---
title: "Glulam House in Pestovo"
description: "A glulam house delivered without interior finishes: the structure was given, the material was fixed — the project began not with a blank slate but with an existing physical reality."
url: "https://mashaxpasha.com/work/pestovo"
---

# Glulam House in Pestovo

> A glulam house delivered without interior finishes: the structure was given, the material was fixed — the project began not with a blank slate but with an existing physical reality.

- Type: Interior
- Year: 2022
- Status: Completed
- Client: Private Client
- Location: Moscow Region, Russia

## Given Conditions Determined the Method

**Glulam** as a structural material was a fixed constraint. The walls were already assembled; their geometry, colour, and texture were not open to discussion. Timber treated with clear oil takes on a warm, light-honey tone while preserving its texture: knots, annual rings, a slight irregularity in the grain. In this state the material absorbs and diffuses natural light rather than reflecting it — the walls function as a diffuse source of warmth in the space.

The task was to find a system that neither competes with the timber nor attempts to neutralise it. Most glulam country houses take one of two paths: saturating the space with decoration, or softening the structure with cladding. Here the opposite direction was chosen.

## Graphite as the Interior's Load-Bearing Element

The second dominant material is a **deep graphite-anthracite** colour. It covers all functional planes and openings: interior doors without architraves or with thin dark profiles, matte kitchen cabinet fronts, large-format porcelain floor tiles on the ground floor, walls in the entry and bathrooms, and metal details — handles, taps, curtain rails, track lighting systems.

Physically this colour behaves differently from dark grey: it absorbs light rather than scattering it. Door openings in the timber walls read as cuts rather than inserted elements. This shifts the perception of depth: a black rectangle of a door against light wood is perceived not as a surface but as the absence of one. The optical effect is analogous to how niches and deep reveals work in Japanese architecture — shadow becomes a material.

This approach has been established in Scandinavian minimalist interiors since the 1990s, when Norwegian and Swedish practices began using deep dark accents in timber houses specifically to intensify, rather than suppress, the structure of the wood.

## The Same Logic Across All Zones

The same principle operates throughout the house. Ground-floor finishes are large-format graphite **porcelain tile**; the upper floor uses wide brushed **oak board** — the change of material marks the boundary between public and private. Bathrooms and the entry hall have **encaustic tiles** in white with black inserts and grout; accent walls carry square black tile. On the upper floor, ceilings follow the roof pitch and are lined with timber battens with dark track lighting — light is controlled without disrupting the geometry of the plane.

## Coherence Through System, Not Uniformity

The house is built from a single structural material, but within it a two-component system operates: the **light organics** of the timber and the **dark graphic** of the functional elements. Each component follows its own rule: timber wherever the surface defines atmosphere; dark colour wherever the surface defines function.

Where glulam country houses typically seek to dissolve the interior into the structural material, this project establishes a clear hierarchy within it. The result is a space that reads as architecture rather than as a wood-lined room.

## Images

![Kitchen with ash-veneer wall cabinets, black worktop and graphite base units against log walls](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RVFDWWTZGW4XQ1NE5QP3PS.webp)
![Front view of a kitchen with light wood upper cabinets, dark lower units and a tall graphite column](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RVFGW7MN5947X3CPHVS4PW.webp)
![Detail of wood-veneer cabinet doors with black bar handles above black stone and pine boards](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RVFKB6VE28PEJJ2THRZJY1.webp)
![Dark kitchen island beside floor-to-ceiling windows and a glazed door to a balcony with bunting](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RVFNMPEEH5CMF15FVE0PYV.webp)
![Kitchen sink wall with knives on a magnetic strip against a knotty pine backsplash](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RVFQQ8CXQP3G7WNTZP6CJF.webp)
![Open kitchen in a log house with a black island, wooden bar stools and grey stone floor tiles](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RVFSXYFK2Z9FMEKSJJQTNS.webp)
![Black mixer tap and steel sink set in a sparkling black worktop below light wood cabinets](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RVFWCQ3B3AQSV0JFQF4RD0.webp)