The project of reconstruction and refurbishment of a three-storey building, built in the 1990s on Ilyinskoe highway in Krasnogorsk near Moscow, was entrusted to the modern office to the architectural bureau "Union of Architects". Once there were organizations representing different areas of activity - several shops, offices, a bank and a restaurant with a delivery service, so one of the main tasks facing the planners was the development of logistics inside the building and the competent distribution of the main functional areas designed for the effective work of employees and convenience visitors.
“Initially, it was supposed to make repairs in the building and organize workplaces for employees in it. However, with a deep analysis of the specifics of the activities of the company's divisions, it became clear that the internal space needs a thorough redevelopment. We focused on functional aesthetics, - this is how the chief architect of the project, Andrey Butusov, describes his idea. At the same time, the concept of reorganizing workspaces had to reflect the fundamental values of Knauf: the spirit of entrepreneurship and humanity, partnership and dedication. Knauf is one of the world's largest manufacturers of building materials, so it is not surprising that during the reconstruction, building materials of its own production were used to the maximum.
The functional zoning of the three floors was supposed to include both the "open space" and technical rooms, such as changing rooms for staff, server and electrical control rooms, and classic offices, as well as an area for receiving visitors, including meeting rooms and cafeterias, designed as to the guests of the company and to its employees.
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On the ground floor, there are two entrance halls, differing in function: one for office guests, the second for drivers of heavy vehicles, where they can wait for the paperwork for the shipment of products. Each of the entrance zones has its own character - in the first case, representative, in the second - more informal. The front entrance is dominated by the contrast of white and dark gray, austere and elegant. Only a bluish backlight highlights the company logo above the counter.
Here, on the ground floor, there is an exhibition space, where you can get acquainted with the history of the family company founded by the Knauf brothers in 1932, and view the showroom, which represents the basis of the business - gypsum stone from various deposits in Russia and the CIS countries.
The central object of the entrance area is the art installation “selfie point”, which attracts visitors with its unusual shape. The interior illuminated ellipsoid cabin with a comfortable seat, lighting design elements and decorative trim, which uses corporate colors and the company logo, is a living example of the use of drywall to obtain curved surfaces.
Knauf sheets allow you to create curved surfaces of varying complexity: flexibility is one of the main advantages of gypsum board. The sheets have different thicknesses, the thinner the sheet, the smaller the bending radius it allows to obtain. There are also two bending methods - dry and wet bending. If the bending radius is too small to bend the sheet, it is processed with a special needle roller and moistened. It was the wet method that was used to create an unusual selfie-point design, where office visitors enjoy taking photos. The cabin itself is made using KNAUF-sheet "Arched" with a thickness of 6.5 mm, which can have a bending radius of 300 mm in case of wet bending.
The design of the driver's lounge is inspired by the road, with road signs and signposts on the walls in corporate blue.
The creators of the office also took care of the acoustic comfort of people. In these public spaces, a continuous suspended acoustic ceiling "P 127" is installed, which improves the sound insulation characteristics of the premises.
In the plastic of most rooms, linear rhythms, sometimes complex ones, prevail, revealing the theme of shaping from Knauf sheet - the first material the company launched in Russia - suspended ceilings and partitions of the Knauf House are mounted from it.
The general leitmotif is the color scheme of the premises, based on the corporate colors of Knauf - white and blue. Moreover, white surfaces prevail not only in the decoration of walls, ceilings and floors, but also in furniture. The engineering communications laid in the sub-ceiling space, which were deliberately left open for the convenience of their maintenance, are painted blue.
The variety of spaces - from open open-space to offices and technical rooms - dictated various acoustic solutions for both walls and ceilings using Knauf-Acoustics boards. A wide selection of the line of these panels made it possible to solve the problem of sound insulation in building zones that differ in their characteristics: depending on the perforation pattern, the products acquire different sound absorption parameters (sound absorption index 0.55 to 0.70).
For example, in cafeterias and dining areas, suspended ceilings with built-in and pendant lights, completely made of sound-absorbing plates with diffused perforations, were mounted, and suspended ceiling screens with an additional layer of sound-absorbing material with square perforations above the working areas.
These “islands” of acoustic comfort, differing from each other not only in perforation, but also in shape, are framed by linear LED lamps, and, standing out in whiteness against a blue background, resemble clouds floating in the sky.
Lighting
"Island" suspended ceilings are the highlight of the office. They combine manufacturability and design. Each "island" suspended ceiling is framed by a light source. This structure was installed due to the fact that the use of drywall allows you to achieve neat joints not only with the supporting structures of the building, but also with decorative elements and, in particular, with lamps. The edges of the drywall sheet can be trimmed and sanded, or even bent back by milling the sheet. The milling method allows you to create cornices, niches and even independent decorative elements from drywall.
The meeting rooms are separated from the corridors by glass partitions, which bear the names of the cities where the sales directorates of the company operate in Russia: Krasnodar, Novomoskovsk, Irkutsk, Chelyabinsk and St. Petersburg.
The largest of them is distinguished by its coloristic solution - the floor and walls here are designed in blue, which is the trademark for Knauf. When installing complex combined partitions made of glass and frame-sheathing structures, partitions of the "C 62" type were used.
The walls of the technical rooms provide an increased level of sound insulation so that the noise of the operating equipment does not annoy the inhabitants and guests of the office.
Work dry
Implementation of the reconstruction project in record time was made possible by “dry construction” technologies, which are actively being introduced by Knauf.
In addition to sheet materials and metal profiles, a large volume of Knauf plaster mixes and ready-to-use compounds, including Knauf-Rotband and Knauf-Mittelgrund, were used in the frame-sheathing structures at the facility, and for laying tiles and porcelain stoneware on the floor and the walls used tile adhesive "KNAUF-Flisen" and "KNAUF-Flex". Particular attention was paid to the fire safety of the building: the fire protection of the load-bearing steel columns is provided by gypsum-fiber Knauf super-sheets (W 753), mounted in two layers, which increases the fire resistance time to 120 minutes.
“The continuation of the transformational processes in the company was the reorganization of the working space for our marketing and sales divisions, which was supposed to visibly embody the basic values of the Knauf company. We needed to transform the internal structure of the building in such a way as to create there the most comfortable environment for individual and team work, communication with clients and partners, corresponding to the style and spirit of an innovative company that produces building finishing materials , - this is how he described the task that was set for the architects and builders, the managing director of the KNAUF Eastern Europe and CIS group Janis Kraulis.
