Nailya Seyfullayeva
Passing the gallery
A photo: Evgeny Luchin
Stylist: Yevhen Shuer
Text: Rustam Sabirov
Architect-designer: Ragim Seifullayev
Designer: Nailya Seyfullaeva
Magazine: N11 (89) 2004
Располагая дом возле других зданий, всегда можно подстроиться под их стиль, цвет, форму: есть от чего отталкиваться. Но когда его окружает природа в своей первозданной красоте, сделать так, чтобы дом стал ее органичной частью, - задача не из легких. Именно с такой столкнулся архитектор Ragim Seifullayev, автор проекта "Дом над рекой." The house is located near Baku, on an almost flat plot of 30 x 40 meters, which ends abruptly towards the river. Customers are lovely, intelligent people with good taste - Ragim's friends. It all started with the fact that they really liked this area, they wanted to live there. According to the architect, it was the place that became the primary, main motive for buying land and building a house. It defined the concept of the project. The idea was to harmoniously fit the structure into the surrounding landscape, take into account the peculiarities of the relief, correlate the dimensions of the house and the spaces around it. I did not want him to look something foreign and annoying. As a result, the whole complex turned out to be literally flattened out on the site: a small structure and a courtyard area for large friendly feasts, so characteristic of the Caucasus. The layout of the house is also subject to the fact that nature has become part of it, and it is part of nature. All buildings, located on a small plot, and there is a house in the understanding of the architect. "He has closed and open spaces, the principle of organization of which is very simple: all the main rooms are maximally oriented towards nature," says Ragim. The owners of the house are renowned for their hospitality, so individual rooms were designed to receive a large number of guests. What you can initially take for an unusually spacious bathroom is actually a sauna - a place to relax with friends. It consists of a steam room, a swimming pool, a jacuzzi, a shower and a bathroom and it opens onto a large lower terrace where barbeque is made. As the architect explains, "in Russia, when they invite you to tea, everyone understands what will end with vodka, in Azerbaijan, when they invite you to the sauna, you must surely know that everything will end with a feast." Interiors were designed by Ragim and his wife Nailya Seyfullaeva, also an artist and an architect. The interior of the room is made in a simple, modern style. To the question about the style of the construction, the author answers that this is a modern home for modern people. Most of all in his project Ragim Seyfullayev likes Nature and Scale.Ragim Seifullayev: "The house was supposed to get the right to exist on an equal footing with this place; it could not be an extra, disturbing, annoying element of the surrounding landscape. The dramaturgy was built on a competition between a small structure and a giant void. Everything was broken down."