—01.09.2010
Gagarinsky – Shopping Center
The Gagarynsky shopping mall is located two minutes from the Leninsky Prospekt metro station, in South Moscow, one of the biggest malls within the Third Ring Road in Moscow. It has a 3-level parking lot with 2500 parking places.
The two levels of retail floor space are a mix of more than 60 boutiques, a two-floor Auchan hypermarket, a multiplex and many restaurants and cafes. The total area of the mall is 200 000 m2(GBA) and 70 000 m2 (GLA). The mall was open to the public on the 10th of November 2010.
General Concept –
A New Lifestyle Hub
From 03.2015 To 06.2016
Gagarinsky Square
Industrial
Transport facilities
Dense high-rise housing blocks
The site is right next to Gagarinsky Square, which was something we immediately liked, because of course it has these connections with Yuri Gargarin — the famous Soviet space hero, who explored space for the first time in the history of mankind, and seemed appropriate for a large-scale project like this.
One thing that we paid attention to was the fact that the building itself is located in an undefined neighborhood which is a mix of industrial, transport facilities, and dense high-rise housing blocks. We decided to think of the Center as a link between all of them, as an object that occupies a place in this mixed surrounding and we wanted to create a new lifestyle hub for the district.
Interior –
From Modern Classic to Intense
250 m long façade along the Third Ring Road
Industrial materials
Speed expression
Tectonic façades
Soviet Space Program
We took a few risks with the design — the atmosphere of the mall changes from modern classic to intense. It's almost eclectic in terms of the elements with the color-saturated atrium, but we feel that this idea paid off. The final destination for visitors is this vibrant three-level atrium, which has a food court, cafes, youth fashion stores, and a plethora of travelators and escalators that add to the feeling of constant movement.
We paid a lot of attention to the facades – in particular the 250 m long façade along the Third Ring Road (which is exposed the most to road traffic) was given an industrial image. It was designed to match the speed of the passing cars and the visual reception of the driver and passengers. The strong cuts and separation of the building into several volumes by glazed insertions, makes the façade very tectonic, and quite bold in style. The usage of industrial materials like steel plates heightens this effect. We also felt that this appreciation for the industrial was a nice nod to the Soviet Space Program!
The main entrance façade gains in detail as the passerby approaches, the scale differs in order to adjust people’s visual absorption of the object, and yes, we compensated for the rest of the building — the usage of materials like ceramic and stone makes it softer and friendlier.
