Utilitarian Forms and Fun Inspire Paum-Designed Offices for PETSHOP in St. Petersburg

For new interiors for PETSHOP company in St. Petersburg, the Russian design firm Paum first looked at the building that would house the offices: a Soviet-era industrial shell with ridge ceilings and 13-foot-high concrete columns that brought to lead architect Polina Masiianskaia’s mind the functionalism of the Bauhaus. “The main source of inspiration,” she says, were those “simple laconic forms and utilitarian approach.”

The 5,000-square-foot space orients around a glazed meeting area between open workspaces. “These are clean, spacious working areas not overloaded with excess objects,” she says, “only order, freedom, and a lot of live plants.” Nearby, an amphitheater serves as a “center of gravity,” with a mezzanine above and a kitchen below.

Oak and polished concrete nod to the industrial roots, but just in case things get a chilly, the team took a surprising detour for the bathroom. “It supports a noticeable theme of South American sun and jungle,” she says, “with terracotta-colored walls, chandelier fans, and a playlist of luk thung and bossa nova.” Sometimes, after all, fun follows function.

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