TATLIN NEWS #48

and Ether. Its outer cover is assembled from many vertical billets of white glass: lamellas. Not interrupted by a cornice, they almost fade into the sky at the top, and being installed at different angles to the main surface of glazed facades, they create an effect of light ripple on the walls, as if the building is a mirage. The image of textile blinds that the transpar- ent vertical elements resemble was turned into an architectural detail that can possible help avoid the usage of curtains, which often spoil the appearance of glass buildings. Butikovsky Center acquired the fame of an architectural masterpiece partly because it referred to the architectural heritage. It should be said that the distance between the lamellas (about 45 cm) resembles the narrow windows character- istic for this district in its previous years. This is not the only curtsey to the past: the angle of the roof is cut short to open the view on the reconstructed bell tower of the Zachatievsky monastery. Butikovsky Center seems to express the idea of tactfulness with architectural means. The glass office building looks nonintrusive and at the same time modern and up-to-date. The people inside the building have the ‘live trans- mission’ of the whole street; reflecting the light like a crystal, the building attracts atten- tion of the passers-by, seamlessly fitting into a sequence of the original modern buildings in the blocks nearby. object Butikovsky Center | location Moscow, Russia | development started 2003 | con- struction finished 2008 | architects Project Meganom

ТАТLIN news 6|48|65  2008   133