Barkli Gallery: Wanders & YOO Reframe a Moscow Interior

Large objects and artwork give the pale lobby a clear set of focal points. Images courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

Barkli Gallery’s interiors began with an existing building and a historical image. For the Moscow project, dated 2017 in the studio’s portfolio, Wanders & YOO took inspiration from an old photograph while working within architecture from the early twentieth century. The documented commission covered the lobby, lift cabins and corridors, giving the residential building’s shared spaces a distinct identity.

The design used a warm, pale grey palette and a combination of carpet, carved wood and marble. This relatively consistent background allowed selected objects to take on greater importance. In the lobby photograph, a large framed artwork, a piano and the Le Roi Soleil chandelier establish separate focal points without dividing the room into competing colour fields.

History through materials and detail

The project description identifies leaded glass, timber panelling, textiles and brass among the materials that connect the interior to its historical setting. The entrance glazing is particularly expressive: its blue tones and fine geometric divisions give the threshold a character of its own. Light passing through the patterned glass introduces variation within the otherwise pale composition.

Leaded glass introduces colour and a finer geometric pattern at the entrance. Images courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

Inside, the panelling creates a repeated rhythm across the walls. Curved mouldings soften the rectangular divisions, while mirrors extend the view and reflect neighbouring elements. A marble console becomes part of that sequence, its surface and proportions giving weight to an area primarily experienced in movement. The detail remains visible at close range without disrupting the larger order of the room.

Marble and repeated mirror frames bring detail to the circulation spaces. Images courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

Shared spaces at a domestic scale

The seating areas bring a warmer note into the interior. Ochre upholstery and a patterned carpet distinguish a place to pause from the surrounding circulation. Lower furniture sits against the taller wall treatment, producing a contrast of scale that makes the shared lobby feel more intimate. The pale envelope gives these concentrated changes in colour room to register.

Soft seating and carpet create a more intimate scale within the shared interior. Images courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

The supplied courtyard photograph extends the view into another setting, where planted containers, reflective surfaces and seating sit above a graphic floor. It records a different balance between decoration and use, with greenery adding irregular shapes to the room’s repeated architectural lines. Across the photographs, reflection is a recurring means of bringing neighbouring objects and surfaces into the same view.

The supplied courtyard view continues the interplay of reflection, pattern and planted elements. Images courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

Barkli Gallery’s character emerges from the relationship between a consistent architectural background and a limited group of expressive objects. Interior design: Wanders & YOO, 2017. The supplied photographic series is identified as 2020; the project’s documented scope covers the lobby, lift cabins and corridors.

Sources: Official project documentation.