Social Discovery Ventures / OraculeTang Space Coworking Offices – Riga
Lev Lugovskoy has designed the offices of creative networking company Social Discovery Ventures, located in Riga, Latvia.
SDV- international investment internet-holding founded by Dmitry Volkov, a businessman, philanthropist, musician and philosopher. The corporate philosophy of SDVentures, which distinguishes Holding from other investment and IT companies, is the concept of “Art in Technology – When art & technology collide”. It is this concept, formulated by Dmitry Volkov, implements in the design of offices and other spaces of the Holding. We had transform the building of the early 20th century into a modern multifunctional, hybrid space that would combine office and hotel components. Moreover, it was required to form a bright and presentable office for the company, and for the general-public to provide the opportunity to rent apartments and a place in co-working environment for work or holding various events, meetings, negotiations.
It was decided to locate the SDV representative office in Latvia on the 5th floor. Residential apartments of 3 and 5-star level for the employees of the company who are in the business trip in Riga, business partners, city visitors and tourists on the 4th floor. Co-working Oracule Tang Space took 2nd and 3rd floors of the building. For the SDV team of 20 people, bright offices, a distinctive meeting room, cozy rest areas and a small kitchen were designed.
The central element of the co-working zone was the OraculeTang art-sculpture, created by the Moscow artist Oleg Kulik and Dmitry Volkov and personifying the key moment of the philosophy of the holding “Art in Technology – When art & technology collide”. Sculpture OraculeTang participated in the festival BurningMan in the US and was exhibited in New York at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).
The concept of “Northern Gothic Reflections” (Northern Gothics Reflections) as a reflection of the history and beauty of the old part of the city of Riga was incorporated into the interior of the office.
Taking into account the uniqueness of the location of the building in the urban environment, we sought to identify its own, better features, significant architectural and constructive elements, as well as to introduce new details that would be in tune with the spirit of the place and meet the requirements of the modern workspace. Together with the artists from Riga, we carried out the work on the installation of terracotta tile floors, partially uncovered the plaster on the walls to show the beauty of the brick in the historical masonry, made a copy of the unique gothic rosette on the ceiling in the head’s office and polished the fragments of the floor with 18th century antique cast iron plates, Bright element – a wall of polished pipes (stainless steel) of different diameters, which in its appearance resembles the pouring solemn melody of the organ of the oldest Dome Cathedral.
Contrast between antique pieces of interior furniture and modern high-tech equipment; The dark corridor ceilings, the lounge zone, and the bright rooms of the study rooms; The contrast of rough surfaces of a stone or brick with smooth and bright planes of new walls of rooms and offices vividly conveys the sensation of delicate and respectful interpenetration of the modern day in the history of the place.
Design:Â Lev Lugovskoy
Project Text: Translated from OfficeNext
Photography:Â Vadim Basaly, Vyacheslav Shishlov, Tatiana Bezuglaya
