1 November 2006
Salon magazine, November 2006
To get one step ahead from reality into the future, to wash away the actual borderlines between spaces, to lose track of where back and front, up and down are, to make people better, turning the world around them in an elegant, even luxurious place for living – this is the philosophy of Julian Tahov, a philosophy which turned into a reality embodied in the Sin City nightclub in Sofia.
After designing and completing the interior of the first floor of this big multi functional entertainment complex, which is in fact the biggest in the Balkans, Julian Tahov was awarded “Designer of the Year” 2005. The owners of the club have once again decided to choose his professionalism and extravagant style for the interior design of the two halls on the second floor, the Sinners disco club and the Vogue retro club. Built on an area of more than 600 sq.m., the club allows for more than 500 people a night to enjoy the temptations of this unique dancing centre.
After designing and completing the interior of the first floor of this big multi functional entertainment complex, which is in fact the biggest in the Balkans, Julian Tahov was awarded “Designer of the Year” 2005. The owners of the club have once again decided to choose his professionalism and extravagant style for the interior design of the two halls on the second floor, the Sinners disco club and the Vogue retro club. Built on an area of more than 600 sq.m., the club allows for more than 500 people a night to enjoy the temptations of this unique dancing centre.
Sin City is situated in the former House of the Syndicates at Vazrajdane Blvd in Sofia. After a full-scale reconstruction (in which only the façade of the building was kept, the building being a cultural monument) Sin City turned into a “City of Entertainment”. Its new challenge is disco club“Sinners”. Even for the people used to seeing miracles of extravagance and luxury, this modern hall is shocking in the best sense of this word. The Ballroom of the Sinners gets its name from the fact that there are eight cages where eight girls dance every night and eight men dance once a week as a compliment to the ladies in the club. The Ballroom gives you the goose bumps – its space is so unexpectedly organized that you literally get lost, you find yourself at the borderline between future and reality and you are overpowered by the feeling of being in an unreal, virtual life. This effect was deliberately sought by the interior designer Julian Tahov. His main idea in this project was to move one step beyond reality, to wash away the precise borderlines between spaces, to lose track where back and front, up and down are.
Shock in Red and Black
This was achieved through an approach typical for Julian Tahov which he uses in interior architecture – he uses stripes in red and black, mirrors, volumes, intensity of elements.
Apart from diminishing the space by using many spheres and hemispheres, Julian Tahov also expands the space with the help of mirrors and reflecting surfaces.
What is typical for the club and for the new line in JT's interior design is the balancing of volumes just like it is done in sculpturing, and balancing of different colours as it is done in creating a painting. This gives birth to a so far unknown interior architecture. The outcome is so abstract that even the most experienced eye cannot perceive the difference between the 3D project and reality.
From the moment you set foot there, Sinners destroys the stereotype of a disco club with a dance floor and corners around it. Here asymmetry and space eclectics rule - there are three bars, one of them being round and centrally located. There are different places for seating, for example “dry seats”, VIP rooms, gossip room, DJ stand. This doesn’t describe the whole atmosphere of the space – it feels different in different places and the interior can't ever be boring. This is by the way Julian Tahov’s main goal no matter if he’s working on designing a home, an office or a restaurant's interior.
One of the most astounding elements of this ultramodern design is the lighting – it shines out of the most incredible places in order to emphasize certain volumes; it’s being reflected in the mirror surfaces of the ceiling and walls; it blinks in red from the hemispheres of the ceiling, hanging from it like they are floating in the air. The pieces of furniture used in Sinners' design have been imported from abroad. The miraculous shapes and colours, the luxury of the interior bring the level of expectations higher, capturing the attention from the very moment a person enters it. It was meant to be a detached space allowing for more intimacy and less sports spirit. It contains a small DJ stand, seats with two boxes and a round bar. Even though its role is limited to a linking passage, it’s entirely filled with Julian Tahov’s philosophy: to make people better by changing the world around us, turning it into an elegant, even luxurious place for living; to push people forward and bring about new and joyful sensations for them.
Apart from diminishing the space by using many spheres and hemispheres, Julian Tahov also expands the space with the help of mirrors and reflecting surfaces.
What is typical for the club and for the new line in JT's interior design is the balancing of volumes just like it is done in sculpturing, and balancing of different colours as it is done in creating a painting. This gives birth to a so far unknown interior architecture. The outcome is so abstract that even the most experienced eye cannot perceive the difference between the 3D project and reality.
From the moment you set foot there, Sinners destroys the stereotype of a disco club with a dance floor and corners around it. Here asymmetry and space eclectics rule - there are three bars, one of them being round and centrally located. There are different places for seating, for example “dry seats”, VIP rooms, gossip room, DJ stand. This doesn’t describe the whole atmosphere of the space – it feels different in different places and the interior can't ever be boring. This is by the way Julian Tahov’s main goal no matter if he’s working on designing a home, an office or a restaurant's interior.
One of the most astounding elements of this ultramodern design is the lighting – it shines out of the most incredible places in order to emphasize certain volumes; it’s being reflected in the mirror surfaces of the ceiling and walls; it blinks in red from the hemispheres of the ceiling, hanging from it like they are floating in the air. The pieces of furniture used in Sinners' design have been imported from abroad. The miraculous shapes and colours, the luxury of the interior bring the level of expectations higher, capturing the attention from the very moment a person enters it. It was meant to be a detached space allowing for more intimacy and less sports spirit. It contains a small DJ stand, seats with two boxes and a round bar. Even though its role is limited to a linking passage, it’s entirely filled with Julian Tahov’s philosophy: to make people better by changing the world around us, turning it into an elegant, even luxurious place for living; to push people forward and bring about new and joyful sensations for them.