BELL business center
Copyright: © UNK / provided by Moskomarkhitektura press service
Height aside, if we look at the surrounding architecture, what we see near the Bell skyscraper is a complete stylistic patchwork: a few Stalin-era buildings, such as the “Nauka” factory’s residential house at 24 1st Yamskogo Polya Street; faceless Brezhnev-era blocks, like the one directly opposite at 2, 3rd Yamskogo Polya Street, building 12. One of the challenges UNK project’s architects set for themselves was to avoid extravagant and eccentric solutions – so the new tower could “befriend” its surroundings as much as possible in this situation, and, ideally, age gracefully, as Stalinist architecture often does (something that, with rare exceptions, Luzhkov-era architecture is absolutely incapable of).
Function
The Bell skyscraper stands 220 meters tall, with 48 above-ground floors and a three-level underground parking garage for 239 cars. Its total floor area is 84,790 square meters.
BELL business center
Copyright: © UNK / provided by Moskomarkhitektura press service
The developer, MR Group, plans to position Bell as a Prime-class office center, the elite segment of Class A offices.
The difference between Class A and Prime lies in the degree of exclusivity: Class A guarantees a modern building with high engineering standards, a convenient location, and well-developed infrastructure, while Prime takes these characteristics to a “best of the best” level. These are skyscrapers in central districts, designed by leading architectural firms, boasting exclusive interior design, environmental certification, panoramic views, enhanced service, and tenants drawn from global companies. Prime offices are explicitly focused on prestige and image.
Image
The Bell skyscraper resembles an elongated spheroid, truncated on two sides by parallel vertical planes.
This shape emerged in response to the design brief. The construction site is small, bounded by a street from the north and a railway from the south. To the east, the site adjoins a 20-story residential building, which required consideration of sunlight access. The challenge was further complicated by underground utilities that could not be disturbed. The idea of an upward-expanding volume set on a modest plateau suggested itself naturally.
This is an example of how form becomes philosophy. Each floor of the Bell skyscraper is an ellipse truncated on two sides. The dimensions of the ellipses are unique: they expand along different axes, their radius changes, they strive toward the shape of a circle – but never quite reach it. And that is the intrigue: within the static architectural body lies an embedded sense of constant motion and change. The effect is further emphasized by two vertical planes that slice through the parametric surface.
The architects drew inspiration from the image of a sports trophy, from the very idea of “glory”. The slanted top of the skyscraper was designed to echo the sloping roofs of the SLAVA residential complex buildings.
The elongated spheroid shape made it possible to maximize the building’s usable floor area: while the lower floors measure about 800 square meters each, beginning with the 20th floor – where the panoramic views open up – the floor plates increase to 1,200 square meters.
The entrance area
The entrance area of the business center was designed as a separate volume, with no attempt to economize on height or space. Inside, the absence of supporting columns creates a sense of openness. The canopy above the entrance projects far forward to protect visitors from rain and snow. The first and second floors of the central lobby were combined, and the glazing of the entrance zone was made with double-glass units about 3 meters wide and 12 meters high – a genuine record and a major technical challenge. In Moscow, comparable glazing exists only in the ATOM pavilion at VDNH, another UNK project.
The lobby interior was designed by ECUS in the style of eco-minimalism: no accent details, a beige palette, and the use of natural stone and wood.
The lower floors are occupied by a retail gallery, shops, cafés, and a restaurant. This extensive infrastructure allows office workers to take care of everyday needs without having to leave the building.
As for the landscaping of the surrounding area, the press release notes that the architects were inspired by ideas of “biophilic” design – that is, the integration of natural elements into the urban and office environment to create psychological comfort.
Greening will be implemented on several levels: lawns will be laid out, trees planted directly in front of the entrance, a terrace arranged with shrub sculptures and a cascading fountain enclosed in frosted glass, and finally, on the roof of the entrance block – at the level of the fourth floor – hanging gardens with mountain pines, willows, and junipers will be created, complete with workspaces and a small amphitheater nestled among the greenery. The landscaping was designed by the company Derevo Park.
The engineering component
Engineering solutions for the Bell tower are integrated into a unified BMS (Building Management System) platform, which combines ventilation, air conditioning, heating, lighting, elevators, low-voltage services, and safety systems, including fire protection. BMS automatically collects data and manages the operation of all systems. For users, this means greater comfort, while for the owner, this definitely means reduced operating costs.
