Flashes of Luxury

Photography by Leonas Garbačiauskas

Prusta, the Lithuanian architecture and construction studio, projected a family house with a panoramic view of Vilnius.

The four-person family wanted a funky, luxuriously flavored home. Among their requests were a spacious kitchen, a large dining table, two rooms for children, a comfortable bedroom with a wardrobe and a place to store things. Ieva Prunskaitė, the principal architect-designer admits that it was not easy to accommodate everything functionally. Especially since it was necessary to think not only about the capacity, but also about a beautiful, functional, uncrowded space.

"Every architectural solution has created a new challenge, because everything was non-standard.

Upon entering the apartment, the living space is located on the left composed by a kitchen, dining area and the living room. A wall made by openwork brass elements with marble inserts has been added to the kitchen balcony. In this way, the zones are functionally divided, but space and light the feeling is not lost.

The ceiling of the apartment was left as it was - a monolithic overlay - which was decided to be preserved as a valuable, industrial detail. So that the ceiling does not cut too much into the living space over 2 heights, the architect decided to bevel its edge, thus the edge of the ceiling looks visually lighter. Ieva says that it was not easy to achieve the result of a clean ceiling, because it was necessary to hide the electrical wires and to design both functional and aesthetically concise lighting.

A lot of work, a lot of effort, a lot of details. Every angle has been explored, the profile has been calculated, coordinated, thought out, many unconventional solutions.

The owners, who actively participated in the process, asked to create a luxury house with elements of industrial style. Some of the recurring details in the apartment, such as brass inserts, were suggested by the towering church towers just outside the window. All-day sunbathing into the apartment allows the bronze surfaces to sound different colors and create a different mood each time. The large, black stone panels that cover the wall contrast with the brass and help it even more reveal. We find brass flashes also in the frame of the mezzanine, in the lamp above the sofa and also in the kitchen furniture, moving to the outdoor kitchen. The almost white wooden herringbone floor is a counterbalance to this black stone wall. In this case, the gray monolith is just a neutral background that allows other important interior elements to take center stage. Bright colors appear in detail like royal blue sofa and dining chairs. While the black and white color is enhanced by brass elements. The sculptural openwork metal mesh lamps hanging above the marble dining table are carefully composed detail. Since they hang in such a large space in front of the showcase windows, they had to be sculptural, large and expressive in design, but at the same time not obscure the view through the windows when viewed from the bedroom.

On the other side of the apartment, separated by a corridor, we find the children's bedrooms, bathroom and auxiliary rooms. The walls of the passage leading to the children's bedrooms are rounded to make the space visually wider. The two bedrooms are marked by a light design thanks to pastel shades of blue and pink. Both offer spectacular views of the city thanks to the huge windows - which also makes the space well lit. While the bathroom follows the design of the house: we have the balanced contrast between black, dark blue and white and the continued use of brass in the details (taps, lighting, accessories).

Each architectural decision caused a new challenge, because everything was non-standard. All the challenges have been dealt with and now the interior, full of harmony, is reflected in wideopen eyes.

The bedroom is separated from the common living area by a transparent laminated glass partition, covered from the outside with vertical brass elements, which create an impression of privacy while in the bedroom, but also do not close the space and the view of the city. From the inside, bedroom is equipped with blinds made soft velvet curtains that suppress both view and the sound even more, ensuring the privacy of the owners if necessary. The central axis of the room is bed facing the city skyline. The architect designed spacious wardrobes along both walls of the bedroom. Tiles blending into the wooden floor symbolically lead into the bathroom area. The brass motifs unifying the interior are repeated in glass shower wall, as if extending the ceiling lights of the same metal. There is a white vanity table by the window, above it, the wall that reproduces the pattern on floor, hangs a mirror with a cabinet. The space between the toilet and the shower is separated by a wardrobe, created after thinking about the practical issue of storing things.