The message from Eugene Ass was like this:
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We understand the project concept.
This year VDNKh will complete the restoration of about thirty pavilions. Among them is "Cosmos / Mechanical Engineering" number 32-34, where the "Cosmonautics and Aviation" center will open in the near future. Accident prevention work was carried out here in 2014, then the Architects Ass workshop worked on the architectural project and the museum concept.
The concept was created in close cooperation with specialists from the Polytechnic Museum - Natalia Sergievskaya and Sergey Rykov, the work took almost two years. The direction was set by two points: objects that are difficult for a museum display and the conservation status of the monument, which required restoration, but did not allow major transformations. As a result, according to Evgeny Ass, "all innovations in the project were associated with a balance between the historical heritage and new exhibition equipment."
The authors saw the entire pavilion in the form of a "huge and strange spaceship", which could very well appear in one of the episodes of "Star Wars". The image “works” as an external space - the connection of a boathouse and a domed hall looks like a docking of two spacecraft, and an internal one - through the windows of the central “nave” you can see the moving starry sky, luminous cables are stretched along the walls, and stands for exhibits made of metal sheets, in the project are similar to rocket casing.
The interior of the ship is made up of contrasting combinations: light exhibits are placed against a dark background, spheres rhyme with rectangular shapes, and illumination, along with horizontal lines at all levels of the boathouse, imitates the movement of sunlight inside a static structure.
The entire "ship", according to the concept, is divided into three "compartments".
KB-1 - "space boulevard" in the nave of the boathouse. This is the main route, the exposure axis. Embedded in the breccia floor are inscriptions that guide the visitor through the milestones of space exploration. Along the way, we see full-size models and scale models of the most famous spacecraft.
KB-2 - "design bureau" in the "mezzanine". There are exhibition sections that can change to suit the needs of the exposition. In tent structures in the form of "space foam" it is possible to arrange thematic projection rooms.
KB-3 is a "cosmodrome of the future" in the space under the dome. There is an interactive zone here: dreams of space, which will someday become available to everyone. In the center is a virtual reality room, a flight control center and simulators. Also in this part there is a "space park": a recreation area with "foam" poufs and an installation "grass by the house" in historical flower girls.
For the architects in this "space mission", all the premises were important. The "Ass Architects" wardrobe was made up of separate modules resembling elliptical galaxies, and for navigation they were provided with the letter "E" and a number: as classes and subclasses of galaxies. The space cafe was decided in the form of "an independent contrasting structure" flowing around "the existing structures - columns, a ramp and a staircase," says Evgeny Ass.
A large membrane screen at the main entrance was also an important part of the project. It was planned to project an image of a spiral galaxy on it, which is visible from the outside of the building. The screen does not allow the space to immediately open up to the visitor and thus helps to maintain intrigue when entering the pavilion.
Meanwhile, at the stage of implementation, the authors decided to withdraw from the project, so that it remained rather "paper".
Evgeny Ass explains the situation in the following way: “The concept was approved at the highest levels, but our finished working draft was rejected. Partners and customers did everything to ensure that we left the project. In the working documentation, made as a result by unknown performers on the basis of our concept, many of our design ideas were distorted beyond recognition, and some were completely rejected. The quality of new architectural solutions, made without our knowledge and participation, turned out to be below the professional level acceptable for us. Therefore, we took a difficult step - we renounced the authorship for the realized exposition and interiors and made an official statement about it. We remain the authors of the concept, but we are no longer responsible for the final result”.
