apartment with a total area of ​​317 m2 Alexander Levinson, Irina Malaya

Passing the gallery

A photo: Sergey Morgunov, Ekaterina Morgunov

Stylist: Yevhen Shuer

Text: Yana Ivanchenko

Architect: Alexander Levinson, Irina Malaya

Textile: Elena Israfilova

Painter: Juliette Sitnikova

Magazine: Na (91) 2005

If you add a bit of home comfort to the strict geometry of minimalism, you get ... minimalism, but with the definition “warm” unusual for him. This is how authors Alexander Levinson and Irina Malaya formulated the style of this apartment in the process of work. This "domesticated" minimalism is distinguished by the choice of natural materials as dominant, using contrasting relationships within one adjusted color range. The inner space of this Moscow apartment is divided in two in meaning: one part is public (it has a living room and a kitchen), and the other is private (with a study, master bedroom, children’s room, and bathrooms). This layout was the logical consequence of the union of two initially separate apartments. The architects left both entrance doors, which emphasized the thematic distribution of the premises. Stylistically, both halves are related to each other. The owner of the apartment became interested in the proposal of architects to perform interiors in the style of minimalism. The only thing that did not suit him was the cold of pure minimalism. First of all, the chosen style should have emphasized the atmosphere of home warmth. Architects have found a compromise. At the heart of the color solution of the ensemble of rooms is a contrasting combination of a deep dark tone of a wenge tree and bleached oak, even a mechanical piano in the living room is veneered under wenge. All the other materials in the same color tone were selected for these two "soloists". A successful combination of materials and colors could easily be destroyed by an incorrectly built scenario of artificial lighting for an apartment. Usually fluorescent and halogen lamps emit a piercing cold light that would dissonate here with the general range of furniture and decoration. But for this interior were found lighting with a warm glow. So, thanks to the perfect combination of all the elements in this ensemble, the authors of the project managed to create a feeling of comfort, usually lacking in any apartment in the style of minimalism. In order to fully realize the architectural idea, they precisely found all the details: not only the furniture or the design of the curtains, but also the accessories, and even the cutlery. “In the classical style, where gilding, luxury and abundance are appropriate,” says Alexander Levinson, “the architect has many methods at his disposal to give the interior the necessary character. to characterize the style of this apartment, the expression “minimalism on the verge of aristocratism” is appropriate.Alexander Levinson: "We have created an interior in which every detail is subject to strict geometry of the forms. Here you can see how the outlines of objects are repeated, for example, in the pattern of fabric or correspond to the outlines of niches in the wall. Some objects were custom-made - perfect accuracy was important here, literally millimeter. "