When the architects started working on this project, they were given a difficult task - to locate a fairly large volume (the total area of the house is 1500 square meters) on a small plot with pine trees. One of its borders, the site is adjacent to the road, so the architects had to place the house in such a way as to protect it from prying eyes and at the same time preserve the maximum number of trees.
In terms of plan, the cottage resembles a wide-open checkbox, in one "flap" of which all living quarters are located, and in the second - a swimming pool, sauna and gym. The semicircular wooden podium terrace not only visually raises the house towards the pines and organizes the park space, but also smoothes out the geometry of the buildings meeting at an angle. There is also a small terrace on the side of the street - it is also drawn with the help of a compass, however, there was only enough space for an eighth of a circle.
The image of the building is based on a combination of clean surfaces and natural materials, passing from the facades into the interior. The architects deliberately preferred a small scale: both the stone plates and the board have a minimum width. Sewn from them "clothes" for facades conceals the true dimensions of the house, and panoramic glazing of most rooms fills it with daylight. To avoid the feeling of massiveness of structures, roofs that are strongly brought forward, as if separated from the main volume, as well as thin wooden columns that support them, also help.
By the way, not least of all, it was the large windows, through which the surrounding landscape seemed to enter the rooms, that forced the architects to build a whole system of connections between the architecture of the house and its interior. In particular, the walls of the two-story living room and staircase blocks are finished with the same natural stone as the facades (“I just turned them inside out,” explains the chief architect of the project Anastasia Leonidova with a smile), while in the design of the corridor, as well as floors and ceilings, most the premises used a wooden lath. And if an African walnut is laid on the floor, then the walls are sheathed with ordinary walnut - the architects preferred it for its rich honey-terracotta shade. Glass also plays a key role in creating the look of living space. All public areas on the ground floor are separated from each other by transparent sliding doors, and glass niches are also made in the walls of the dining room. On the one hand, this makes the rooms brighter, on the other hand, it allows you to provide the necessary sound insulation.
The layout of the house is built at the intersection of two axes: one corridor connects the entrance door and the hallway area with the living room, the other, perpendicular to it, - two stairs leading to the second floor. The public block with an entrance hall, dressing room, home theater and living room, in turn, divides the living space into two wings. On the first floor, on opposite sides of it, there are guest rooms and a kitchen-dining room with an adjoining billiard room and a winter garden, from which you can get to the pool, on the second - bedrooms for children and adults. Above the pool is a gym with access to an outdoor terrace. The basement floor houses entertainment functions - games rooms and a library for children, a dance club, a bar, a smoking room and a poker room for adults.
As in the architecture of this house there is not a single repeating facade, so in its interior you cannot find two identical rooms. Using the already mentioned natural walnut lath as a leitmotif for interior decoration, the architects complement it with a variety of materials, achieving unexpected and effective combinations. In the billiard room, this is a voluminous tile with a brass coating, in the double-height living room - leather, which is used to trim the central partition. An unusual element with a niche at the level of the second floor was designed by the architect Anastasia Leonidova in conjunction with the drop-shaped hanging fireplace. The rooms intended for leisure are even brighter: the walls of the home theater are pasted over with red and black textile wallpaper, and the walls of the club are decorated with mirrors that mimic masonry in their size and shape. But the ceilings in children's rooms are more reminiscent of the sea - the lamps are placed between wavelike cut sheets of plywood.
Undoubtedly, openness has become one of the basic design principles of this house. The clean planes of the facades, huge stained-glass windows overlooking the pine trees, interiors flowing into one another - all this creates a feeling of the unity of the internal and external, the very thing that is probably the most fundamental difference between suburban housing and an apartment in a metropolis.
