This is not the first office of the famous corporation in Moscow and not the first work of the UNK project for Disney. The Walt Disney Company settled in the Lotte Plaza business center on Novy Arbat for a long time, and in 2011 UNK project turned the office of its rolling division (Walt Disney Studios Sony Pictures Releasing) in the Stanislavsky Factory business center into a real "Film distribution factory". The office with a full-fledged cinema hall with 30 seats and the inimitable charm of Hollywood studio-hangars has become one of the architects' calling cards - for it the bureau has received several prestigious awards. And just two years later, Disney again turned to the UNK project, this time in the central office - having rented another floor, the company ordered the bureau to design a project for new properties. At the same time, one of the main conditions was the creation of an office that was nothing like either the current one or the WDSSPR office.
As Nikolai Milovidov explains, the point is that the departments responsible for working with clients of the Walt Disney Company will be transferred to additional areas. “We can say that this is the floor of external relations, and the space here is mainly formed by meeting rooms, show rooms and places for informal communication,” says the architect. In other words, from now on, almost all clients and partners of the company come here, which means that the new office is the "face" of the Walt Disney Company, its business card, and she asked for the appropriate design. For inspiration, the authors of the project did not go far - and is it worth coming up with something for a company that specializes in creating magical worlds? The stylistic concept was based on the story of Alice in Wonderland, which we also know from the Disney animated film.
The layout of the new office is based on the openspace principle, but it is hardly possible to guess this at first glance. In strict accordance with the spirit and theme of Carroll's fairy tale, the architects interpreted this space as a chessboard, the separate "cells" of which are work areas, offices, meeting rooms, etc. In addition, from one end of the office to the other, in principle, it is impossible to go directly: instead of direct passages, winding corridors and secret paths are made here, and let the visitor be constantly blocked by one communication zone, then another. “In general, the mysterious forest as it is,” explains Nikolai Milovidov. - The blue line on the floor serves as an additional navigator. Walking along it, the visitor gets the opportunity, as it were, from the outside to observe what is happening in each "cell", sometimes almost peeping, just like Alice for the world invented by Lewis Carroll"
Having likened the office to a labyrinth, the architects solved several key tasks at once: firstly, this technique made it possible to visually expand the boundaries of this generally small space, and secondly, within the framework of openspace, it turned out to create the necessary number of chamber and isolated rooms intended for both work, and for communication, including informal, which was one of the wishes of the customer. Each turn of the "path" from one end of the office to the other was designed as a soft zone. A single space is still perceived as a whole, but at the same time, employees from different departments receive visual and acoustic comfort. The very decision of each of them also became an excuse for architects to fantasize on the theme of Alice's world: bright armchairs of funny shapes resemble the images of bizarre heroes that the main character met on the way.
The mysterious forest and the chessboard as two of the most recognizable symbols of Alice's history are used not only in the planning solution, but also as interior design themes. For example, matte silhouettes of trees are applied to all glass partitions, and the engineering systems left open form a complex pattern on the ceiling, suggesting associations with dense thickets. This feeling is also enhanced by lamps of various shapes hanging right between the air ducts (made according to the author's sketches of architects especially for this project). And in the blue and white cage, the toilet area is solved, and due to the large number of mirrors and the displacement of the tiles, the space here is slightly distorted, creating a tangible 3D effect and through the looking glass. The dining room is also decorated very characteristically - a checkerboard floor and a ceiling with painted branches-lianas here complement the walls decorated with illustrations for Mad Tea at the March Hare.
In general, it is worth noting that thanks to the chosen theme, the design of the office turned out to be very phantasmagoric, but, first of all, it concerns the “content” of the interior. But its color palette is made restrained - the architects simply did not want to "overdo it". On an ongoing basis, there is only one bright color here - red, which runs through the entire office, appearing now in the frames of partitions, now in furniture racks, now in frames on the wall in the reception zone. And again, it was not without Carroll: according to the architects, the red color is intended to remind of roses - another significant storyline of "Alice in Wonderland".
Of course, the actual meeting rooms and workplaces are solved in a more restrained manner, and in them functionality and technical equipment come to the fore. According to Nikolai Milovidov, several unique premises were designed for Disney, taking into account the specifics of the company's work - for example, a meeting room for the sale of video content, equipped with many TVs configured for different types of broadcasting, or a meeting room with showcases, in which all possible souvenirs accompanying the exit are demonstrated. film.
And if the models of the characters of the next cartoons can come across you in virtually any corner of this office, then Alice herself can be found only in the reception area. Its main decoration is a decorative wall opposite the counter, which the architects turned into a panel with silhouettes of Lewis Carroll's heroes. In fact, they are painted with paint directly on the wall, but due to the framing with a baguette and the use of substrates of different colors, these figures seem to be cut out of paper. And between the "paintings" the architects placed several mirrors - also in frames - which gives each visitor a chance to try on the role of a hero from the Looking Glass.
The reception desk itself turned out to be no less attractive, which the architects "assembled" from several hollow and voluminous cubes. Some of them seem to be pressed into a wooden structure, others, on the contrary, are pushed towards the front door and are illuminated from the inside. This composition, for all its simplicity, immediately unmistakably indicates the "increased creativity" of the company and sets up a positive and creative mood. By the way, the customers themselves liked the counter so much that the same was already designed in the previous Disney UNK project office.
