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Architects: Za Bor Architects
- Area: 1100 m²
- Year: 2013
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Photographs:Peter Zaytsev
Text description provided by the architects. As it happened, a central place in the portfolio of the architectural workshop za bor is occupied by the offices of companies working in the sphere of information technologies. First of all it is related to the quite informal and creative atmosphere which such companies try to create for their employees. However the IT company Iponweb office, although in general it corresponds to this tendency, stands out due to both its unique architectural space and neutral colour grade which no office project by the architectural workshop za bor has ever had before.
Iponweb office, though it completely corresponds to the developers’ needs, also performs representative functions – visitors and numerous partners who come to Moscow from the European, American and Asian offices of the company, are received there. That is why the main task was to create a practical and comfortable office within the limits of the zone list provided by the technical specifications.
The office is located in an old industrial building, business centre «Shabolovka 31». It used to belong to a brewery, then to the State ball bearing plant - 2, which manufactured bearing pieces of even the Kremlin stars. The building was reconstructed several times, due to which now it has a lot of interesting details such as crossbeams, utility lines as well as a substantial level difference on the sixth floor, where the office is situated. A two-level transition was preserved, as a result the height of the ceilings is from 3.9 to 4.5 meters, the technical details have also been preserved and are maximally open. Spectacular view of Shukhov radio tower and interesting industrial landscape which can be seen from the windows, only enhance the office décor.
Since in the office there work about 120 people and all of them are mainly developers, the places which are separated from one another by either level difference or separately standing partitions, constitute blocks of 6-12 units each. Workplaces are located along the windows, which provides good illumination. As the office is not aimed at administrative activity, it has no reception area, but nevertheless the entrance group is very showy – it is in the shape of a compact geometric tunnel leading to an open area which is the main pedestrian «artery» of the office. It is surrounded by numerous conference rooms; besides, a large open space serves as a place for meetings and other events. Since there are only seven conference rooms, the client offered to name them after the planets, emphasizing «geocentric» role of the Moscow office for Iponweb company. So, the conference rooms are decorated with the text blocks telling about physical properties of the Solar system planets. Another feature of the office is monochromic color grade which is not typical for za bor projects. The only colour dominant are plants. In the office finishing cork and dry easy covering have been traditionally used. On the communication lines under the ceiling one can see the covering similar to snow – it is acoustic material Sonaspray. It was used as the practice has shown that because of the open communication lines there is an echo effect in the office.
