House of Communication in Novy Arbat will Receive a Copper "Exoskeleton"

The Moscow ArchCouncil approved the reconstruction of the House of Communication in Novy Arbat, which will turn it into a hotel. The building will be "dressed" in a copper "exoskeleton" as designed by the architectural bureau of TPO Reserve.

The reconstruction of the building in the existing volumes has been agreed by the Department of Cultural Heritage of the city of Moscow. The works are planned to update the main facade of the building in copper color. The rectangular glazed facades will be covered with a frame made of metal structures, creating a diagonal geometric pattern, a kind of "exoskeleton".

"I propose to approve by the decision of the ArchCouncil the version in copper and to wish to the customer quality execution of the project and accurate, careful work with architects. This project is quite long, we have been observing it for about two years. There were many options for it, as it is an iconic place," said Sergey Kuznetsov, Chief Architect of Moscow, after the meeting of the ArchCouncil.

Entrance groups in the building of the four-star hotel complex are provided from the side of Novy Arbat, Nikitsky Boulevard and Merzlyakovsky Pereulok. At the same time, the arched space for access to Merzlyakovsky Pereulok is still preserved.

"Historically, all along this line there appeared iconic objects that determined its development vectors. The place is ideal for the emergence of an iconic object of our time. The parameters are all set, a lot of options were considered in a short time. So, the aesthetics of the 60s appeared, and later there was a solution that the customer, Cosmos Hotel, liked,"said Vladimir Plotkin, head of TPO Reserve.

According to the project, the hotel is designed for about 250 rooms. The first floors will be allocated for public and commercial functions, the second floor provides conference rooms for 500 seats with transformable partitions for their possible combination. There are hotel rooms from the third floor to the ninth floor, and at the top there will be a restaurant with 200 seats with panoramic views of the Kremlin and Novy Arbat. There is also an automated underground parking for 20 cars available for the guests.

It is planned to start construction at the site next year. The project is contracted by MC LandProfit LLC.

It is worth reminding that the House of Communication was built in 1967 and it had an automatic telephone station (ATS) and a post office in it. Until recently, the building was rented out, and the facade served as an advertising surface.