забор

companies who has a request for “creative offices” — that is, in which not only tables with comput- ers, but also zones of communication, secluded rest, sports, work in small and large groups. Such companies need not just fashionable and vivid solutions from the point of view of stylistics (in which za bor you will not refuse — many of their objects subsequently move together with the office from the address to the address), but also the competent organization of space is critically important. The list of customers is eloquent: in this sphere, za bor also obviously succeeded. After all, the lob- by of the Novotel in St. Petersburg is famous not only for the yellow pigeon sculpture — the poultry of the Accor Hotels network (although it is precisely the za bor chip — the transformation of the brand book elements not into the decor on the walls, but into spatial sculptures): last year the inte- rior topped the rating of the publication Inc. of the best lobby of hotels for negotiations. Apparently, it is this ability — to combine well-thought-out functionality with recognizable author’s style — and at the same time not to “drown out” the own image of the owner — provided Peter Zaytsev and Arseny Borisenko with a stream of not only corporate but also private customers. The house, according to their design, is, on the one hand, each time a kind of art object made up of dynamical volumes crashing into each other (the architects claim that behind this dynamism they come to them, because in another way they just do not do it ), and on the other hand — the solution of a completely individual task, whether it is the conservation of all trees on the site, as in the case of Mr. R.’s house, or the construction on the territory with a relief of four meters, which causes that a good half of the premises in the literal sense are buried in a hill. By the way, Mr. R.’s house, one of the first houses of za bor, turned out not only with an extremely developed plan, carefully “bypass- ing” all trees (except one planted in a special concrete sleeve), but also with an outstanding wine cellar “for a million dollars” , with mirrors and “space” lighting: a few years after the construction of the house, this cellar was filmed by journalists of Los Angeles TV-program “Million Dollar Room”. And this interest from the non-architectural media is also telling a lot. Because in Russia architecture does not say that in the top of the public agenda: against the backdrop of millions of square meters of faceless housing annually introduced, it is somehow lost, it seems not to exist, and except in nar- rowly specialized journals and websites, it is almost never written about . And Zaytsev and Borisen- ko immediately began to appear on the pages of fashionable urban publications — like Look at Me and The Village. That is, they succeeded in catching with their ideas the young people, then far from actual architecture. It is now thanks to the propaganda of “Strelka” urbanism has come to almost every home. And then za bor were one of the few architectural characters that are constantly pres- ent in the media space. Unlike many professional colleagues, to the unprofessional majority they seemed understandable and consonant with their perception of life. And this property of finding with all the common visual language Borisenko and Zaytsev not only preserved, but also strengthened. It’s time to take an intermediate result — also because now, it seems, there is a new stage in the life of za bor. The stage of exit for a virtual “fence” of private property — houses and interiors, closed to the general public. Having invented a lot of concepts for the city, the architects finally got the oppor- tunity to build something socially significant — like a theater or a museum. Actually, in the project of the metro station “Nagatinsky Zaton”, which won the open competition and will be implemented in 2022, they are building a museum — museum of fish that live in Moscow regions. In general, after all the stories about the author’s style, the chosen approach to the design of the platforms — mosaics with images of 12 fish — at first glance surprises. Neither folds, nor complex spatial twists. But, I want to emphasize once again, za bor is not those architects who will be anything to “fake” at the expense of functionality. And the subway — the very place where it is placed at the forefront, coupled with the anti-vandalism and ease of harvesting. Therefore, on plat- forms in terms of construction and materials, everything is extremely simple and concise: alumi- num panels, natural stone. Pisces are giant, as they love in za bor, two meters in height — but are practically flat. But the architects played at the ceiling of the lobby: under it hangs the curvilinear shape, imitating the fish with scales. Yes, the idea with fish for the “Nagatinsky backwater” lay on the surface, but it was Zaytsev and Borisenko, who, by tradition, translated it into a visual language in the most understandable to “mere mortal” way. Russian architecture is vital to strengthen the communicative component. And if so (it should hap- pen!), that for za bor the metro project will be a pass to the world of large urban projects, then it is likely that in a few years the situation will change for the better. Architects and architecture will con- duct small talk, as well as about cinema or theater. And about the most “za bor”-like of them it will be time to make a new book.

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ZA BOR ARCHITECTS