the Moscow headquarters of the Russian company inside a former nineteenth-century biscuit factory
Kerama Marazzi’s Moscow headquarters is set inside a former nineteenth-century Soviet biscuit factory, the Bolshevik. The philosophy is clear: the workplace must be formal and informal at the same time, with flexible, transformable spaces. The building is narrow and very long, with a double aspect: the open spaces are designed to accommodate a growing number of workers over time. The services are exposed and painted black, the suspended ceilings are in wood-fibre panels (aesthetic and acoustic), the partition walls in glass. Old Kerama Marazzi decorative pencil tiles clad the reinforced-concrete columns in the open spaces.
The spaces. Designing the spaces for a company in constant development and growth is certainly a complex challenge. Much of the open space, dedicated to rapidly expanding departments, is designed to accommodate a larger number of workers over time. The building is narrow and very long and this, together with the double aspect and the client’s many constraints, required us to think of a layout that differed according to function. This made it possible to create important display corridors to show some of the company’s new products.
Services and ceilings. All the building services are exposed and painted black, like the lights and the window reveals. To read the services and not reduce the room height too much, the suspended ceiling — in the main work areas — is in wood-fibre panels that perform an important aesthetic function, warming the environment, and an acoustic one, breaking up the sound waves. In the meeting rooms and coffee areas, the ceiling is instead in wooden slats, to give the environment greater sobriety in guests’ eyes.
Floors and walls. The floors are in stoneware in the first reception areas and in carpet in the operational areas. The partition walls are in glass, an important aspect given the large number of single offices and the need to let light through. An interesting idea was to reuse old decorative pencil tiles to clad some of the reinforced-concrete columns in the open spaces, giving the space importance by linking it to the company’s identity.
Lights. All the decorative lights are by Artemide, and differ according to the function and importance of the space.
