Home Interiors by Ruetemple, Russia: Masters of Micro

A home for a family with two children had to fit into an 80 sq m apartment with all the family’s multi-functional requirements. While using modular furniture that could be arranged in several ways to suit different purposes was an obvious choice of strategy, how Ruetemple have stylised their design to turn a space which works perfectly and is also playful and cool is noteworthy. 

The house can roughly be said to have two types of spaces: a common space containing the living, dining, kitchen and wash areas and the two private bedrooms for the children and the parents. These are divided up in five basic areas as a beginning strategy to allocate the rationed spaces. The living room furniture consists of a set of modular units of two pouffes, four single armed couches and a teapoy which can be arranged in several combinations according to the need. The black rectangle of the T.V. screen is complemented by the black rectangle of the small foldable dining table, as well as that of the larger dining table that is mounted on the wall above to bring down when having guests for meals. The room is devoid of any other element except a narrow bookshelf near the window and a couple of potted plants, leaving an uncluttered, spacious feel. A projector suspended from the ceiling and a screen, which can be pulled down, fitted into a ceiling slot near the opposite wall make it possible to convert this basic arrangement into a comfortable home theatre.

The most innovative space organiser is the “black box” containing the bath and toilet, the kitchen storage on one side and the parents’ room wardrobe on the other. Having a totally unpunctuated finish of black slate, its surface is used for leaving notes, jotting recipes or for the kids to draw and write. The kitchen is a tiny affair all in white tucked away in a compact but well lighted corner beside this black box.

The largest room is for the kids, each one having a dedicated side of it containing a loft bed with a study table and bookshelf underneath. The two sides are compartmented by the centrally placed sunny yellow game block, the only spot of colour in a house full of blacks, whites, greys and browns. Fitted with steps, rope ladder, hammock and shelving, this block fulfils all the play and storage needs. The parents’ room is the smallest in the house, where a comfortable bed is mounted on a wall-to-wall podium fitted with lots of storage spaces all around and under. The sunlight streaming in through the window behind the bed, teams up with the potted greens on the sill and the warm wooden flooring to infuse an aura of cosy cheer. All the rooms, in fact, have a surprisingly ample supply of natural light despite the designers naming fixed window positions as one of the constraints they had to work around. Ruetemple have shown how thinking of organising and compartmenting space differently and playfully can achieve striking results in terms of its quality and quantity.

Again a family with two kids and a little more space this time, but in an unoccupiable attic! The family wanted a functional, well-lit and spacious home with ample storage and fun places for the children in their top floor apartment. Ruetemple have worked their inimitable magic to turn around the attic into a, not just functional and liveable but, playful and inviting area. They have also used their unique sense of organisation to create a spacious, bright and cheerful home using minimal lines, colours and materials.

Quite simply arranged, the home has an entrance lounge on the lower level that opens to the bedroom and kitchen + dining + living space at the same level. A flight of stairs leads to the family living room upstairs coupled with a work room and children’s generous quarters which includes a work desk and a big nursery adjacent to the bunk beds. The bunker’s steps lead up further to a little wooden panelled box under the ridge of the roof, referred to as the “childrens’ house”. This can be entered from the kids’ play area at the back of it as well, which in turn can be accessed via a flight of little steps from the living room outside the kids’ room. Nearby is a ladder leading to the hammock under another end of the peak of the loft. Thus, an invitingly fun landscape of levels has been created for the children to explore in the little attic.