Since Fitch
Ratings specializes in analytics, estimates, and ratings, i.e. handling enormous
amounts of information, the solution proposed by the architect reflects the
process of data transfer. One of the main advantages of this idea, according to
Sergey Estrin, consists in the fact that it yields a lot of opportunities of
depicting the data transfer as such: this can be anything from a news ticker to
a teletype tape to even the Morse code. Where it was necessary to make the decorative
elements as scarce as possible, this solution gave the architect an opportunity
to decorate the interior with literally one or two unobtrusive strokes that at
the same time accurately reflected the essence of the company’s activity. A
drawing of narrow stripes adorns the glass partitions and doors, and an
analogous solution is applied to the ceiling light, as well as to the decorative
design of the immobile beams, girders, and utility lines casings and ducts.
Yet another means of creating a dramatic interior was its color solution. It
should be noted, however, that the architects based themselves on Fitch Ratings
corporate colors – black, gray, and red- only to a certain extent. As Sergey
Estrin shares, this triad seemed to him to be too much on the contrast side and
eventually gray was chosen as the dominant color – in the interior it is
represented in its numerous shades and enriched by a softened purple shade of
red. The latter shows through in details only, literally in one or two strokes
but at the same time it becomes a very critical accent in the balanced palette
of this interior.
The reception area is marked off with white ceramic granite, while the
reception desk is “pierced” with red horizontal lines, thanks to which this
element perfectly matches the agency’s logo placed on a black background,
without blending with it. The bright colors and the position of the desk to the
left from the main entrance make it the first thing that meets the newcomer’s
eye in this brightly lit room. The transparent wall that separates the
employees-only part of the office from the terrace is accentuated with
decorative green planting that brings the summer atmosphere into the office
even in the coldest of winter. After that, the visitor steps further inside, to
the meeting rooms, from where one can see the working area of the office
through the glass partitions. The walls of the meeting rooms are also executed
in glass, decorated with a pattern of opaque stripes, which helps to
singularize their inner space. These premises can also be converted into one –
for the organization of press conferences, for example – while behind the
meeting rooms, there is the open space area where the analysts work. The architects
deliberately went as far as to make the workspace partially visible from the
very entrance point and make it even more visible and transparent as the
visitor steps inside the office so as to highlight the atmosphere of strenuous
work that Fitch Ratings is known for.
