An Inexhaustible Source

2024 Author: David Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 02:26

Platov airport in Rostov-on-Don is a bright event in the history of the latest Russian architecture. We have already talked about the search for an image and construction, interiors deserve no less attention: there are as many as four lounges at the airport, each with several awards. Their authors, bureau Vox architects and Nefa architects, as well as the authors of the building itself, based their creative search on the context. In this case: southern warmth and abundance, steep banks and waves of the Don, vast steppes and archaeological finds. The result is four emotional and tactile interiors, each telling a story, and one free-standing VIP terminal building.

Business Terminal, 3500 m²Nefa architects

The business terminal for officials and delegations is located slightly away from the main airport building. At this place, archaeologists have discovered a burial mound with Sarmatian gold. The architects from Nefa architects, inspired by this plot, as well as by the historical fact of the presence of the colonies of the ancient Greeks on the Rostov lands, turned the terminal building into a peripter - however, very generalized, concrete and with a complicated rhythm of the pylonade, alternating thick and thin supports, open corners, a gap from the side of the airfield, and on the sides even with a beaten rhythm, reminiscent of a barcode.

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1/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / courtesy of Nefa architects
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2/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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3/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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4/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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5/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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6/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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7/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / courtesy of Nefa architects
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8/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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9/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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10/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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11/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / courtesy of Nefa architects
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12/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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13/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / courtesy of Nefa architects
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14/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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15/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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16/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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17/19 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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18/19 Business Terminal Platov © Nefa architects
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19/19 Business Terminal Platov © Nefa architects

At the same time, the laconic outlines of the peripter bear neither a roof nor a pediment and are perceived megalithically, as a kind of Stonehenge, especially in the oblique sun. As if the ancients surrounded their mound not with a colonnade, but with some kind of ritual pillars. The pylonade, with an almost square outline, approximately 60 x 70 m, surrounds a glass volume, which throws forward, beyond the line of pillars, a long welcoming visor, and inside hides not only covered halls and meeting rooms, but also a lush, already quite overgrown garden - the building is arranged according to the principle an antique atrium house, albeit without impluvium.

The interiors of the enclosed spaces, like the outer contour, are brutalist: the color and texture of concrete predominates, the walls are covered with thin vertical stripes. Meanwhile, at the entrance, visitors to the VIP-hall are greeted by pillars of amber-colored Murano glass, capturing the daylight and with internal illumination for the evening, - downright symbols of concentrated solar heat.

Бизнес Терминал Платов Фотография © Илья Иванов/предоставлено Nefa architects

Lamps, the color of brass, so beloved in architecture of the thaw and later, woven into a permeable volumetric pattern and equipped with many dotted paws of very warm light, are also cast in gold. They make the retro-modernist orientation of the terminal's architecture especially clearly readable: looking at it, one can recall the Washington Kennedy Center, the Moscow Palace of Congresses, and maybe the Lenin Museum of Leonid Pavlov. However, there is one obvious difference, besides the quality of the concrete, the subtlety of the details and the complete absence of marble - there are absolutely no red carpets here. The combination of shades of concrete with golden splashes, repeated in gray-yellow furniture colors, does not go beyond the associations with steppe dust and technical concrete of the airport, enlivened by sun glare and the memory of Sarmatian gold.

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1/10 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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2/10 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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3/10 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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4/10 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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5/10 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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6/10 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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7/10 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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8/10 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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9/10 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects
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10/10 Business Terminal Platov Photo © Ilya Ivanov / Courtesy of Nefa architects

More about the project>

The building mentioned above is the only freestanding artistic addition to the Platov airport, and it must be admitted that figuratively in some way opposes the main volume. Further, we will talk about the interiors of the so-called "lounges of superior comfort", spaces built into the volume of the main building, but received the author's design due to the task of emphasizing the uniqueness of the atmosphere provided to privileged travelers.

