Beneath a 19th-century vault

Pasaje Nevsky is a heritage building of late 19th-century commercial architecture. A glass vault, classical façades, a marble floor. A space with a strong identity of its own.

The brief was to add a visual accent that would reinforce the gallery and keep its historic integrity. Work took place in a working building with a constant flow of visitors, and the installation had to be fully reversible.

The architecture leads, the installation follows

The suspended composition, made of mirrored and tinted spheres, runs along the central axis of the gallery. It works to the rhythm of the architecture and keeps the historic sightline open.

The clusters of spheres are set along the axes of the bays: the large spheres sit close to the visitor and the small ones recede into the distance. The composition fits the geometry of the building and does not compete with it.

Working with reflection

The mirrored surfaces reflect the architecture itself: the classical façades, the glass vault, the light. The gallery space opens up visually, and each sphere shows the space from a new angle.

We add saturated blue selectively: it sharpens the depth and sets up a contrast against the white classical interior, which stays dominant.

Fully reversible

The structure is a lightweight suspended system with point fixings. It is fully reversible: the historic architecture stays intact.

We coordinated the installation with the retail operators and the building management, and the gallery ran without interrupting the pedestrian flow. Even with this level of heritage protection, the installation went in without a single intervention in the architecture.