This house got its name from the main glass facade facing the reservoir - the architects gave it a characteristic smoothly curved shape, thanks to which the terraces and interiors were as open as possible to the surrounding landscape. On the reverse side, the cottage seems to be split in two: the authors tore up the “building front” in order to preserve several pines that “stepped in” into the depths of the site. The rugged bizarre shape of the plan and the smooth line of the main facade are perhaps the only liberty of this project: otherwise the graphic solution is extremely rectangular and straightforward, but no less expressive from this. Horizontal lines (floors, roof, railings, stained glass layouts) are balanced by verticals (columns, facades), and large volumes are small. But the strictly verified composition does not seem static, because the huge stained-glass windows, decorated with skillful "frames" made of natural wood, reflect the ever-changing water, forest and sky.
The relief drop on the site (it drops to the water by three meters) was used by the architects to create a semi-basement floor. The pool, bar and billiard room located there are flooded with natural light. Considering that the shore of the reservoir is in the south, one can imagine that the customer of the "Veera" can only envy: in clear weather, the sun's rays penetrate the interior to the entire depth of the premises. By the way, it was for the sake of natural light that the architects made the columns supporting the terrace of the first floor round in cross-section, because, unlike square or rectangular supports, they obstruct windows less and thereby improve insolation. In addition, the slate-lined cylindrical columns resemble tree trunks, making the building's integration into the pine forest even more organic.
The house harmoniously blended into the surroundings thanks not only to its geometry, but also to the materials used. Like most of the buildings of Totan Kuzembaev's workshop, it is made of wood - only the basement floor, which houses the pool, sauna, billiard room and technical rooms, is made of reinforced concrete. In total, three types of wood were used in this project. The building frame, its supporting structures are assembled from glued pine beams. Facade cladding, pool ceiling, stairs, decking and railings of terraces are made of larch, which, due to its resinous content, withstands high humidity well. And as a floor covering and material for furniture, along with pine and larch, almost black oak, stained "under wenge" is used.
The layout of the house as a whole is traditional: the first floor of the house is occupied by an office, utility rooms and a public area with access to a spacious terrace facing the water; the second floor is occupied by the master's bedrooms. The public area, uniting the living room, hall, kitchen and dining room, is designed in natural, golden tones of pine and larch, which bring to the interior the atmosphere of a summer holiday, a summer residence. But the office, on the contrary, is decorated using the already mentioned black oak. According to Totan Kuzembaev, this was done in order to give him solidity and seriousness.
And if outwardly this house looks laconic and simple, then its internal space turns out to be incredibly emotional and expressive. The architects managed to achieve such an impression, first of all, due to the introduction of several large sculptural elements into the interior, performing both a functional and a decorative role. First of all, this is the central staircase of the house, surrounded by wooden bookshelves. In fact, the steps connecting the first and second floors are placed in a lattice cocoon of racks and shelves: as Totan Kuzembaev explains, a tree with a dense crown served as the prototype of this composition. The shelves become "thicker" as they rise - if below, in the public area, the lattice is still quite transparent, then above, where private rooms are concentrated (three children's, master's and guest's bedrooms), nothing can be seen through it.
Another sculptural composition is a fireplace, decorated with a spectacular wall relief made of wooden ribs. Totan Kuzembaev himself describes this small architectural form: “The fireplace was covered with a pleated skirt”. A surprisingly powerful element in its architectonics, it has absorbed many symbols and associations, resembling both man-made structures (organ, ship skeleton) and natural forms (can be compared with both a rock and a waterfall).
However, the list of works of authorship, harmoniously built into the structure of the house, does not end there either. For example, to illuminate the living room, the architects created an aluminum ring chandelier with a diameter of 3 meters. It was supposed to be placed on one central rod, producing the effect of a weightless glowing circle, but the builders decided to play it safe and secured this UFO on additional steel cables. However, this did not make the chandelier less expressive, giving the interior design of the "Fan" an accentuated modernity.
