area: 4967 м2
year: 2014
city: Москва

The project has been developed by Blank Architects / John MCAslan+Partners with my direct participation as a leading architect.

Our concept for the transformation of the Udarnik Cinema into a new entre for the Contemporary Arts aims to celebrate the fundamental modernity of the original building and re-vivify its egalitarian vision for the role of the Arts in Society. In our design Iofan's masterpiece will indeed become one of the main exhibits but it will also create "space," both physically and emotionally for new art experiences, installations and debate.

In some regards there is a profound and fundamental paradox at the heart of this project. On the one hand the ambition to create an innovative Contemporary Arts Centre for Moscow demands an environment which offers great flexibility and dynamism in terms of its spatial organisation and arrangement to meet the aspirations of the client brief. On the other hand this is to be accommodated within an incredibly particular building which enjoys statutory protection and there will be understandable anxiety regarding its fundamental adaptation and change.

Our proposal for the transformation of Udarnik is radical in its treatment of the buildings interior and in some regards conservative in its respect for the external form.

In order to fully realize the potential and bring light to the building, we propose to introduce a new atrium volume that will connect all levels of the Art Center with a new glazed segment in the vaulted roof in the part of the building adjacent to the existing main staircase.

This will finally realise Iofan's original vision for the roof to bring light and life into the heart of the building. The atria will also enable multiple visual connections between different levels and activities reinforcing the original cinema volume as the heart and soul of the building.