home cinema in the attic of a country mansion Sergey Shusterman

Passing the gallery

A photo: Peter Lebedev

Text: Nadezhda Nadimova

Stylist: Vladimir Nikiforov

Architect-designer: Sergey Shusterman

Magazine: Technological N10 (88) 2004

In the mansion, designed by Sergei Shusterman, home theaters are equipped with a living room and even a dining room. But the inhabitants of the house prefer the cinema, located in the lobby of the second floor. And it is not surprising, because this cozy attic room is almost perfect in terms of acoustics Having decided to equip a home cinema in the attic, the architects faced a lot of problems. First of all, in a hall with sloping walls, where echoes easily arise, it turned out to be very difficult to create good conditions for sound. A well-known means of dealing with such an acoustic flaw, such as echo, is the use of a finishing material that levels resonance. And this fertile material was cork. In addition, it is very decorative. The whole house is designed in the spirit of restrained, so-called northern modernity. In general, for ar nouveau cork is an uncharacteristic material. Nevertheless, spectacular cork textures look good in the interior a la Shekhtel. When the resonances and echo disappeared, it turned out that the sound was too deaf. This problem was solved with the help of numerous niches and projections, voids, hidden under the decorative trim. They amplified the sound, playing the role of those very vocalists who had been bricked up in the walls of the chapels. Plus in the attic (a blessing without good) the role of an additional sound insulation played insulation. The installation of active speakers operating from an infrared signal completed a set of acoustic work. A huge, almost two-meter screen above the staircase, if desired, retracts into a special design with a height of only 15 cm, but the designers did not set the task of hiding modern equipment. "The old-fashioned decoration and the modern thing can coexist organically, even if contrasting," the architect is convinced.