The ceremony of awarding the winners of the annual Best Office Awards 2015 was hosted by its permanent organizer and ideologist Sergey Konnov, managing partner of OfficeNext & ProjectNext. This year, 109 projects from Russia, the CIS countries and Western Europe took part in the competition, which is 5 less than last. If the amount has remained almost the same, then the mood has changed significantly. As Marat Timiryasov, Business Development Director of Solo Office Interiors, said when presenting one of the awards: “Last year I would call this event“a feast during the plague”, and this year -“a riot of professionalism”.
Many architectural workshops have submitted several projects for the competition. The leader in the number of submitted works, and looking ahead, let's say that in the number of prizes, was UNK project, which showed eight different offices.
The organizers of the competition divided the projects into three groups: offices, business centers and foreign projects. All of them, both domestic and foreign offices, demonstrate some commonality of trends. The main technique of interior decoration is bright accents on a light background, active colors, dynamic forms, asymmetric compositions. Glass partitions with etched geometric or plot patterns, interior designs and furniture of broken, irregular shapes, beveled walls and corners are massively used. As a rule, an important element - lamps: built-in, panel, spot or design, with a pronounced extravagant character - create a variety of lighting scenarios, highlight accents and determine the mood. Floor coverings are adapted for navigation by marking them, markings, or simply lines - the "axis" of movement. Cheerful pictures on the walls and open communications under the ceiling became a common place.
Trends are tangible not only in the preferences of architects, but above all in the views of customers on the way of business. The offices of banks and other reputable companies associated with financial flows are exchanging conservative respectability for demonstrating democratic openness, freedom and lightness - everything that was not so long ago characteristic of the workspaces of IT companies is spreading everywhere, so that programmers and other creators it becomes difficult to distinguish by eye from financiers, as well as construction, trade and even pharmacy companies. IT pros' offices are even more transformed into colorful playrooms with swings, fun furniture, comic books on the walls and board games. The most conservative in their burst of happiness were doctors, who, not wanting to discourage their patients, rely on calm predictability.
However, the 2015 winners - Grand Prix and Audience Choice Award winners - are out of the mainstream.
Based on the aggregate points of the jury, the Grand Prix was awarded to the Bureau UNK Project for the office of an international company Pernod Ricard Rouss, bypassing the two closest competitors: VIP lounges of the Kurumoch airport by Nefa Architects and the Yandex office of the Atrium bureau.
The winning project combines in one space the signs of many styles, from time-spent classicism through modern, art deco and postmodern - to loft, pop art and hi-tech. The organically mixed eclecticism allows to take into account the preferences and characteristics of various brands, gathered under one roof.
The Audience Award went to the Ferrero Russia office, designed LINE Architects … Here we find restrained pastel shades of chocolate on a milky background, without aggressive accents and experiments with shapes. Straight lines of blind and glass partitions balance the amorphous stains of the flooring and pillar pattern. According to one of the authors of the project, Anton Medovsky, "the project was easy and fast and left pleasant memories."But the organizers, according to Sergei Konnov, had to tinker with the definition of the people's favorite - however, the dubious voices were ultimately subtracted.
Prize for "Originality and" wow-effect ", in nomination "Design idea" presented by Sergey Tchoban, managing partner of the SPEECH architectural association. He stressed that “Best Office is the only competition in Russia that regularly collects a large number of very worthy works. In the interior of office spaces, Russian architects have made significant strides. And the nomination "Design Idea" is defining, the most conceptual."
Four projects competed for the award: Avito II (architectural and engineering design Meandre), Vimpelcom, Yaroslavl (KMT), Pernod Ricard Rouss (Architectural bureau: UNK Project) and Kurumoch airport, VIP lounges, Samara, (Nefa Architects). Bureau won Nefa Architects.
Receiving the award, Dmitry Ovcharov said: “We really like to make airports and really like to make business lounges. I hope this is not the last work. " And the representative of the customer "Airports of Regions", inspired by another victory (last year won the business lounge of the Koltsovo airport of the same customer) warned that this is not the last prize: “We are building an airport in Nizhny Novgorod and next year get ready to see us again on this stage!"
In nomination "Organization of space" The jury chose from three offices: Touch Bank Online Bank (Line Architects), Yandex (Atrium) and Target Ventures (Practice). Architectural workshop won Atrium, for which this is already the fifth project created for the company " Yandex.". The head of the workshop Anton Nadtochiy remarked: “We are delighted with office spaces and especially creative ones. Yandex is the most creative company, the greenest. And we're glad we did something for her."
Nomination "Brand and Image" evaluates how clearly corporate values are presented and how the company's image works for its partners, customers and employees. Here the office of Leo Burnett, one of the agencies of the large advertising group Publisic Groupe (Nefa Architects), and two projects made by UNK project for: Microsoft Technology Center and Pernod Ricard Rouss. Winner - Microsoft Technology Center.
“Thanks to the jury colleagues who voted for this project. I myself could not vote, but they did the job for me. Thanks to colleagues from Microsoft. We flew for the first time, but we won this one! said the chief architect of the UNK project Nikolay Milovidov, hinting at the 2010 Best Office Awards.
For the prize "Acoustic environment" nominated: Meeting Point (ABD architects), FC Otkritie, vip office (FRONTARCHITECTURE) and Raiffeisenbank (OFFICEPROJECT). Won Raiffeisenbank.
Svetlana Korzheva, the executive director of the bank, called on all the participants of the event “to trust your architect, respect your contractor, and appreciate the help of the management company”. To which the author of the project Denis Lobanov retorted: "Dear colleagues, listen to your customer!"
In nomination "Lighting Design" reviewed projects by Publicis Groupe (VOX Architects), Pernod Ricard Rouss (UNK Project) and VIP lounges at Kurumoch Airport (Nefa Architects). Won bureau VOX Architects. The client thanked the architects for the fact that they were able to unite everyone with the help of color and light, and at the same time, each agent of the many-sided advertising French company saved his face.
“We love light,” said Boris Voskoboinikov, addressing the audience. - We are on the stage and it is light for us, it is good, but you are sitting there in the dark, it is worse for you. Let's live in light, in bright light, in colored light. Let there be light!"
In nomination "Foreign project" defeated the London office Kaspersky Lab by OFFCON bureau, bypassing Amer Sports, (Helsinki, Gullstén-Inkinen Design & Architecture) and Playtech (Kiev, Soesthetic group).
Upon receiving the award, the author of the winning Kaspersky Lab project in London, Fyodor Rashchevsky of OFFCON said: “Optimism and faith conquer all crises. Let's believe in ourselves and everything will work out."
In nomination "Entrance area of the business center" Aukett Swanke with the project BC Arcus III won against LINE Architects (BC Alkon) and UNK project (BC iCube).
As part of the ceremony and the conference preceding it, the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom held an exhibition of projects developed for pilot sites of nuclear industry enterprises, organized with the support of the ProjectNext communications agency.
In conclusion, Sergey Konnov promised to expand the geography of the Best Office Awards - in parallel with the Moscow competition, reviews will be held in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. So it is possible that a lot of new things await us in the field of office interiors, and also, judging by the preferences of the jury of this competition, it is possible that the trend will change - back, from the ecravagant to the restrained and concise.
The full list of participants can be found on the competition website.
