Type: Workspace | Scope: Interiors Location: White Gardens, Moscow Year: 2013-2014 | Area: 1,500 sq m Status: Completed
A Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) functions as a hybrid environment for demonstration, training and strategic collaboration rather than as a conventional office. It is a space where clients, partners and internal teams engage with company technologies through real-time testing and scenario-based simulations. The Moscow MTC was created as part of a relocation within the neighboring White Square business quarter at Belorusskaya. Part of the equipment and functional program was transferred to the new premises, while representative public areas, training rooms and presentation environments were reconfigured and designed anew. The interior concept was developed independently from a prescriptive brand-book scenario, allowing the space to articulate technological clarity without relying on direct corporate symbolism.
At the center of the plan, the reception zone is structured around an elongated volume operating simultaneously as a hot desk and an interactive installation. Its translucent Corian body integrates a programmable LED system capable of responding to pre-set digital scenarios and user activity. Nearby, a server room enclosed in inclined fire-rated glass is deliberately exposed to visitors, turning technical infrastructure into a visible and performative component of the interior. Training areas are organized with movable partitions to accommodate seminars of varying scale. At the heart of the center lies the main presentation hall — conceived as a compact demonstration theatre. Staged workplace typologies — executive office, corporate workstation and domestic setting — enable live testing of Microsoft solutions within controlled spatial scenarios. A custom-developed system of randomized suspended acoustic elements optimizes sound performance while reinforcing the hall’s focused, immersive atmosphere. The overall palette of the primary spaces is restrained and luminous: a white envelope combined with glass surfaces and natural wood, punctuated by calibrated color accents in lounge furniture. In contrast, the presentation hall adopts a darker, more concentrated atmosphere appropriate to its theatrical function. A graphic carpet pattern referencing mid-20th-century visual language introduces a subtle historical layer connected to the early era of computing, without nostalgia or literal quotation. A separate, more secluded lounge zone, featuring extensive wood finishes on floors and ceilings, a fireplace and direct access to a large terrace, offers an informal setting for private meetings and strategic discussions, complementing the center’s public and demonstrational character.
Project team: Evgeniy Shchetinkin, Nikolay Milovidov, Vladimir Sagaydak, Bogdan Vitkov In collaboration with UNK project Photo: Alexey Zarodov
