Close and long-standing cooperation between Totan Kuzembaev's workshop and MGPM resulted in the creation of a number of interesting projects, among which one cannot fail to note the interior designed for the urban planning group itself. More precisely, of course, to speak not entirely about the interior of the reception area, but only about one of its elements, which, however, completely transformed the existing space.
The office of the company is located in the town of Mytishchi, near Moscow, not far from the railway station, in the building of the office and shopping center "Alta", built in 2008 according to the project of the company itself. Inside this tall, striped tower, the MGPM headquarters occupy two floors, designed in restrained colors, using modern materials and open spaces with high ceilings and glazed meeting rooms.
After spending some time within the walls of their cozy office, the company's management came to the conclusion that the entrance area, which meets visitors immediately behind the elevator lobby, clearly lacks some bright accent - not flashy, but distinguishing it favorably from all other standard solutions. I would like to highlight the reception area, without violating the integrity of the perception of the existing interior. And for the decoration it was decided to use exclusively natural wood - the favorite material of Totan Kuzembaev's bureau, who, after a long time in our country, turned to him and demonstrated his completely unique capabilities. It is not surprising that the owners of the Mytishchi office came to his workshop. For them, the architect Olzhas Kuzembaev came up with an easy-to-implement, but very interesting solution, wrapping a small space with a volumetric shell, which, for all the dynamism of its form, is made of warm static wood.
Entering the office, the visitor immediately sees the reception desk, which looks like a boat moored to the shore. Its narrow raised "nose" is placed on massive supports, and the "sides" are covered with large panels. A flexible sculptural form is broken down on the plane of plywood panels with deliberately wide joints - they resemble pencil, or programmed volume construction lines, but the trick is that all the elements are triangular, the triangle becomes the basic module - just as it was the basis for shaping in another recent project Kuzembaev's bureau - on the facade of the Five Planets shopping center. Docked to the wall, the "boat" grows upward like a fractured trunk or even ivy: here the network of joints begins to resemble a geometrized pattern of branches of a climbing plant - the surface grows further, braiding the entire ceiling with a wide continuous canvas, and finally, reaching the opposite side of the miniature reception room, abruptly goes down, covering the end wall with a wooden screen - smooth, already without joints, but with the company logo and information screen.
It turns out that the sharp nose of the rack looks, or even points to the logo - like a finger or the head of a snake. Such is the cycle of form in a confined space. It is even difficult to say, maybe this is not a boat at all, but some kind of flowing animal, most likely fantastic, cinematic, but still serpentine: it flows along the wall, along the ceiling, gradually gathers itself into a ribbed "neck" in order to finally stare at your tail forgotten on the other wall. Here, the house-dragon of Totan Kuzembaev comes to mind - and the decision seems logical, developing the theme of a fantastic beast. But there the beast was ribbed, in some ways even archaic, and here it was futuristic - it does not part with a computer prototype. You can say more: a certain incompleteness, an immanent sketchiness of the volume, composed of triangles, falls into resonance with plywood as an essentially temporary material. Although the panels here are dense and the idea of sketchiness appears only somewhere at the bottom of consciousness, the object itself is perceived as conscientiously executed and of high quality.
Panels made of multilayer plywood not only, as mentioned above, all have the form of various, albeit similar in size, triangular modules, they are also deliberately cut in relief: the striped texture of the joint, as well as the ledge formed by it, play a significant role in the overall impression of of this art object that has grown together with space. Each element was made on CNC, and then they were assembled into a frame. Despite the complexity of the task, the project was completed quite quickly - already last summer, the amazing art object was completed.
As you can see, the integrity and continuity of movement played a major role in the formation of space. Spectacular lighting added to it: long lamps, like leaf veins, are built into large seams between plywood modules. It should be noted that in the course of movement from the nose of the rack to the ceiling, the seams become narrower and more imperceptible, and then, reaching the opposite wall, they disappear altogether. There, the lacquered surface bears a large built-in TV screen and large, brightly lit letters of the company logo, reminding everyone that they are in the business office, and not in the picturesque coastal harbor.
