apartment with a total area of ​​133 m2 Arthur Vanuni, Nikolai Zakharov

Passing the gallery

A photo: Zinon Rasudinov

Text: Andrey Tsukanov

Architect: Nikolay Zakharov, Arthur Vanuni

Magazine: Na (h) 1996

By tradition, one could imagine palace chambers with arches and colonnades. Marble slabs, stucco, gilded carving. Glittering crystal chandeliers. And the endless enfilade of rooms - salons, reception hall, opochival. Such (or almost) this apartment seemed in absentia, but it was worth to cross the threshold ... Then I had to admit that ordinary ideas simply laughed at us. It was not a palace with many chambers and passages between them that appeared to the gaze - no, the space, on the contrary, seemed to widen, the crowdedness remained there, beyond the threshold, but here we were invited to a room, and oddly enough, comfort. Right from the threshold, the apartment was hospitably opened to the guests, as if to say that it doesn’t have any secrets from us - all of it was reflected in the mirrored wall of the entrance hall that winked at us affably. And before a light black cabinet, surrounded by flowers, opening our entire apartment to our gaze, we stopped like a fabulous stone on three roads.Living room And, following the example of the fairy-tale hero, boldly bends around the bookcase and from the marble steps of a low podium we step straight into the living room. The light carpets on the floor, as it turned out, were made according to the sketches of the interior designer Arthur Vanuni. The harmonious neighborhood of traditionalism and modernity creates the conditions for a comfortable life of a young couple who can spend evenings at a low glass table resting on four spheres. Or make yourself comfortable on one of the sofas located in a furnished bay window raised on the podium relative to the living room level. However, there is inaccuracy. Not the bay window was raised, and the living room floor was lowered relative to the initial floor level. All the furniture, including a bit strange, as if for Arlekino, a multi-colored armchair, has been skillfully selected in Germany and Italy. But you do not always want to sit in the traditional points of space. And therefore, a little off in the distance, as if in some kind of dark corner — although there is actually no corner — there is a small maroon-purple nostalgic canape over which a carpet of the same shades hangs — in tune with the marble runway at the other end of the living room. which is a dining room and kitchen.Cool friendliness Listing the furniture in the living room, we unwillingly or voluntarily make a compliment to the creators of the interior - as cleverly, with cold calculating we have foreseen all the needs that guests and owners may have. Here, one constantly wants to discover again and again new opportunities, new inconspicuous amenities. In the situation itself - chic, expensive, and at the same time neutral and friendly in color - a kind of cool amiability is laid. No, this is not a family hearth and not a cozy nest. Above all, perhaps, the word “residence” is appropriate - a place equipped with everything necessary, furnished to the highest standard and waiting for the visit of a wealthy owner. When we already have one foot on the marble step of the podium, some kind of force makes us turn around and once again look around the living room. In front of us are not just luxurious luxury apartments, but perhaps the main hall in all its imperial brilliance, surrounded by four marble-malachite columns and mirrors with matte "antique" divorces and lamps. What was just a room for two, in the imagination instantly turns into a hospitable reception room for guests. And all because these supports simply could not be removed, because they were carrying.Game or stylization? Here we are in the dining room, and now we can admire from here the beauty not only of the living room, but of the whole interior as a whole. In essence, the dining room, where we are located, can only be called conditionally - rather, it is stylized as a dining room, a kind of symbol. On the podium, opposite the window with a balcony, there is a family table surrounded by elegant chairs, a low-hanging lamp above the table, creating local lighting for the family dining corner. The buffet, in style and color blends in with the table and chairs. Small tv. Floor clock in the corner. On this, however, the authors of the interior in their quest for styling do not calm down. The dining room is directly connected to the kitchen; between them is a bar. It would seem that something special can come up with here? But everything is decided by the same details - the fruit of the imagination of architects. The countertop of the bar counter looks like a good parquet floor, and the details of the "crystal" chandelier are different-sized glasses, which, if necessary, are easily removed. And finally - the luminous neon panel. Full impression of some small restaurant from the supernatural, overseas life. In other words, the atmosphere of high life, beautiful, comfortable life prevailing in the living room also penetrates here.Maximum in minimum Behind the bar is a nice little kitchen without any tricks, with a window directly above the sink. Purest functionality on the principle - the maximum is at a minimum. We understand that the owner of the apartment loves and knows how to cook, but her life does not at all focus only on the kitchen. From the bar stand on the runway we pass to the bathroom. Walking, we mark the abstract picture with local illumination. Such paintings hang in the bay window and in the bedroom. They fit so harmoniously into the interior that you don’t immediately notice them - part of the interior decoration, part of the architectural design. Is it a shame for their creators - who knows? Perhaps, the creators of the interior thought about this, because in the end they made all the walls museum-homogeneous, subordinate to what is on them. But here we are in the bathroom, of relatively modest size. The walls here are covered with some kind of warm and pleasantly rough textured coating. Built-in autonomous water heating system. Rational planning. Everything is subordinated to the principle of "maximum in minimum". The floors in the bathroom - heated. As, however, and all other areas of the interior, where the floor is tiled or marble tiles. As one of the architects jokingly remarked, in sunny weather the apartment shines through in Italian with the bright rays of the sun, and that’s to make it warm in Italian, not Italian winter. With the same purpose, the apartment is equipped with a well-thought-out system of air conditioners that heat it up in cold weather and give coolness in the heat.Not for outsiders The apartment has only four doors, and one of them is the entrance, and the other is in the bathroom. But in this, open to all the warm breezes of the interior, two rooms tend to separate themselves from time to time from all other rooms.Bedroom and study And here we are in the bedroom. As it should be according to tradition, a bed reigns over everything, huge and comfortable. However, without special pretentiousness, - as well as in other "half-closed" rooms of the apartment, functionality is emphasized. The bed is raised on the corner podium, but it looks quite democratic, as the whole bedroom. At the head of the head there is a corner nightstand filled with all kinds of electronics, but on the contrary, at the feet there is a huge mirror cabinet, behind the mirror doors of which, perhaps, the most secret place in the apartment is a dressing room. All the rest - a wall for linen with a built-in dressing table, a glass coffee table, a chair - only emphasizes the light shades, simplicity and harmony of the atmosphere. Electronic conveniences are not forgotten either - the light can be turned on and off without getting out of bed using the remote control. In general, in the apartment almost all the lighting is controlled remotely. Chandeliers, lampshades, lamps on the walls and on columns, in false ceilings and in furniture, or finally, just some luminous colored bottles - with all this you can create a special individual atmosphere in almost every corner of the apartment. Next to the door to the bedroom - the door to the office. That's a surprise - we have already said so much about luxury life, and here the situation is downright spartan. A small room has two windows that flood it with light, in the way of which only white translucent windows