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EMA

Moskow, Russia
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EMA is a project of revitalization of an ex-industrial territory in the center of Moscow. In the last decade, the industry (factory of Electrical Medical Apparates) was relocated and the territory became abandoned. New interventions - immense shining of foil reflections, theatrical scaleless geometries, video projections and unique light ambiances - this #fulloffoil environment - transforms EMA space into a new cultural hub in Moscow. EMA turn an abandoned Soviet-era place into a bustling cultural center for a summer. The aim of the young architects is to anchor this city fragment in the public memory again and to revalue it in an ideal way. KOSMOS combines their creative intervention with a social media strategy to create something like a digital memory for the area. Because at the end of the year a demolition and a new development by investors are planned.

EMA stands for Electrical Medical Apparatus,a company that moved into a new location more than ten years ago and left its headquarters built in the 1950s and '60s in the central Moscow district, not far from the sugar-cracker Stalinist high-rise complex "Seven Sisters". Following on from the esthetics of the Soviet era that had been excluded in many places, KOSMOS experimented with trivial hardware store materials such as electronic cables, sprinkler systems, lights, reflectors and insulation material - everyday things that they know how to combine in a highly aesthetic way.

Four Project Elements

Four essential elements characterize the design of the project, reminiscent of a surreal stage design: the "packaging" of the existing buildings in the form of wrapped and wrapped foil, a sky of cables and lights over the courtyard, the reuse of the corporate advertising sign and an oversized disc , The silver cladding of the stock is the most striking intervention, the shiny facade of insulating material that usually serves to insulate pipes, secures the ruin of the industrial site and at the same time forms an exceptional metallic-reflective background.

The 'infrastructural sky' shines like a starry tent - the network of cables and lights, loudspeakers and sprinklers stretched over the inner courtyard, under which events such as concerts and workshops take place. Its different components resemble the technical infrastructure of every room ceiling. Iconic element in the sky of temporary framing is a giant moon disk, nine meters high and coated with traffic streak paint with their reflective particles. She serves as a "social media icon" and has already become in the first weeks of the project to a popular background of "digital memories" for countless smartphone photos and selfies.

The re-installation of the classic illuminated billboard of the EMA marks the project in its urban context, the interiors can be experienced to a large extent in their original state. The EMA project is not a tribute to the socialist past, but in any case a confrontation with it and the development pressure of Moscow. KOSMOS see in their project parallels to the Strelka Institute developed by OMA , which was also threatened with demolition in 2010 and could then be preserved.

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bostjan, August 30th, 2018
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