Beauty salon interior design in the historic building in Minsk
Beauty salon & SPA interior design in the center of Minsk. Creating the interior design in the historic building is a huge responsibility and, at the same time, a source of pride for every design studio. The existing interior wasn’t of much value except for some elements: door leaves and the chandelier in the entrance hall. The finishing in the main hall and entrance area was made of natural stone, which we decided to preserve.
The article illustrates the solutions and principles that guided us while creating the design project. Also, we will explain what obstacles we encountered while creating an interior design in the historic building.
The building is located at 12 Savieckaja street in Minsk, a former Zakhar’yevskaya street. Nearby, you will find the Mensk restaurant, Stolitsa shopping mall, and the Plošča Lienina subway station.
The interior
The Beauty salon & SPA was set to be on the first floor of the building. In addition to the salon and its linked compartments, there is a small cafe on the same floor. The upper floors of the building contain office premises.
Original materials
The entrance area and the main hall walls have natural stone finishing. We left it intact because the material is natural and has a unique texture.
Advantages
Almost all rooms on the first floor have a reasonably great height which significantly enlarges the space visually. The distinctive feature is a large chandelier in the cafe room.
Conceptual development
The salon layout can be divided into three groups according to the function. The main hall contains hairdresser stations, manicure tables, a waiting area, and beauty products display stands. Also, the beauty salon & SPA includes massage rooms, pedicure rooms, couples massage rooms, and a consulting room. A small cafe is open for salon clients, office workers, and everybody else.
Room legend
1-2. Entrance area 3. Main hall 4. Massage room 6-8. Treatment rooms 10. Couples massage room 12. Cafe 13-20. Staff rooms 21-25. Office premises entrance
The entrance area
The central entrance doorway is an antique restored wooden door of great height. The entry area and the reception functionally separate the first floor into two sections. We left the natural stone flooring with geometrical shapes intact.
The reception
The relatively low-key reception area, white cosmetics display stands, a wardrobe with perforated panels all fill the interior of the entrance area and partly cover the bleak stone walls.
The chandelier
One of the design accents of the main hall is a bespoke large decorative chandelier which is made of cereals and hydrangeas inflorescences. The soft diffused light generated by LED strips, wall lamps, and pendant fixtures from Luminoso gives the proper ambiance.
Finishing materials
The original marble walls work well with light blue and grey textile surfaces, wood, brass metal elements, and decorative glass components. We repaced the stone flooring with Triopol laminate with a French herringbone layout to create a cozy environment.
Furnishing
To create a more spacious and lighter interior, we chose flat white furnishing. The furniture design is low-key and has a lot of round shapes. All original furnishing was custom-made by Mebart.
Cosmetics stands
The character of the design is, to a large extent, determined by illumination. The display stands lighting creates the feeling that there is much more daylight in the room than it is.
Electrical wiring
The stone finishing on the walls didn’t allow to run the electrical wiring on the ceiling. The solution was to install the drywall lining on the lower part of the walls, which allowed to run the electrical wiring and to hide old heating radiators. Molding strips on the drywalls are inspired by modern classic style and work well with elements of furnishing.
Glass partitions
To separate the main hall from the massage room, we decided to use glass partitions. Mirror glass enlarges the space of both sections. The lower part of the partitions (approximately the height of a person) was covered with a flat white coating to achieve visual comfort.
The restroom
The restroom interior was designed with contrast: high-quality 1200×1600 mm stone tiles, brass elements, and crystal decor are combined with white vintage 100×100 mm tiles with broken corners and cracks.
The large-sized illuminated mirror goes right up to the ceiling, visually enlarges the room, and doubles the quantity of hanging crystal decor. Floor-to-ceiling bathroom stall partitions are made from HPL panels and have a purely minimalist style.
The bottom line
Not all of our design projects reach the building stage and completion. In this case, most of the problems came from MEP design and the engineering side of the construction. The cost estimate suggested that it was impractical to build a Beauty salon & SPA in the historic building. Most likely, some other commercial project, with a less demanding MEP design, will be well suited for this kind of interior.
The design of the Beauty salon & SPA in the historic building is a tremendous experience for our team. During the design process, we had to solve various problems regarding functionality, engineering, ventilation. We had the opportunity to work with a lot of competent people who shared their knowledge with us. It was a kind of challenge that we have never encountered in our practice, which was to take the commercial space to create a comfortable and home-like environment where visitors can relax.