two-level apartment (95 m2) in St. Petersburg Andrey Kurochkin, Vladislav Valoven, Mikhail Voinov, Anna Sidorovskaya

Passing the gallery

Text: Julia Sakharova

A photo: Yury Molodkovets

Architect: Andrey Kurochkin, Vladislav Valoven, Anna Sidorovskaya, Mikhail Voinov

Magazine: (81) 2004

This apartment, similar to an intricate casket of precious wood, is located in the city on the Neva River, in an old reconstructed house opposite the Russian Museum. The exact address is Italian street. A remarkable coincidence: the Italians did all the work on wood (to say that there is a lot of it here - to say nothing) The author’s drawings of the architectural group of Andrei Kurochkin and Vladislav Valovnya went to Milan, and after three months, the finest wall and ceiling panels, parquet flooring and stairs arrived in St. Petersburg. “If it were not for the Italians, nothing would have worked out of our undertaking,” Andrei Kurochkin says with conviction. “Giulio Meroni, the head of MERITALIA, is my old friend. Without exaggeration, this circumstance played a leading role. Mutual understanding with the customer is a beautiful thing, but without a worthy performer, the project risks not taking place at all. Especially such a complex one that requires filigree technology. " We can say with certainty that the appearance of the apartment was influenced by the environment: the historical center, the proximity of the Russian Museum, the very air of St. Petersburg. (And, perhaps, a peculiarity of St. Petersburgers, who - compared to, for example, Muscovites - often build interiors on typically urban allusions.) There are, however, no town-planning prospects, conventional spiers, bridges, equestrian statues and so on ... And yet we venture to assert that the most elegant apartment-box could appear only in the city where there is the Kunstkamera and the Hermitage. Not only because it reminds at once the palace, museum and exhibit. There is in it a singularity, not at all contrary to the idea of ​​comme il faut. First of all, the two-light space is according to the architect’s idea “only one room”, including a sleeping place on the second floor. Secondly, the bedroom is on the gallery behind the balustrade. That is, the bed is behind a perfectly conventional partition of balusters. From here there is a view to the first floor, where the architects have placed the living room and dining area "rooms". Thirdly, the whole space is literally from head to foot dressed in magnificent clothes made of Karelian birch, mahogany, oak, cherry. Fourth, the authors selected the appropriate furniture - antique. (A similar soft set with gilded baroque curls, they say, is in the Hermitage.) Fifthly ... there is a steady feeling that this apartment has many secrets: the history of the house, family legends, etc. So the genre of "secret boxes" is perfect.Andrey Kurochkin: "If it were not for my Italian friends, this apartment, elaborately decorated with rare woods, did not risk taking place. However, it took place, and in many respects, let me stress, thanks to the performers who made the wooden decor. Ironically, the apartment-box , located on Italian street in Petersburg "