M Stands for…
What is the starting point for creating a new building concept? Function and location, requirements to the area and formal lines of the technical assignment, or is the idea born as a result of something completely different? Can something elusive that don’t evoke direct associations touch the soul and turn lifeless concrete boxes into a truly unique object? The fruitful cooperation of two bureaus MVSA Meyer en Van Schooten Architecten and CU “RESERVE” answered these questions in the M-city project as the unique silhouette of the mega-building, the result of long creative pursuit and careful work of architects, turned everybody’s heads.
If you close your eyes and try to recall what the capital’s youngest district Moscow-City looks like, you will remember an indistinct image, an intricate combination of emerald stalagmites that have grown tall in Moscow for several decades. The curved lines of the Evolution Tower, the bright diagonal of the Mercury Tower and the sails, always full of wind, of the Federation Towers will immediately come to mind. However, it is quite difficult to remember the design of entrance lobbies, detailed landscaping or strong geometric pattern of ribbon stained glass windows. The human eye better perceives such large vertical volumes at a distance. That is why a huge number of details are erased from memory. These are the details created by a large team of specialists, designers, engineers and builders. Should this be regarded as a disadvantage of high-risers construction? The architects don’t think so, that is why they started inventing a new silhouette for the new skyscraper, so that when you try to remember the City again, another bright piece of the big architectural puzzle always will come to mind. This is how the work on the unique M-city silhouette began.
The site for design is located to the north from the center of Moscow, it is separated from the existing skyscrapers by the Third Road, the left side is divided by the Third Transport Ring, on the right side, across Antonov-Ovsienko street, residential development has been started. Location features have seriously limited the project including the number of floors and the necessary stages of construction.
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Materials provided by MVSA Architecten and Creative Union “RESERVE”
Text by Anastasia Kuznetsova