The Best Office Awards 2013 was attended by 93 projects of office interiors, among which there were works from the USA, Sweden, Finland, Turkey. The jury evaluated projects in nine nominations; in addition, an open vote was held on the organizers' website, as a result of which the People's Choice Award was awarded. The prize is also interesting because it is awarded not only to architects and designers, but also to the customers of the winning project. In addition to the designers, the general contractor and the management company receive the Grand Prix.
Participants of the competition and members of the jury shared their impressions of the award with Archi.ru.
Yulia Tryaskina
UNK project, author of the L'Oreal Professional beauty academy project: “I have the most positive impressions from the OfficeNext forum. The level of the submitted works is very high, the organization of the competition is excellent, and the rich event program is worth noting. It is obvious that the project is developing rapidly from year to year. It is great that this year, in addition to Russian projects, foreign projects were presented. In my opinion, this immediately raised the overall bar significantly. And, nevertheless, Moscow works mainly take part in the competition, which is why it is somewhat local in nature. I would like the borders to expand not only towards the West, but also towards the Russian regions. But the award is positioning itself on a par with the Oscar, only in the field of design, which means that the scope should be appropriate. This is what I wish for the project in the future."
Sergey Estrin
“Architectural Workshop of Sergey Estrin”: “This year I served as a member of the jury and the first thing I can note is a greater variety of projects and novelties, creative and technological discoveries in comparison with previous years. Competition has increased, and many wonderful foreign projects have appeared. For example, I really liked the project of the Georgian team Architects of Invention with its stunning interiors. There were really many high quality, interesting and modern solutions with clean and easy to read ideas. I took part in the evaluation of projects only at the initial stage, and therefore I was a little surprised that as a result, not so many projects were included in the final lists of nominees - the same works were presented in different nominations. But there was plenty to choose from and this is the main achievement of this year."
Denis Kuvshinnikov
bureau ABD architects: “In my opinion, this year OfficeNext made a real breakthrough. Compared to previous years, today it has turned into a large-scale event with an impressive exhibition and competition programs. For a relatively short period of its existence, OfficeNext has achieved serious results, and the interest in the competition is very, very high today. Along with the increase in the number of participants, the quality of the Prize itself increases and the status of the award becomes more and more significant. I was also pleased with the refereeing, it is important that experts from various fields, including customers, took part in the evaluation of the work, which is generally rare in Russian practice. We submitted three projects to the competition at once. Separately, I would like to say about the interior for Deutsche Bank and the office in the office of the SNS group of companies, which was noted as the best executive office. This is, indeed, a unique project in which we used rare technological and design solutions. Therefore, we are very pleased that this project has received an award. In general, we have the most pleasant impressions of the competition, and next year we plan to take part in it again”.
Arseny Borisenko
architectural bureau za bor architects, the author of the interior of the Yandex office, which received the Grand Prix: “This competition, despite the fact that it has existed for only a few years, today gives the impression of being innovative. The fact is that the OfficeNext exhibition most fully represents the office interior industry, it is a kind of cut - very bright and impressive, with a large number of participants and the highest quality projects. By visiting this exhibition, you can get an absolutely clear idea of what the field of office space design is. There are few such initiatives in the country today. I would like to express my gratitude to the organizers for doing this. This is not the first time we have taken part in the competition and we see how it is gaining mass, expanding its geography, and adding more and more worthy works. It was all the more pleasant to participate, and even more so to receive the Grand Prix. In the project of the Yandex office in St. Petersburg, we were solving a difficult task - to do something completely unusual, something that had never happened before. And, judging by the jury's assessment, we succeeded”.
Below we publish the projects that won in various nominations, with the author's descriptions.
Grand Prix + Brand and Image
Yandex office (St. Petersburg, stage II)
Architectural bureau Za bor architects
Yandex's bright office, with an area of more than three thousand square meters, participated in several nominations at once. As a result - victory in two of them. The architects managed to create not just a functional office with a corridor-cabinet structure, but also a figurative and memorable space filled with unusual symbolic objects.
People's Choice Award
S7 Airlines office
Architectural Bureau of the Gint-M Group of Companies
Taking into account the specifics of the business of S7 Airlines, a large air carrier, it was decided to create a light, bright, airy interior, in which "everyone could feel the flow of energy, the dynamics of movement, and associatively feel the atmosphere of the flight." These airy “quotes” are everywhere: in the layout and functional zoning, in the design of the reception desk, in the “porthole” lamps.
Organization of space
Joint office of K. S. Bureau and T + T Architects
Architectural bureau T + T Architects, interiors of K. S. Bureau
The fashionable media platform Roof Point and the new office of architects and furniture makers are located in the attic of a former factory building on Luzhnetskaya Embankment. The main design elements in the office are the beams of the wooden roof structure.
Comfort and ergonomics
Jones Lang LaSalle Office
Architect bureau Aedas
The Jones Lang LaSalle office, located in the A Premium class business center Vivaldi Plaza, is the first facility in Russia to be certified according to two international standards at once: the company's Russian headquarters received LEED Gold and BREEAM Good certificates.
Lighting design
SIAB Premium Club Bank (Saint Petersburg)
Architectural bureau Gullstén-Inkinen Design & Architecture
In their project, the architects gave a special place to the topic of negotiations - there are many meeting rooms here, and they all have their own unique style. The uniqueness of the premises lies in a complex design, lighting and engineering solution: depending on the psychotype of the client and the complexity of the negotiations in each room, it is possible to create a special lighting scenario.
Design idea
L'Oreal Professional Beauty Academy
Architectural bureau UNK Project
L'Oréal Academy is both teaching classes and a recreation area for students, and a teacher's room and a research center (Research center). All rooms are separated by a 3D wall, which, according to the architects, has become the main highlight of the project and a unifying dominant in the interior. Another design technique was mobile partitions in classrooms, with the help of which, during a short break, the classroom can be easily turned into a hairdressing salon.
The best manager's office
Cabinet in the office of the SNS group of companies
Architectural bureau ABD architects
In the office of the SNS group of companies, there are two executive offices at once - for two business managers. Their offices are located opposite each other and are practically identical in design and layout, with minor, minor differences. A cozy and comfortable atmosphere has been created in the office, the furniture is functional and minimalistic.
Business space in a public interior
Space The Cube at the Flacon Design Factory
Architectural Bureau Praktika
The space "The Cube" on Flacon is "a black box placed inside the high hall of the former workshop." The cube never touches the outer walls. It can be accessed through bridges and an open staircase. The result is a 3-level "matryoshka structure": the main exhibition space below + a conference room inside the cube + a roof terrace.
Business center atrium
Lighthouse Business Center (owned by investment company O1 Properties)
Architect bureau Aedas
Located in the center of the building, the glass atrium rises 42 meters, creating a balance of light throughout the business center. In addition, the atrium is also functional - it makes it possible to locate the workplaces of employees both near the external facade and along the internal glazing, without losing the level of illumination.
Best foreign project
Turner Construction Office (Columbus, Ohio, USA)
Architect bureau m + a Global Architects
The building that later housed the office was used as a mattress warehouse for many years and was completely abandoned for almost 30 years. The exposed timber frame beams have been restored and, in combination with new modern materials, have become a highlight of the interior, emphasizing the specifics of the customer's construction business.
