The new Russian Avant-garde residential complex in Moscow consists of five towers each of which refers to a different Russian artist of the Avant-Garde movement of the early 20th century; Kandinsky, Rodchenko, Popova, Exter and Malevich. This reference expresses the strong individuality of each building and though diverse in appearance creates a harmonious ensemble.
In the Rodchenko tower for example, a layering of continuous glass skins generates a transparent depth that represents the artist’s intended fluidity of space in the paintings. The Malevich tower uses subtlety in the detailing to create an intriguing yet homogenous façade design. Through the discovery of the detail and the gradual alterations in materialisation and transparency, the beauty of the building is revealed. The ‘Salome’ costume design by Alxandra Exter informs the concept of ‘folding’. The diverging pleats in the façade and the distortion in the volume of the building generate a dynamic architecture that appears to move when viewed from different angles. When viewed from within the apartments the changing perspectives continuously transform the views of the city.
In a similar way to the artist’s working method the design of Popova’s tower utilises a series of tools to represent the ambiguity between space and depth creating a three dimensional form composed of two dimensional objects. The proposed façade design for the Kandinsky tower utilises a similar method by taking the details of a two dimensional painting into a three dimensional building volume. This architectural interpretation of the spatiality and depth in Kandinsky’s painting creates a building design composed of several layers. In this way the different elements of the façade contribute to the unique quality of the interior of the individual apartments.
design 2001-2004
