A new residential complex called Iskra Park is being built near Airport Metro station in Moscow. The style chosen for the complex is art deco as it was seen by Soviet architects who built, for example, the house on Kudrinskaya Square. Thanks to this, the ten buildings and the trade center of the complex fit in well with the famous Moscow "seven sisters." It was decided to design the façades of the buildings by drawing inspiration from the achievements of the Soviet era to remind people of the aesthetics of the past.
Designs of decorative lattices of ventilation shafts for each building were created at the studio. The designs take into account the requirements for the ratio of empty space, outline thickness and size of non-functional areas. Overall, thirteen designs were developed, ten primary and three additional ones, where symbols that are challenging to render as a pattern were presented in a Soviet style.
Science is represented by an atomic nucleus with electrons on orbitals—to honor the famous scientists and the revolutionary scientific discoveries made in the 1950s. Oak leaf framing hints at the famous science city whose symbol is an oak tree.
Station towers provided a perfect fit for the ornament dedicated to the power industry, although the wires caused us some trouble. It was hard to include the extremely thin elements into the symmetric image and do so within the technical limitations. But in the end the result turned out to be elegant and without the excessive Avant-garde references.
The theme of space made use of the smoke coming out of rocket engine taking bizarre but graceful shapes.
Image of the steam locomotive IS20-16 (20-16 is not the year, though even today the train looks futuristic). Its streamline casing allowed the prototype to achieve the speed of 155 kph (96 mph) and made it a landmark of its time.
Among other themes are agriculture, architecture, shipbuilding, aviation, oil and heavy industries. For each of them we found unique symbols rhyming with the additional ornaments under the windows: stars, crystals and fireworks.
Together with the noble finishing stone, the decorative lattices complete the appearance of the building and make it a fine successor to the best architectural traditions, fitting for a twenty-first century city.
