Musical School

This space in a pre-war building was in a pretty dire state: DIY mezzanines, a rusty toilet behind a veneer screen and piles of rubbish throughout. Our client wanted to turn the premises into a new campus for a private musical school with two classrooms and a small concert hall. This required a full-scale toilet with corridor access.

We moved the standpipes and built up the wall separating the classrooms to hide the plumbing and piping. We painted the toilet walls and ceiling in the same colour to draw attention away from the 4-meter ceiling. A trendy reddish brown not only complements the grey tiles, but is also the trademark colour of the school.

One of the classrooms for individual lessons had to be multifunctional, to go from office space before lunch to a classroom after. To enable this transition, we put the kitchen behind cabinet doors. Once closed, there is no sign of any cooking facilities — just a big storage cabinet.

And that’s not the only bit of furniture with hidden functionality. A three-meter chest of drawers is unexpectedly nimble, thanks to some wheels underneath. This makes it easy to cart around from the main concert hall to the entrance, to use as a reception stand for events. It hosts not only student report concerts, but also open lectures on music and art, vernissages, meetings with writers – the space is used as a full-fledged cultural center. Therefore, it was important to provide opportunities for rapid transformation of the room. 50 chairs are stacked, in one of the classrooms we have provided a large closet for their storage.

The school's campus consists of two wings: one of them hosts classes for younger children, the other houses the administration, a concert hall and classrooms for individual classes. In the "children's" half, we left the terracotta brick walls in sight, added a built-in plywood bench, used textiles of warm natural shades to make the interior visually and tactilely comfortable for young children, as well as extend its service life. The "adult" half was decorated more strictly and solemnly, which corresponds to the evening dress code.

Light: Crown by Nemo, Modo by Jason Miller, light in classrooms - vintage
Kitchen, reception desk: Kachanow (custom made according to our drawings)
Armchairs, chairs: IKEA