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Architects: Za Bor Architects
- Area: 2025 m²
- Year: 2012
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Photographs:Peter Zaytsev
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Engineering Solution: Altaca, za bor architects, Mott MacDonald
Text description provided by the architects. Castrol is a global brand and leading manufacturer of engine oils and greases. This British company is a part of BP group of companies. Nevertheless it's famous for strict corporate style, it was definitely expressive and bright decisions of za bor architects that were chosen for the project of expansion and renovation of Castrol office in Moscow. Architects managed to implement the famous Castrol’s tagline: «It's more than just oil. It's liquid engineering» into the office space. Namely the idea of liquidity, versatile fluid – oil – was taken as a basis for this office conception. Though, shallowness, which is indicative for liquids, gave way for curved dynamic objects, distinctive for za bor architects projects.
The office occupies 10th and 11th levels of Paveletskaya plaza business centre. It is an open-space with several meeting rooms and cafeterias, separated with dynamic curved volumes. No prominent replanning was projected, but the office extended a little. Renewed open-spaces were filled with dynamic bright objects – curved volumes of meeting rooms, coffee points and cafeterias. It’s interesting that two of the conference rooms were separated with a modular wall and can be easily transformed into one with a total area of 54 meters. The office holds 162 workplaces.
The original sectional lamps developed by za bor architects are installed in the main corridors and several conference rooms. Total length of these sections is more than 100 meters. The longest of them is 45m long – these unique ad-hoc built-in objects were constructed on-site. Ceiling sections around the lamps were not covered with acoustic material, like in other zones, but were left as is, with communication lines colored in black. This is what emphasized complex curved objects of these giant lamps.
Reception desk was also one of the interesting architectural decisions – due to matte glass and ceramic stone, its outlines seem blurred. Branded prints from race tracks are used as decorative elements (you may see them in meeting rooms). There are also flower parterres and color tiles in the carpet, that increase the idea of liquidity, maintained with the giant lamps.
About za bor
za bor architects is a Moscow-based architectural office founded in 2003 by Arseniy Borisenko and Peter Zaytsev. The workshop’s objects are created mainly in contemporary aesthetics. What distinguishes them is an abundance of architectural methods used both in the architecture and interior design, as well as a complex dynamical shape which is a hallmark of za bor architects projects. Interiors demonstrate this feature especially brightly, since for all their objects the architects create built-in and free standing furniture themselves. Many conceptual and realized design-projects by za bor architects were awarded at international exhibitions and competitions. At the moment za bor architects is involved in variety of projects in several countries. za bor architects have been involved in more than 60 projects including residential houses, a business center, a cottage settlement, many offices. Among the clients of za bor architects there are IT, media and government companies such as Badoo, Castrol, Forward Media Group, Yandex, Inter RAO UES, Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry and others.
