14 Marzo 2012
Yandex, the largest Russian IT company has recently opened its new
office in Odessa, Ukraine. It is located on the 8th floor of ‘Morskoy-2’
business center. A 1760 sq. m. office is arranged around a light shelf
and is tailored for 122 workplaces. Close to the atrium are the spaces,
with no need for intensive lighting — meeting rooms, lecture hall and
other premises, which are not used on a regular basis. Work areas are
open-space and are mainly located along the windows. The windows, by the
way, are facing the Black Sea and the picturesque port of Odessa. There
are just several separated premises here: coffee-point, meeting rooms,
canteen, and the sports zone, with table tennis, foosball,
cardio-vascular machines and gymnastic accessories.
Internet and electrical communications are distributed through the
ceilings, and electrical wires are hidden under the raised floor in
open-space. Peter Zaytsev and Arseniy Borisenko, the architects from za bor architects,
who have designed their 9th office for Yandex, comment on it’s idea:
«We had an aim of creating a bright representative office, it had to
become extraordinary and memorable. Odessa is a maritime city, that’s
why we have tried to use the maritime motifs, but unobtrusively.
The maritime theme had been used very gently in decoration. For
example, there are light-diffusers in the form of sails, and the walls
are covered with copper (which reminds us about rusty ship’s hull or
boiler of a steamboat), also there are large round mirrors – they look
like illuminators, and the white streamlined flowerpots have a lot in
common with contemporary yachts or submarines. The maritime atmosphere
is even increased by blue carpets and window tinting.
Nevertheless, all these decoration elements always have their own
specific function: for example, the ‘sails’ sound-proof effect,
flowerpots are effective in zoning to separate workplaces from
corridors, etc. The maritime aesthetics is highlighted by windows, which
open a marvelous view to the seaport with its saturate yellow cranes».
The project has a lot of difficult details, e.g. the copper wall
covering was implemented as it only at the second try: it took long
choosing a right reagent to receive the projected effect — finally
acetic acid was chosen. Each one of the «sails» is truly unique and has
its own size and shape: the first prototype was developed and then
hanged up in manufacturers office in Moscow — only then the development
of 21 pieces had started. They not only soften the light, but, as well
as Ecophon acoustic material, which covers ceiling in work areas, they
give an obvious sound-proof effect. It is even enhanced by wooden
elements of the ceiling in reception zone (which sends us back to wooden
ship details). Reception desk was also custom-built and has its unique
geometry, but its shape reminds about an arrow, as well as other
reception desks in Yandex offices.
It is interesting that floors are also unique here: the parquet board is
laid in all different directions which gives geometric rhythm, and that
is underlined by Corian white stripes.
http://www.archdaily.com/216552/yandex-odessa-office-za-bor-architects/
