There are no floors, only parallelepipeds hang in space defining boundaries and marking zones in this showroom and office in Moscow designed by Megabudka; here volumes come alive, swamped in colours and bright lights much like a glittering stage of endless surprises.
An explosion of colours, textures, geometry and architecture, welcomes you into the office and showroom of furniture and lighting dealer, DK Project, in Moscow, Russia. Designed by Megabudka, a Moscow based design firm, the multifunctional volume is an expression of the company’s identity combining its functional office spaces with their creative design showroom.
The location of the new office is near two design schools, the Moscow Film Academy and exhibitions spots; hence the clients were keen that the interiors of their new Artplay Design Centre be at par with locale. Megabudka was given the task of creating a dynamic space blending in the practical conveniences of an office atmosphere and casual comfort required for workshops and lectures.
At the onset itself, the design team deviated from the traditional path of horizontal floor-by-floor office space and instead they looked at the empty space as a canvas into which art objects were placed. They knocked off the horizontal plates and in came the art objects or ‘parallelepipeds’ which were cubes assembled like Lego blocks balanced precariously to form a single whole of design. The parallelepipeds, perched at varying levels, define the interiors into a specific geometry and basic operational zones.
The frontal façade has white textured boxes clad in wood, protruding out of the surface, which gradually eases us into the bolder format inside. The cube covered in wood is the standard module that gets replicated in variegated sizes, colours and textures, composed in a manner that gives the volume an impression of separate nodes, but one entity.
The colours of the boxes indicate the specific functions – a work space, conference area, coffee-point, display gallery or simply as a decorative object, all of which can be altered or interchanged as per the requirements.
The interior layout is marked by the parallelepipeds which border each room, making the transition from one room to the other easier and the colour coding of these cubes help us identify the functions of these zones from afar. Parallelepipeds are positioned in different orientations and levels, without cramping the spatial volume. Their multifarious placement, instead gives the office cum showroom, organic dimensions that cannot be measured but visually appeal as a large space.
In any project where there are too many contradicting and vibrant elements, a sense of balance needs to be established and Megabudka have maintained a rhythmic cadence using traditional materials like wooden paneled surfaces and the brick lined walls to tone down the intense effect of the psychedelic colours while textures and plain surfaces balance the decor within the cubes.
The bright red cube contrasts the furniture display and light fixtures, adding to the colourful drama.
In spatial zoning, primary colours in bright and dramatic hues, splash the display and showroom areas, but the office sector is kept almost vapid; though with no vertical wall as a visual barricade, the colours of the display spaces lend a playfulness and vivid aura to these sedate office zones.
Enhancing the interiors further are the opulent lighting fixtures, which do the dual purpose of exhibiting the product and illuminating the volume. At some places the fixtures in the boxes contradict the colours, elsewhere they blend into the textures, creating a different vocabulary at every turn.
The mélange of lighting fixtures, of many types and colours, sit easily in the kaleidoscopic theme like a pastiche, a part of the organic interiors.
The design team of Megabudka has designed the office cum showroom space of DK Project like a puzzle, its pieces assembled to form the picture. The spaces are not a subtle expression of the architectural edicts; they are bold, dynamic strokes of an artist trying to express the deepest of emotions in an arrangement of separates that converge into one entity, each different in their own realms yet making a meaningful composition together that is both balanced and exciting.
Text By K Parvathy Menon
Photographs Courtesy Megabudka
Contact
email: mail@megabudka.ru
web: www.megabudka.ru
