Let us remind you that Skolkovo is a joint project of representatives of the Russian and international business elite, created from scratch, and not on the basis of an existing university. The founders of the school were 18 largest Russian and foreign companies and individuals who are leaders in their industries: oil and gas industry, metallurgy, energy, investments, etc. Moreover, this partnership is not limited solely to financial injections - being successful entrepreneurs themselves, its founders personally participate in the educational process, form programs, conduct master classes, and organize all kinds of internships for students.
The site for the construction of this incubator of the management elite, unique for our country, was found almost five years ago. It was no coincidence that Skolkovo was chosen: firstly, the proximity to Moscow (only 1 km from the Moscow Ring Road), secondly, a free site and a safe environment, thirdly, it was already planned to create a domestic silicon valley in the neighborhood, and if you think about it Where, if not there, can graduates of the Moscow School of Management apply their talents and acquired skills? In early 2006, a closed architectural competition was held for the best design of the school complex. The definition of “closed” in this case is not just a legal term - there is almost no information about this competition, about the participants it is only known that these were three foreign architectural firms, and only the winner, Adjaye / Associates (Great Britain), was presented to the general public. According to the jury, it was David Adjaye and his colleagues (from the Russian side, AB Studio participated in the project) who were able to propose an architectural solution for the campus that most accurately “expresses the innovative, progressive nature of the school and at the same time was based on ideas that emerged in Russia and received worldwide recognition”.
On September 21, 2006, the ceremony of laying the first stone in the construction of the future complex took place, and exactly four years later it was fully commissioned. Needless to say, tough construction deadlines and their strict observance are not so familiar to our latitudes, especially when it comes to the creation of modern architecture with an extraordinary appearance and complex constructions. Perhaps the secret of this punctuality is that the project of the Moscow School of Management was financed exclusively by private investors, and the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev is the chairman of the Skolkovo International Advisory Board. That is, this is such a purely private matter, but developing under the strict guidance of the head of state - an alignment in which the chance to spoil something is practically zero.
So, the project of the business school is based on ideas that "originated in Russia and received worldwide recognition." Considering that these ideas had to be found and creatively rethought by none other than an architect, guessing what exactly served as the source of inspiration becomes easier than ever. Of course, it was the Russian avant-garde. The works of Malevich and Kandinsky, the projects of Melnikov, Vesnins and Lissitzky, David Adjaye passionately fell in love with as a student and still speaks about this period of art history with undisguised delight. In fact, his project for the Skolkovo school is an architectural interpretation of Malevich's famous Suprematist compositions. The geometric abstraction embodied in the volume turns into a bright, comfortable and absolutely self-sufficient architectural complex, equally protected from any vagaries of the weather, and from reproaches for stiffness. Drawn by Malevich almost a century ago, Adjaye turns the circle into a four-story disk, on which he places four different cases. True, if in the early layouts these parallelepipeds were painted in the most avant-garde colors (scarlet, yellow, green, etc.), then later Adjaye decided to pay tribute to the culture of his nation (the architect is from Tanzania) and suprematist layout masterfully crossed with the ornament of African tribes. As a result, the complex boasts a composition that is captivating with its dynamism (which is worth at least 22 and 28-meter consoles!), And bright facades, whose surfaces seem to be paved with glass mosaics of 10 different shades. At the same time, each glass has a diamond shape, due to which the absolutely flat façade works like a three-dimensional picture, imitating structural glazing.
David Adjaye does not hide that the Skolkovo school is his favorite project. Firstly, while this is the largest implementation of Adjaye / Associates (the total area of the complex is 65 thousand square meters), and secondly, thanks to it, the architect received the coveted opportunity to work without any restrictions (the territory allocated for the school of 26 hectares is open field). “The chance to realize a utopia comes once in a lifetime,” the architect is convinced. "But the idea of an educational campus is nothing more than a utopia, a monastic brotherhood, an idealized paradise from which the whole world is far, far away." However, in Russian conditions, it is not so much the project of the business school that seems utopian, but the fact that it has actually been implemented, moreover, according to the project of the star of world architecture, to which no fundamental changes were made during the approval process. And for this dream come true - about high-quality Western architecture within the Moscow region - I would like to say a huge thank you to David Adjaye. It remains to be hoped that future managers will also appreciate his creation.
