Iskra Park has been built on Leningradsky Prospekt, near Dinamo metro station, on a 2.8-hectare site formerly occupied by Frunze Central Aerodrome, the birthplace of Russian aviation. The complex consists of three blocks: an office building, the AO MKB Iskra building, and an apartment block consisting of ten sections of varying height.

The architecture of the residential buildings is in the tradition of apartment blocks erected at the beginning of the 20th century and in the 1940s and 1950s. Instead of literally copying architectural details from the past, however, the architects have devised a new way of filling the traditional façade structure with detail. The unique character of Iskra Park’s architecture is underlined by the design of the business centre. This iconic office building with its crystalline façade enters into an interesting and incisive dialogue with the surrounding buildings, which are based on the architectural and urban-planning traditions characteristic of this district of Moscow. 

“Why did we choose glass, and why the crystal shape? Above all,” says Sergei Tchoban, author of the design, “we wanted to create an antithesis to the background buildings. We wanted to counterpose to these flat façades with their shallow detailing a large cellular structure, to confront stone – a dense material – with airy, almost ethereal glass and tradition with bold innovation. Incidentally, the same pattern has been used in the form of a complex geometrical grid – a ‘honeycomb’ – as the basis for the landscape of the internal territory. It is our view that only this kind of systematic or, if you like, all-pervasive design can provide a comfortable urban environment that is attractive equally from afar and when seen at arm’s length.”

The height of each module in the form of a truncated rhombus is 4 floors. The use of these elements in the design of facades allows hiding the true number of floors – from the outside the building is perceived as a sculpture. Complex in its geometry, the glass shell is a warm outline of the building. From the inside, the floor slabs are adjacent directly to the glazing, and opaque glass is used in the areas of this adjacent.

Realization of an envelope of the complex shape of this kind has been possible due to close collaboration between the authors of the project and SPEECH’s façade-design department on the one hand and manufacturing companies on the other. Specifically, the project uses multifunctional architectural glass made by Guardian. And especially for this project, Schueco has devised a modular structural system that both provides optimal thermal insulation and compensates for potential bending of ceiling slabs in response to constant or temporary loads.