We met with the leader of T+T Architects and talked to him about the most relevant questions of the last months, as well as about the things that are generally important for the profession.
 
This office at “Red October” – you moved into it quite recently, but why here? It’s understood that you were looking for an office in some renovated industrial park but why specifically this one?
 
Sergey Trukhanov:
We were looking for a suitable place both location-wise, and in terms of transportation accessibility. At the same time, of course, this place had to be interesting in itself. We considered premises at “Rassvet” (another business park – editorial note) – but all of them required serious capital investments in repairs and engineering. We would have to stay there no less than 10 or 12 years to get a return in investment. In the long run, we settled on this place at “Red October” – by the way, Strelka was headquartered here back in the day. However, what ultimately influenced our decision was a different thing: the old lady that ran the elevator said that this place used to be ladies’ showers. We at once understood that this was our place.
 
Did you have to change a lot around here?
 
Mainly, what we did was get rid of the stuff that we didn’t need – old drywall, which was sheathed with brick walls, and other partitions. The cast iron columns, however, were a different matter. The thing is that they are part of the old steam heating system: “Red October” had one of the first such systems in this country. Inside the hollow cast iron column runs a pipe that gives off heat.