Kaspiyka on Chistye Prudy metro station is the quintessence of spiritualness of marine restaurants situated at our favorite resorts. Here the atmosphere of the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea is felt – references to the marine vibe are in the romantic blue and white color scheme and installations of mussels or blue octopuses hung on the rods under the ceiling.
Designer: Bureau ARCHPOINT
Photographer: Olga Alekseenko
The interior isn’t felt as a strict design concept. It looks as if the owner, a tanned elderly fisherman, made a restaurant from things he owned, and then gradually added new details: collected chairs and tables, hang paintings, bought right here on the shore from a free artist or painted by himself, put on the sofas some knitted pillows and blankets, accidentally seen in a store. Some ideas he looked over at similar restaurants on other shores, in other countries and at other fishermen’s. And so this place gradually grew up under the eye of the caring owner.
Archpoint architects managed to create such a story at the restaurant in the center of bustling Moscow, and, just like this fisherman, brought together many details that became the best neighbors.
Kaspiyka is a seaside restaurant, which means that on the menu the guest will find all kinds of fish and seafood, including oysters, mussels and rapans. A nice feature of the place is that here you can not only order seafood as a meal, but also buy it fresh to take away. To make it possible, the architects put a glacier inside a real boat, which looks as if it spent more than a month abandoned in the sands on the shore. This is a real art object that first attracts the attention of visitors at the entrance. Also the weighing scales are suspended from the ceiling on which the purchases are weighed.
The blue-white gamma is taken as a basis. Near the entrance there are blue-white tiles, the brick vaults of the building are painted with light paint and covered with sacking, sheets of crumpled blue metal and sconces made of blue ceramics attract the eye. The bar is lined with blue boards, under the ceiling there are blue lamps in the form of an arc, similar to spread sails, and islands of mussels made of plaster. Blue octopuses are hung overhead on stretched ropes and rods, which refer to the Greek tradition of drying seafood in this way off the coast. From furniture here there are wooden tables covered with paper tablecloths, wicker beige Viennese chairs and blue ones, arranged on the parquet.
From the first floor a guest can go downstairs, where he or she will meet a more laconic hall with an intimate atmosphere and a raw bar. There is less blue color and more neutral light shades of white and beige. In addition to wicker chairs, there are also sofas covered with soft fabric to create coziness. On the walls the architects placed original paintings on canvases, made in an intentionally careless style, without a frame, as if they were bought from a merchant at the market. Throughout the hall baskets, woven carpets, rugs and macramé pillows are laid out.
In the courtyard of the restaurant a summer terrace was arranged, and in warm weather one can enjoy the seafood under the sunlight.
The restaurant attracts with its author's atmosphere. Many details here are made by hand: an aged boat, unframed paintings, crumpled metal panels and beads curtains. Thanks to these things, guests can feel the sincerity of the place and the caring hand of the owner, which makes everybody want to return to the restaurant to enjoy more pleasant quiet evenings.
