Cocoon - CHANGING THE FACE MOSCOW

Strategy and concept

The new face for the Pushkinsky Cine Hall, here presented, symbolizes the idea of creating new elements around the building that could accentuate, other than obliterate, the quality of the original design. Cocoon was the chosen name for it. This name denotes that, as it happens with the animal cocoons, this new layer would work as a protective fibre for the old untouched building, while giving it a new fresh and new appeal. Cocoon here is also a symbol of metamorphosis. This new skin, with its RGB led matrix, is a constant metamorphosis, enabling the cinema publicity to be displayed on it. By doing this, while being transparent, the Cocoon liberates the Pushkinsky Cine Hall from the huge opaque publicity outdoors that threaten its core beauty.

Programmatic features

The Cocoon layer creates a new interstitial space. The old building comes to us with a large balcony over the city. The offset between the old building and its new Cocoon takes the alignment of this balcony as reference. The space around the Pushkinsky Cine Hall becomes usable space for a restaurant, a coffee, and ludic children spaces, all related to the cinematic experience. In the summer, the plastic layer of the cocoon can be removed and terraces are then created.

The ground floor was freed from the entire strange appendix that commercial activities made on façades. A continuous glass façade was added and an interior  gallery was created. The interior walls of this gallery is made of translucent DuPont™ Corian® where before were opaque.  This way all the light present in the commercial spaces comes out to the streets.

Technical characteristics

The Cocoon is made of two layers. One is a triangular mesh of coated aluminum profiles combined so that a strong closed structure is created. This profiles host led RGB strips that emanate colored light an enable images and animated sequences to be displayed. The second layer is transparent plastic pressurized bubble. This layer is to be present only in the cold months of the year. In the summer the balcony becomes a summer terrace. 

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http://www.architizer.com/en_us/blog/dyn/22282/winners-changing-the-face-moscow/#comment-15557