The development company rented the two upper floors of the Nordstar Tower complex on Begovaya Street in Moscow for its office. Fully glazed, they boast truly magnificent views of modern Moscow, and it is quite logical that the architects decided to make the view characteristics the main theme of the projected space. In this, the authors completely coincided with the customers - they also asked to "put at the forefront" precisely the opening panoramas of the metropolis. There were not many other requirements for the future office - the interior had to contain natural wood, and one of the obligatory elements of its furnishings was niches intended for exhibiting art objects, the collection of which is being collected by the management of Nord Star Development.
The desire to make views of Moscow an integral part of the interior was dictated by its general planning solution. The main workspace is a permeable open-space, in which here and there are inserted "cubes" of meeting rooms and offices of heads of departments. In order to make these volumes less "tangible" in the structure of the office, architects make most of their walls made of glass, and use low cabinets as conditional partitions between workplaces and the corridor, which also do not impede the penetration of daylight. White ceilings work to make the office as bright as possible, and in order to get rid of "surgical" associations, not smooth panels were used for their cladding, but decorated with perforations of different diameters. In some places, wood panels are also used for facing the ceiling - wide ribbons laid out of them highlight corridors in the general structure of the office, intended primarily for visitors. The corridors, which are dominated by offices, are "drawn" not so obvious - this simple technique helps, without violating the stylistic unity of the interior, unobtrusively and effectively dissipate human flows.
An interesting know-how in the design of meeting rooms and offices was the use of double-sided cabinets, which are implanted directly into transparent walls and serve to store both employees' belongings and accessories necessary for presentations and meetings. Wardrobes and doors made of solid wood give glass volumes a great personality - otherwise they could look like banal "aquariums". In principle, green plants placed in transparent corners perform the same task, animating this generally rather strict space.
“We tried to give the office a laconic business look, because outside the window, 24 hours a day, such a multifaceted and huge city rages,” explains Sergey Estrin. The color palette of the interior has also been appropriately selected: the natural shade of wood favorably sets off not only the light ceiling, but also the flooring chosen by the architects - beige and light brown Desso carpet tiles.
Several zones in this interior are completely made of wood. In particular, the business card of the office is its entrance area with the reception desk, as well as the reception area in front of the offices of the company's management. Both panels of the same light honey shade are used, only straight lines and rectangular panels dominate in the entrance area, while the second space acquires a more dynamic character due to the use of diagonals. The latter are a logical consequence of the development of the theme of the architecture of the complex itself: the windows of the tower have pronounced inclined bevels. As Sergey Estrin admits, the laconic and at the same time quite impressive volume of the skyscraper influenced the design of the company's main chronometer - a large clock that meets visitors at the entrance to the office: instead of a single dial, scattered metal "notches" are scattered along the wall.
Even more muted tones are used in the design of the VIP zone. The ceiling, for example, here acquires a slightly milder hue - this was achieved with the help of nubuck cladding. Three round lamps of large diameter make it possible to highlight in the space of the imposing office the actual working area, the conference table and the space intended for less formal negotiations and meetings. Luminaires not only zone the room, but also visually increase the height of the ceilings, emphasizing the importance of each of the zones. In addition, they create an image of the office that is clearly visible and recognizable from the outside - three bright circles on the top floor of the Nordstar Tower transform the building into a lighthouse that stands out prominently in the sea of lights of the big city.
