забор

shiny copper in a few hours grow old for decades. They know how to magnetize a half-kilogram book volume so that it can be kept on the wall. Often za bor goes from the opposite — not from idea to technology, but from technology to idea. That is why they have many conceptual projects. One of the first was the ‘Penthouse Pantoon’ in Khamovniki, which, generally speaking, could not be a penthouse and not only in Khamovniki: in fact it is a universal variant of a residential unit built from lightweight structures — those whose load will withstand the concrete hollow grounds. So the “penthouse” with a framework of “frames”, in analogy with the technology of building submarines, filling with foam concrete or sandwich pan- els and facing with composite panels, is theoretically installed on the roof of any existing multi-sto- rey building — or goes for a free floating on the same pontoon. Another interesting concept that has bypassed numerous Russian and foreign publications, in- cluding non-architectural ones (for example, The Huffington Post), arose in the process of thinking about their own office. Architects suggested using an empty space between the blind ends of hous- es, hanging a three-story volume of cellular polycarbonate and glass there. The structure is light, light-permeable (the facade from the side of the courtyard is completely glass), leaves free pas- sage to the yard and can be connected to existing communications (hence the name — office — “parasite”). That is, it solves several city problems at once, among which is the expensive price for office real estate in the center of large cities. The specific problem of Moscow is the discordant with the surrounding dot construction of the 1990’s and the beginning of the 2000’s (however, buildings that have a negative effect on the city’s ap- pearance can be found everywhere). To solve it, Zaytsev and Borisenko offered to make “false fasades” with cheap and light cut-out sheets hung on a polygonal metal structure. The architects demonstrated the possibilities of their project by the example of one shopping mall within the Gar- den Ring in Moscow: the shell, in summer reducing the heating of the internal premises and making the building more energy efficient, can simultaneously function as a media screen for broadcasting advertising and information clips and create the necessary “external attractiveness”. Architects also rethink modernist buildings, which, on the contrary, have unquestionable archi- tectural value but need modernization, pardon the pun — such as the former Pushkinsky movie theater, which recently turned into the Moscow Musical Theater. At the time of the development of the project, it was still the center of Russian cinematic life: there were all the high-profile pre- mieres and main events of the Moscow International Film Festival. Therefore, in za bor they in- vented for the cinema a “folded” and openwork (although the ornament of the slits is far from the traditional notions of azhure) shell of artificial stone, which is just suitable for creating complex nonlinear forms and in the works of Borisenko and Zaytsev appears repeatedly. However, cellular polycarbonate, which arose on the facades of an unrealized office-parasite, also became one of the obvious favorites of the architects of za bor — and not least because of its cheapness, in con- trast to the same artificial stone. For example, in another city project — a prefabricated sports panel from composite panels, attached to any standard school — polycarbonate replaces all translucent structures. And in the project for the TV show “Dachniy Otvet” from polycarbonate, covered with multi-colored films, a whole summer terrace and balcony fences were made. It is very interesting to observe the evolution of the bureau through the interiors of Yandex offices. With them, za bor worked for many years, making a total of 26 offices in four countries and more than 10 cities, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Istanbul, Kiev and Odessa. It is clear that Yandex itself, being a really advanced and innovative company, has not stood still all these years: budgets have grown and corporate style has become different. But if in the first interi- ors the architects used conventionally simple decorative techniques (color films, bright stripes, sil- houettes printed on the glass), then from time to time they all became more complicated, becoming more sophisticated textures and expressive language. Every second Yandex deals with informa- tion — it means that it should be the main “decoration”: there appear decors from newspapers and books, screens that are displayed in the online mode the users’ search queries, or, as on the three floors of the office in St. Petersburg — elements of the design of Yandex and applications, turned into giant sculptures, sometimes functional. Some of these icons have already become history — and along with them the interior has become a story, having become not only an axiomatic of archi- tectural methods of za bor, but also a museum for the development of Yandex itself. Such experience, of course, could not pass in vain: today in the portfolio of za bor — Russian and international companies of all stripes, from the dating site to the brand agency. All of whose

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ZA BOR ARCHITECTS