Rina Lovko Studio has combined bottle-green surfaces with low lighting to create the moody interior of this drinks bar at the heart of Kiev's city centre.
Balthazar is set beneath the bustling aisles of Besarabsky Market ? a historic indoor marketplace in central Kiev that sells a variety of fresh produce to locals.
Locally based Rina Lovko Studio was asked to develop the interiors of the basement-level bar, but was given a largely open brief.

"The project was done mostly intuitively," the studio's eponymous founder told Dezeen. "I really wanted to create a place that would not resemble any other and thus make it unique."
"We easily found a mutual language with the art director of Balthazar and reached an understanding of the audience," she continued. "This made it possible to quickly outline the concept and to understand what kind of institution it would be."

Before making any aesthetic changes, the studio first had to tackle a number of structural issues.
The bar takes over a winding cellar that's interrupted by a series of brick archways, some of which only measured 1.6 metres in height.
Over several months the studio dug below ground level to lower the floor of the bar ? the arches are now 1.8 metres high, allowing guests to wander throughout the venue without risk of bumping their heads.

The narrow nature of the cellar also meant it would be difficult for guests in the back rooms to receive a supply of fresh air.
A network of ...