Lounge of enhanced comfort, 400 m²Nefa architects

For this hall, the architects chose an unexpected angle: figuratively speaking, they went down to ground level and looked at the sky from under the flowers. From a new scale, at which it is not clear whether the flowers have become large, or people have become small, a visual series with column stems and a ribbon of petals was born.

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1/9 Business lounge for domestic airlines or the Lounge of enhanced comfort (zpk) at Platov airport Photo © Ilya Ivanov / courtesy of Nefa architects
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2/9 Business lounge for domestic airlines or the Lounge of enhanced comfort (zpk) at Platov airport Photo © Ilya Ivanov / courtesy of Nefa architects
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3/9 Business lounge for domestic airlines or the Lounge of enhanced comfort (zpk) at Platov airport Photo © Ilya Ivanov / courtesy of Nefa architects
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4/9 Business lounge for domestic airlines or Lounge of enhanced comfort (zpk) at Platov airport Photo © Ilya Ivanov / courtesy of Nefa architects
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5/9 Business lounge for domestic airlines or the Lounge of enhanced comfort (zpk) at Platov airport Photo © Ilya Ivanov / courtesy of Nefa architects
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6/9 Business lounge for domestic airlines or the Lounge of enhanced comfort (zpk) at Platov airport Photo © Ilya Ivanov / courtesy of Nefa architects
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7/9 Business lounge for domestic airlines or the Lounge of enhanced comfort (zpk) at Platov airport Photo © Ilya Ivanov / courtesy of Nefa architects
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8/9 Business lounge for domestic airlines or the Lounge of enhanced comfort (zpk) at Platov airport Photo © Ilya Ivanov / courtesy of Nefa architects
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9/9 Business lounge for domestic airlines or the Lounge of enhanced comfort (zpk) at Platov airport Photo © Ilya Ivanov / courtesy of Nefa architects

Finding material for the tape was not easy. The architects tried painting glass and non-combustible paper, then turned to metal - under the influence of temperature, it oxidizes, after which beautiful iridescent traces remain on the surface. Further research led to titanium, which, after processing, showed itself the most striking. The floor is covered with slabs of concrete terrazzo, its inclusions resemble pebbles scattered on the ground.

There are many verticals in the interior that support the graphic and transparency of the image: the legs of the bar and information counters, black coffee tables made up of armchair rails on the podium. Traditional pictograms, as well as floor lines milled in concrete, help to navigate in space.

More about the project>

Business Lounge "Sun", 420 m²Vox architects

The main motive of the space is southern warmth. The reception desk is likened to a ball of the setting sun. It is enclosed in a capsule of stretched metal filaments, "rays" that generate light reflexes of different intensity. The windows in the room face west, so at sunset the art object merges with the real sun, which fills the room with natural contrasting light.

The "Sun" is surrounded by curved walls and partitions. The spaces smoothly flow into each other and, like a river, leads the visitor from one functional area to another, gradually slowing down and "overflowing" in the main recreation room. Here, the textures remind of the agricultural wealth of the region: cork, processed particle board, general warm colors. All closed rooms - bathrooms, showers - are deliberately cold, with metal textures, smooth shapes and reflective surfaces which symbolize the waters of the Don. The furniture and the logic of the space make it possible to both retire and spend time in the company.

More about the project>

Business Lounge "Horizon", 280 m²Vox architects

This concept is based on an endless steppe horizon. A black metal profile stretches along the perimeter - the dawn horizon, due to which a blue glow is just beginning to emerge: a linear light source is hidden in the profile.

Below the line there is a weighting finish, "earth", while the upper part of the architects tried to make it as ephemeral as possible: this is facilitated by the absence of a ceiling in the hall and transparent partitions dividing it into functional zones. The partitions are different in height, proportions and colors, but they are all enclosed in thin metal frames that echo the "horizon" graphics. Transparent layers and thin lines are superimposed on each other, the mirror blue sun dominates over everything, which increases the depth of space.

More about the project>