A huge building has a chance to become a city within a city, especially if half of the tenants are visa centers of European countries. Although the Soviet building on the edge of the city is the best place to dream about other countries, thinking about changes here and now is just as good, so we started to change one of the building’s parts.

Key concept. The idea of this project was to develop the theme of a city within a city. The main factor for the formation of space is office working hours – it is open 24/7. City that never sleeps has to be comfortable, thus the balance of functional zones becomes as important as it’s set. Such an environment is supposed to increase productivity as well as creating a community of spesialis of different spheres, that is why not only working zones, but also resting ones are needed.

The main interest and inspiration of the project is the very essence of the renovation process – filling the building not adapted to modern needs with new content, giving it a second breath. It is known that buildings of Soviet times do not have modern ventilation, air conditioning and heating systems, so the repair of any old premises usually involves changes in the engineering part, and this is one of the most difficult parts of the whole construction process. To this project new engineering networks have become an additional element of space.

The key decision regarding the spatial organization was the arrangement of a double-height space on the second floor of the office. Designing official premises for comfortable work of three hundred employees required the creation of an additional floor, as well as the creation of “buffer zones” for communication during the work process or recreation. It was also a priority to preserve the existing structures so that they could be used as accents in the interior – for example, metal knee brace. On the other hand, the condition of some constructions required complete restoration – the walls of the second and third floors were built again. Transformation of the industrial building includes transformation of its identity, so constructions and engineering systems became an important part of the interior.

Working hours influenced not only spatial organisation, but also choice of colour scheme. Again the task was not just to choose colours, but to create such a balance that will make the space neither monotone nor intrusive. The decision was to introduce bright but carefully measured accents, on which you can look quickly but which don’t take all the attention.