two-level apartment with an area of ​​171 m2 Alexander Galkin, Evgenia Mokievets Modern, but "calm" apartment interior, without any shocking elements: what is commonly called "Living for life, and not for show

Passing the gallery

A photo: Evgeny Luchin

Text: Katya Lozovskaya

Architect: Alexander Galkin, Evgenia Mokievets

Builder: Robert Detkov

Magazine: 52 (2001)

The metaphor "architecture is frozen music", it would seem, has long become commonplace. However, this statement is not only aphoristic: its real meaning is extraordinarily accurate. So, the classic interior with columns is, of course, a symphony, and high-tech can be compared with the music in the style of "techno" ... In the new apartment, about which we want to tell, a barely perceptible melody is already heard from the threshold. And this is improvisation in the style of blues. The sensation of music arises almost inaudibly - piano. First, quiet sounds are born from obscure associations: ideas about their rhythm give both the layout and the style of the apartment. The first thing you notice is lightness, some kind of watercolor transparency of space. The main planning "knot" of the living room - a resting place with a sofa, an aquarium and a shelving - not only compactly combines several functions, but also is a composite "bundle" with the kitchen. Such architectural and spatial objects, in which the volumes, functions and forms intertwine, represent a kind of integral semantic unity. Their location is always dictated by the very logic of the construction of space, and not by the whim of the architect. Alexander Galkin believes that "beauty should always have a function." For example, the column behind the sofa is not only the conditional border of the hallway and living room, a way of masking the acute corner of the rack, but also ... a nuance that animates the interior, a new twist of the usual theme, similar to the syncopated rhythm of a blues melody. He is growing at the approach to the stairs. The wide steps of the podium, on which its lower platform is located, are designed as a place for equipment. At the same time, the staircase itself ceases to be simply an element of the structure, acquires sculptural character, standing out with dark lines against the background of light walls. The nature of space is changing: it has become more closed and intimate, because before us are private chambers. Everywhere there are subtle and unobtrusive associations with the theme of wanderings, which began with engravings of the staircase hall. This theme is completed in the library, where the East literally meets the West in works that adorn the walls. In general, this apartment is in the decoration relation to one hundred percent complete. And it's not only in the successful placement of paintings and prints. The main thing is that all the ideas and rhythms of architecture are “supported” by accessories that turn the lined space into a warm, residential interior, just as a successful arrangement makes a familiar melody sound in a new way. Thus, indoor plants and bouquets mark the "nodal" points of the plan, and the bird figures and the first-floor aquarium recall the main theme of the second. At the same time, the architecture behaves like a living being: it can come closer or, conversely, make room if it is necessary for the development of the main theme. In general, improvises on the go, in a free manner, reaching maximum self-expression. Performing a unique melody in the style of blues ...