Sci-fi ceiling illuminates Russian florist in constructivist building
Architect Eduard Eremchuk looked to visuals from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey when designing the Guapa Flower Shop in a historic building in Rostov-on-Don.
The whole ceiling is a lighting element, bathing the minimalist florist in bright white light and giving the curving white walls a Space Age feel.
Guapa Flower Shop is located in the ground floor of a Soviet-era building in Rostov-on-Don. The former apartment block was built in 1928 by Michail Kondratyev in the Constructivist style.
Russian architect Eremchuk described the project as a "new wave of architecture design in Russia, meets Soviet history".
Eremchuk, who also designed a concept store with pink fluffy walls in the city, wanted the boutique to go against all the usual florist clichés.
"The main task was to create a unique flower shop avoiding all associations with typical ones like salvaged wood, dark cozy colours, pots and warm light inside," Eremchuk said.
"The whole interior is monochrome, an aesthetic that comes from contemporary art galleries with white walls and bright lighting. The idea was to make a space which will not distract the viewer from the flowers, their shapes and colours."
Pink lighting beneath a metal bench, where customers can sit and read whilst waiting for their bouquets, is one of the few splashes of colour in the gallery-like shop.
Eremchuk also introduced colour in the shop by painting the small room leading to a bathroom in purple, and with art pieces that hang on the wall and in the entrance.
The main room is divided in two by a four-metre-long stainless steel work bench that separates the front of house from the back rooms, where staff have access to the private storage area and flower refrigerators.
Other unusual florists include a hybrid flower shop and restaurant encased in a pink box in China, and a Japanese florist with an arcing black climbing frame for plants.