Moscow, Russia
With its hyperbolic parabolic form, the new entry building to SberBank’s Moscow campus by Ecolution Design Ltd., designed with ATP TLP architects engineers, achieves a grand and functional entrance for 10,000 people.
SberBank commissioned the Swiss architecture studio Evolution Design to design a representative entrance to two adjoining high-rise towers that form part of SberBank City, SberBank’s new campus in Moscow.
Evolution Design responded to the brief with a hyperbolic paraboloid form that rises up at either end, enclosing the exterior space between the towers.
For its innovative form and attention to biophilic design, the SberBank entrance building has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
One of the challenges of the brief was to create a volume large enough to accommodate all the required functions–an entrance that will be used by approximately 10,000 employees who work in the two towers, a central reception, several restaurants and coffee shops, a conference center, and a spacious amphitheater–under one roof.
The other challenge was that this volume should not compromise daylight into the lower levels of the towers.
The dynamic saddle form solves both challenges.
An immense, daylight-flooded space has been created that accommodates all the necessary functions while minimizing sunlight obstruction to the offices in the towers.
The structure’s primary function is as a covered entry and meeting place.
Circulation into the two towers and to the numerous cafes, restaurants, and meeting areas accommodated beneath the parabolic glazed roof was a priority in the design.
Both entrances at either end of the building are crowned in a series of champagne-colored triangulated panels in stainless steel that incline outwards over the squares, like delicate tiaras.
This warm-colored pattern ties the new structure into the ensemble of SberBank buildings on the campus, which all feature similar cladding material.
The glazed façade and the glossy steel crown create playful reflections of pedestrians arriving and leaving the towers and glow in different shades depending on the daylight.
On entering the space, one is captivated by light flooding in and the cantilevered restaurant terraces that punctuate the hall.
Particular attention has been paid to biophilic design throughout: all areas have been designed with trees, lush green walls, and hanging gardens that enliven the spaces and create the feeling of an oasis.
A striking water wall further enhances the natural feeling and imbues an atmosphere of tranquility.
Project: Entry Building to SberBank Campus
Architects: Evolution Design Ltd.
Architects of Record: ATP Innsbruck Planungs GmbH and ATP Zagreb arhitekti inženjeri d.o.o.
Design Team: Tanya Ruegg, Dariusz Florczak, Balazs Götz, Natalia Maciejowska, Ekaterina Kozhevnikova, Ksenia Wittwer, Kateryna Fuhrer, Tanya Ruegg, Dariusz Florczak, Balazs Götz, Natalia Maciejowska, Ekaterina
Kozhevnikova, Ksenia Wittwer, Kateryna Fuhrer, and Stefan Camenzind
Architects of Record: ATP Innsbruck Planungs GmbH and ATP Zagreb arhitekti inženjeri d.o.o. (ATP TLP architects engineers)
General Contractor: Pridex Group
Client: Sberbank of Russia PJSC
Photographers: Peter Wuermli and Ilya Ivano