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Architecture firm Neri&Hu has transformed the carcass of Tbilisi’s former central post office into a 239-room hotel while preserving its distinctive modernist facade. The studio’s first project in Georgia saw founders Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu tackle one of the capital’s most prominent Soviet-era ruins, set on the main artery of Rustaveli Avenue. Neri&Hu has […] More
Design studio Halleroed has combined rustic, earthy tones with bold colours and glossy finishes for online retailer Boygar’s first store in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Set across three floors in a historic building on Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue, Halleroed worked within the framework of the building’s existing features when designing the store.
Halleroed has designed a three-storey retail space for Boygar’s in TbilisiCharacterised by a series of tall arched doorways and openings, the ground floor space features circular bronze-toned chandeliers, decorative wall and ceiling elements and Versailles parquet flooring.
To preserve the existing ceiling details, chandeliers designed by Cristian Miola were hung with minimal intervention.
Bronze ring-shaped chandeliers hang from the ceiling on the ground floor”The inspiration for the chandeliers was from the Greek Orthodox Georgian churches that we visited during our stay in Tbilisi,” Halleroed told Dezeen.
To create a striking visual contrast against the more neutral tones and materials, Halleroed added a velvet green sofa and a matching curved green screen with a high-gloss finish.
“For the ground floor and first floor, we had a decorative, old, existing environment which we wanted to be the backdrop to the new additions,” Halleroed explained.
A high-gloss green screen divides the ground floor spaceHalleroed also incorporated half-height curved partition walls that weave through the ground floor space. These have integrated mirrors, as well as floating shelves to display Boygar’s products.
“The walls and ceiling of the existing building have a darker beige tone while the new, lower, curved walls are in a textured bright wallpaper to create a contrast between old and new,” said Halleroed.
Burgandy, ochre, green and black contribute to the colour palette on the first floorA marble staircase leads up to the first floor, where the material and colour palette echo that of the ground floor.
“The colours and fixtures are from a more earthy, in our eyes, Georgian palette with burgundy, ochre, green and black accents,” said Halleroed.
Halleroed juxtaposed elements including oak window and door frames with a burgundy lacquered side table and a curved glossy black screen.
Seating units by Gaetano Pesco add colour to the lower-ground floor spaceThe store’s lower level is a “more contemporary area”, according to Halleroed.
Here, modular seating by Italian designer Gaetano Pesce stands out in bright pops of solid colour against the neutral palette used for the walls and carpet.
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“Downstairs we used a more modern approach since the space didn’t contain any decorative elements,” Halleroed explained.
Work by contemporary Georgian artists including Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili and Shota Aptsiauri line the walls.
Tubular lighting contained inside circular niches illuminates the spaceGarments presented on mannequins and minimal clothes rails are illuminated by tubular lighting contained in circular niches in the ceiling.
“Tubular lighting is very typical for art galleries and we wanted that feeling downstairs but in a more interesting, spatial way,” said Halleroed.
A coral-coloured shoe display area takes cues from paintings by Georgian artist PirosmaniA bright red archway frames a women’s shoe display area, with the same gloss finish used elsewhere.
“The strong coral red colour was inspired by the famous Georgian artist Pirosmani’s paintings,” Halleroed explained.
A local Georgian marble features in the bathroomsIn the bathrooms, a green-hued local Georgian marble was used, which matches the building’s facade.
“We always try to work with local materials where possible,” Halleroed said. “We played with the stone and illuminated ceiling to create a visually intense, almost scenographical effect.”
Other store interior projects recently published on Dezeen include a flagship store for fashion brand Totome in London and a boutique in Paris for French bag brand L/Unifirm.
Photography is by Ludovic Balay.
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Georgian architect Sandro Takaishvili has converted an apartment building in Tbilisi into a hotel, with interiors informed by his love of cinema and movie projectors in all 16 rooms.
Taking over three storeys above a restaurant in the capital’s Vera neighbourhood, the Blueberry Nights hotel features a theatrical colour scheme, Japanese furnishings and moody lighting.
Blueberry Nights is a 16-room hotel in Tbilisi”The design of the hotel is the culmination of my entire life’s consumption of film,” the hotel’s co-founder Sandro Takaishvili told Dezeen.
“My intention is to make people feel like they’re inside a movie, where everything feels slightly familiar but otherworldly at the same time,” said the architect, who previously worked as a set designer, filmmaker and photographer.
Its design references films by renowned film directorsThe hotel was named after My Blueberry Nights – a film by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai – and incorporates visual references to the work of other renowned directors including Stanley Kubrick.
The main lobby was designed to look and feel like a cosy cinema foyer, complete with dark blue carpeting, walnut wood furniture and seating upholstered in velvet. Guests can check in at a large reception desk fronted in plexiglass that was inspired by retro-futuristic films.
The guestrooms are sparsely decorated with lights from Japan”From the moment guests step through the doors, a moody cinematic journey begins with dark blue carpets, downlights and a soft soundtrack of noir movie dialogues playing in the lobby,” Takaishvili said.
As part of the renovation, Takaishvili transformed the building’s attic into two extra guestrooms, for a total of 16 rooms.
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The bedrooms were designed to evoke the visual style of David Lynch, with custom-made low-slung beds and walnut-veneer cabinets. Room dividers punctured by large circular openings were used to mark different zones within the rooms.
The warm wooden furniture is offset by splashes of red – in the form of vintage phones, artwork and window shutters made from medium-density fibreboard (MDF) – as well as the white tiles used in the tiny en-suite bathrooms.
Wooden furniture in the hotel rooms was locally producedOther bedroom decor includes lamps with Noguchi-style paper shades, which Takaishvili imported from Japan, and teak-and-cane chairs by architect Pierre Jeanneret, which were sourced from London.
“The paper lights give off a soft luminescent effect that creates a cosy ambience,” the architect explained.
“Some of the simple geometric forms that I used definitely have a mid-century influence but I wasn’t trying to be trendy. I just wanted to achieve a cinematic effect without resorting to obvious movie gimmicks.”
The architects added vinyl players and records in each roomOne wall was left blank in each room so that guests can watch movies via a smart projector, while music can be played via a selection of vinyl records.
Other interior projects in Tbilisi include a bookstore-cum-cafe by Georgian designer Lado Lomitashvili and the Stamba Hotel, which occupies the former headquarters of a Soviet printing press.
The photography is courtesy of Blueberry Nights.
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