This story began a few years ago. The owners of the apartment, which we want to talk about, lived in Europe for some time, and as luck would have it, these years there was a surge of interest in minimalism in the West. Returning to their native Petersburg, they decided to build a life according to their new ideas about comfort, in a style completely devoid of external outrage. To make the dream come true, an apartment was chosen in a new house, “grown” in a picturesque corner of the Petrograd side. The very combination of the historical environment and the modern building opened up very attractive prospects. Nevertheless, the owners consider acquaintance with the architect Mikhail Barashkov as a starting point in the work on this project. It so happened that the apartment owners and the architect share a love for minimalism, and therefore the general direction of stylistic searches was determined immediately. The choice of planning solution also did not require much effort, since even at the construction stage they gained the maximum benefit from the existing space. The first thing that catches your eye is the abundance of white color that meets us in the hallway and reaches its apogee in the guest rooms. A close look captures the finest game of shades, which can be called: "white and even whiter." The experiment with coloring was quite a success, especially since he found a continuation in a kind of union of various materials. Light marble windowsills repeated in the flooring, stainless steel in the kitchen peacefully coexists with brushed aluminum, the laminate wall panels look no less noble than polished glass. Such an unconventional combination of materials would be shocking, but carefully selected shades and textures only emphasize the depth of white color and the range of its possibilities. The common space of the living room, dining room and kitchen is divided by an island partition. This barrier is very conditional, and yet it allows you to clearly define the boundaries of the main zones, while maintaining the total volume of the room. Minor offsets and rotations of the planes make the perspective deeper. So the line of the built-in panels is located at a small angle to the line of the wall, and the island partition is slightly turned around its axis. Due to the fact that the house has a stepped form, from the very beginning there was a desire to expand the usable area of the apartment due to the development of the unexploited roof of the lower floor. But how? The initial idea of arranging an open terrace here was attractive, but impractical. Petersburg climate is known for its rains, which means it could only be used in summer. And yet there was a solution. The construction of a covered terrace made it possible not only to increase the total area of the apartment by 40 meters2, но и обзавестись кабинетом, камином (которые в прежнем проекте не были предусмотрены) и целым городом впридачу - со смотровой площадки второго яруса открывается великолепная панорама. Признаться, находясь здесь, меньше всего думаешь о том, что за изящной конструкцией, парящей в воздухе, стоит сложнейший инженерный расчет. Между тем пришлось решать по-настоящему сложную задачу: консоль из стальных швеллеров самонесущая, так как в этом месте нет капитальной стены, на которой ее можно было бы закрепить. Лестница, балкон, огражденный стальными тросами, и несущая конструкция остекленного ограждения привнесли в интерьер техногенную ноту. Цветовая гамма стала более насыщенной, но все равно тяготеющей к монохромности. Огромный фонарь террасы наполнен солнечным светом днем и лунным - ночью. Он манит к себе. И нет никакой возможности устоять перед соблазном подняться на балкон и окинуть взглядом город, простирающийся до самого горизонта. Архитектор Mikhail Barashkov говорит об этом так: "Для меня принципиально важно видеть город из окон квартиры. Как будто ты получаешь в подарок к квадратным метрам общей площади квадратные метры картины..." И мы склонны с ним согласиться.
Passing the gallery 
