A Collector’s Refuge

A collector’s home, we transformed the space by creating a deliberate balance between art, furniture, and functional spaces. The result was a peaceful place in which to live in in the midst of the bustling Russian capital.

This home was in Moscow adjacent to the Pushkin Museum and purchased by our client who works in the financial sector and is an art collector. The building itself was refurbished by Codest and sold to the client without interior walls to partition the home.

It was 5,000 square feet/450 square meters of empty space with some support columns. Prima Design had to tailor the interior layout to the structure that was already built. We transformed the sterile shell of the building into a cozy home for the client. The team was able to design and build out a 3 bedroom home composing of a master bedroom with a built in sauna plus two guest rooms.

In addition, we designed a dining room, a sitting room, a kitchen, and a laundry room all entirely built from A-Z:  walls, finishes, flooring, etc. Kitchen was a custom design by Prima Design with the idea of a classic leather trunk as inspiration.

Prima Design had the huge challenge of working somewhere completely new and quickly learned the hard way about the high humidity of Moscow winters. Walls had to be redone after cracking and wood was not settling in properly because they couldn’t cure correctly. After making some adjustments to regulate the humidity, we were able to get everything done correctly.

The team ended up using an ancient technique with lime plaster on the walls. Lime plaster is permeable and perfect for humid environments as it lets the wall breath. This technique also allowed a more nuanced wall color instead of a flat color. Additionally, all the furniture and materials were Italian and involved really detailed and complicated logistics to get everything delivered to Russia safe and sound.

This home has appeared in Architectural Digest in Italy and Russia and featured in several architectural books. A lot of the artwork is by Aidan Salakhova and Oleg Dou, both artists from Russia. The sofa and beds are by Baxter which are made in Italy.