Academic business-center

A building dissolving in space is a response of the architects to their search for the meaning of the architecture as art, that has always been aimed at the implementation of the world order and universe ideas of its time. The way the building is expressing itself is based not on its mass, but on its dematerialization: a lens shape of the main dimensions allowed to create an ephemeral plane - a peculiar screen where you can see a face image of the famous Russian scientist Vladimir Vernadskiy show up and disappear while you are moving along the avenue. Back at the beginning of the 20th century Vernadskiy was able to foresee the discovery of new energies and the development of informational society (the avenue where the complex is located, was named after him). The new construction, located in the academic district of Moscow and surrounded by beautiful pieces of Soviet modernist architecture, becomes its high-rise dominant. Although, the chosen shape does not suppress the surrounding, but instead creates its new identity that goes along with its time. Moreover, “The Academician” starts a dialogue with the neighbouring building, a bright example of the functionalism of the 1980s, shaped as an elongated rectangle of the main dimensions with a massive rounded entrance. The 4-stories high rectangular stylobate, that serves as a base for 14-story lens, forms the street scale of the perception of the building. Thanks to big show-windows, the high ground floor is tightly connected with the city space. It will host stores, coffee-shops, and entry points of all functional areas. Vertical aluminum lamellae add lightness to the high-rise volume and fragmentary move onto the stylobate, visually connecting parts of the building. The portrait of the great scientist shows up on the facade as a result of the difference in the lamellae cuts, and can be easily seen by drivers and pedestrians from the opposite side of the avenue. The landscaping of the pedestrian side of the street along the main facade is also using the image of Vladimir Vernadskiy, his glasses in particular, that become an art-object and an element of the identity of this space, connected with the building itself.