RIVER PARK | APARTMENT

An apartment for a young couple in Moscow, 67,27 m². Almost everything here was made into background: pale oak underfoot, plaster walls, upholstery without a pattern, storage flush with the wall. Two things are allowed to act against it — one colour and the lights.

The colour is terracotta, used at several strengths. It sits highest on the upper kitchen fronts, comes back softer in the dining chairs, and drops to a single note in the hall stool and the cushions. Texture does the rest of the work: a terrazzo splashback that keeps going up the corner, a travertine island, oak with an open grain.

The lights are the objects. A black arcade of arches hangs over the counter, a lit loop is drawn across the kitchen wall, heavy plaster domes come down low over the table. Full-height mirror panels stand beside the island and take the floor with them, so the room ends later than the wall does.