Rem Koolhaas revamps an industrial-size Soviet-era cafeteria, so it now feeds Russia's desire to play a bigger role on the global art scene.

Located in the upscale village known as Barvikha, this estate contains three buildings in a line on the site: a garage, clad in black slate, a 15,048-square-foot house, finished with white glass panels, and a wood-clad 1,219-square-foot guest house and pool.

There is a misconception among many designers that the top floor of a department store may as well be Siberia. Retailers tend to banish offices up there, far from quick-selling items like cosmetics and handbags on lower floors. After more than a decade designing upper-level hospitality and retail spaces like the OXO Tower Restaurant for Harvey Nichols in London and a dining/food hall emporium for Milan’s La Rinascente, architecture firm Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands (LDS) sees opportunity in the heights. “Most architects don’t understand that the retailer constantly changes what happens on the floor,” says Paul Sandilands, a director at the