Sergey Estrin Architects. Philip Morris HQ | arthitectural
Philip Morris affiliated companies Head Quarters in Russia is located in Moscow business centre Legend of Tsvetnoy. The client wished to transform the space into comfortable working environment, with minimal resemblance to standard office arrangement of long corridors trapped between long chains of doors. Mr. Estrin has indeed created a space flooded with intricate space plots.
This project appeared to become an unconventional challenge for the architect. Usually the basis of a Head Quarters image comes from company’s activities or products. However the client has to be very careful with corporate design elements in order not to contradict the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act banning tobacco direct marketing. On the other hand, Mr. Estrin didn’t want to ignore the matter completely. Therefore his team was looking for hints that would giveaway details of Philip Morris operation. As a result the architects have created a space with interval dynamic and special decor.
The light fixtures in the entry zone, main corridors and meeting rooms are probably the most conspicuous for that matter. They are made of white frosted glass and do not only have distinctive oblong cylinder shape, but also side cups of darker colour. Clusters of extended tube like white light fixtures are grouped in various locations adding certain rhythm and intricate dynamics to the space.
The office fit out colour range of pale and deep brown shades also reminds us of company product.
To create an efficient open space the architect used transparent partitions installed under various angles, thus breaking corridor perspective. To make them more tangible the authors have applied frosted drawings. Also some of the transparent partitions were made with broken glass effect forcing refracted light to play around with innumerable fissures. Floor cover is made of polygonal covering of various shades. It therefore give the impression that some corridors have appeared from a lightning stroke; some aisles were made of drifting floe disrupted into thousand fragments.
Location: Legend of Tsvetnoy Business Centre, Moscow, Russia
Architect Company: Sergey Estrin Architectural Studio
Client: OOO Philip Morris Sales and Marketing
Project Manager: Sergey Estrin, Chief Architect: Julia Sheremetieva, Chief Engineer: Roman Fomin
Architect: Julia Sheremetieva
Management Company: SunburyHeights
Photographs: Konstantin Levin
Design and construction: 2012
