TATLIN NEWS #50

lution, but at the same time made it more di- versified. We should mention that the initial project was more integral: more elaborate fu- turistic sectioned content of the building in- cluded both residential and office premises, while the fully glassed museum was placed on the roof of the office building like a land- ed airship. It is by all means a bit frustrating when the project fails to be realized exactly as it has been planned, especially with such a strong concept, but this is where the secret of Plotkin’s architecture lie: his architecture is based on modules, which means it is very flexible. The outcome was undoubtfully success- ful: the project was more clearly divided into two parts, articulated by content and the col- or scheme. The apartment block, which looks like a comb in plan, benefits from gradual re- duction in number of storeys towards the park

and from light grey, nearly white color. The white net of the substance as if articulates the rhythm of life: regular, accurate, ordered, but not without surprise element – in some places it breaks the rhythm and in other places it be- comes a zigzag, which is actually a metaphor of life. The office part is of a different nature: it is more expressive, mainly due to laconic sculpture of simple forms. In this case the of- fice complex is opposed to the adjacent apart- ment block: the main color is dark, the win- dows change the fragmentized network-like rhythm to a band-like broken line, the scale becomes larger, with windows uniting two sto- reys. The street-facing façade is formed by four avant-corps. The setoffs should have been de- signed of the cantilever type thus demonstrat- ing scientific and technical achievements and the architect’s daring; however, Plotkin has opted for more simple and secure decision

84    ТАТLIN news 2|50|69  2009