Office of the Forward Media Group

za bor architects designed the ‘Office of the Forward Media Group’ in Russia.

Description from the architects:

Besides a few popular publications such as, for example, “Hello”, Forward Media Group produces the largest and the most popular in Russia and Russian-speaking countries group of magazines on interior design, including the main edition ‘Interior+design’ and specialized periodical ‘100% Office’, ‘100% Bathrooms’, ‘100% Kitchens’ and so on. za bor architects was chosen among several thousands of architects working with magazines for designing their own office.

Office space was destined to be quite complex – it was a huge loft of 4000 sq.m., greatly elongated and located in the mansard level of a new business center. The situation was made worse by the specificity of the publishing house – the necessity of a few editorial offices with open spaces connected with commercial and retail departments, separate offices for directors and editors-in-chief with a conference corner, conference halls, archive with library, storage rooms etc. All of these facilities were placed along the corridor going through the whole room. Eventually, open spaces offices were concentrated on the one side, and the cabinet was mainly located on the other side of the corridor.

Communication points were supposed to be transparent and not to be vanished in a homogeneous office. As a result, the elevator lobby with stones, bright receptions, and meeting rooms were emphasized; a yellow complex construction hides the entrances to the toilets; archive were marked by the black floral pattern. The same concern is the specific build-in furniture designated by za bor architects for the visitors. In contrast, operational areas are designed in a neutral gray. Technical communications placed under a ceiling of the mansard level, as well as rafters and baulks were decided not to be hidden, but painted in black, which visually somewhat elevated the ceiling.