The skyscraper also informally incorporates the “smart office” concept, with features such as Face ID access, a digital reception, a cellular signal booster system, and digital elevators.
The building contains several technical floors: the third, twenty-fourth, and twenty-fifth, as well as the forty-eighth. These house fire safety equipment, pumping stations, ventilation systems, and more. The architects made sure to leave space not only for current operations but also for possible future technical upgrades. The raw ceiling height in Bell exceeds four meters.
Elevators and parking garage
UNK project’s architects are particularly proud of their use of Double Deck elevators. These two-story cabins, stacked one above the other, move in sync and serve even and odd floors simultaneously, significantly reducing waiting times. Despite the limited area allocated to elevator zones, the level of service meets the Prime standard.
For UNK project, this is their second experience working with such elevators – the first was in the building of the National Space Center. In addition, the elevator system is distributed by height: some of the cabins operate as express elevators, quickly transporting passengers to the thirtieth floor and above.
BELL business center
Copyright: © UNK / provided by Moskomarkhitektura press service
The three-level underground parking garage was also designed with modern requirements in mind. It is equipped with charging stations for electric vehicles, fast entry and exit systems, and angled support columns that ensure efficient use of space and allow for a greater number of cars to be accommodated.
Facades: louvers
The building’s image is based on the contrast between the smooth, flat oval facades and the curved surfaces clad in louvers. Running from the ground to the roof, the louvers serve several functions at once: they “materialize” the building, preventing it from dissolving into its surroundings as a mirror surface would; they echo the vertical ribs of the neighboring SLAVA complex; they add dynamism to the facade through the play of light and shadow; they present the complex geometry of the building in the most striking way, making it appear slimmer; and in the evening, they form the basis for architectural lighting.
BELL business center
Copyright: © UNK / provided by Moskomarkhitektura press service
The louvers are 100 millimeters wide and 600 millimeters deep. They are fixed on brackets in such a way that the gap between them and the facade is practically invisible. The architects proposed making the louvers of stainless steel with a textured surface. And whereas glass facades only reflect what lies directly opposite them, the louvers capture light from all directions – for example, reflecting the rays of the setting sun – so that the building’s appearance changes from minute to minute.
Stainless steel is a highly expressive material that lends the building a sense of prestige, but it is also expensive. The architects hope this idea will not fall victim to budget cuts.
Facades: glazing
If anyone deserves a trophy for this project, it is the facade solutions division of UNK. It is one thing to imagine an architectural form, and quite another to figure out how to bring it to life.
It was impossible to calculate the shape of the glazing units using standard software products like Revit, so UNK engineers turned to Rhinoceros with Grasshopper, applying parametric modeling wherever possible. All the curves that form the surface of the skyscraper were defined mathematically. The surface was further divided into modules, and combinations were found that simplified glass unit production. UNK pursued four main areas of optimization. Curvature was achieved through specially designed frames, with tolerances ranging from 2 to 20 millimeters. Thanks to these frames, it was possible to assemble the ellipsoidal form from entirely flat – that is, not bent and (almost) rectangular – glass elements.
This represents a rare case, both in Russia and worldwide, of complex parametric modeling that saved hundreds of millions of rubles and was highly appreciated by the developer.
When the client saw the result, they gained a deep respect for our team. Not only for the architects – pretty much everyone already knows us as architects and general designers – but specifically for our engineers, the specialists in façade systems.
The design and fastenings of the façade joints were tested at the Ministry of Emergency Situations laboratory, which confirmed their high performance characteristics. In Russia, this was the first time such preventive testing had been carried out in the field of high-rise construction.
UNK’s facade solutions division also devised the installation scheme for the glazing units. According to the project, part of the building overhangs the railway tracks, where scaffolding cannot be erected. UNK engineers proposed a special self-lifting rig that reduced installation risks to zero.
In summary, the Bell skyscraper is elegant, restrained, and extraordinarily complex from an engineering standpoint. Its appearance will likely provoke the usual dissatisfaction of local residents sensitive to high-rise construction in central Moscow. But it is worth remembering that the district bounded by Leningradsky Prospekt, Ulitsa Pravdy, Nizhnyaya Maslovka, and 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya was until recently an industrial zone. Today, dozens of new projects are being realized here, and Bell will be among them – one of the symbols of the new city.