The cannon factory, founded by Peter I, moved to the buildings on the current Arsenalnaya Embankment in the 1850s. Until recently, several buildings overlooking the Smolny Cathedral were empty, now they plan to carry out restoration work here and launch another cluster, but with a bias in IT technology.
So far, life has only been breathed into the largest, "Cannon" shop of the plant - the KOD Time Travel Center has opened here, for which AMD Architects have designed the main facility - the VR pavilion.
The pavilion consists of 20 modules - deaf dark rooms, or “gateways”, as the creators of the attraction call them, equipped for immersion in virtual reality. The modules are made up of three levels: the first two are occupied by VR rooms, the third is a server room and balconies. The levels are connected by open staircases and an amphitheater, which makes the space multifunctional - in this part it is possible to hold various events with video screenings and presentations.
The arrangement of the modules endows the pavilion with plasticity, but at the same time, it deliberately communicates some incompleteness - it can be disassembled, as well as built on, and changed its shape. The white color, translucent railings, slender columns and minimalistic décor contrast distinctly with the brickwork, yet echo the site's factory past.
The architects wanted to prepare the visitor for immersion in virtual reality, and saw four stages in this process. According to the head of the workshop, Maxim Batayev, St. Petersburg itself is a virtual reality relative to the rest of Russia, at least that's how he intended it. The next level is the old factory, which is not working now, that is, the “virtual” factory. Further, the visitor is faced with the modern architecture of the pavilion and finally finds himself in the "black" room, from where he goes to the immaterial world.
The pavilion turned out quite in the spirit of cyberpunk: given its functional purpose, it is easy to imagine how this snow-white structure within the walls of an abandoned factory - the "stronghold" of the old world, grows into an "ivory tower" where people come to hide from the post-apocalyptic reality. So far, however, everything is more or less innocent - in KOD, visitors are offered to move to past eras, take part in historical battles, and also, for example, “walk” through Bosch's paintings.