publications:

“STAR OF HERO” (“Architectural Digest” N4-2002)

Mercedes in Russia is a state-owned car: the entire presidential army drives it. Now the special vehicle was built with a sparkling glass and metal service center.
The new salon and service center of the company “Mercedes-Benz” under the romantic-knightly name “Avilon” was built by the architect Alexander Asadov. At one time he was the first Russian promoter of high-tech architecture. Naturally, he was inspired by the task of building a building – the symbol of a Mercedes car, which in itself is a miracle of high technology. The works were completed in shock dates – in less than a year. All the signs of the Assad style are obvious: this is a glass “glass” with sloping walls. Inside – several console floors, a heaped transparent elevator and a lot of thin metal supports. Above all this is a huge roof light in the form of a Mercedes logo – a star. Thanks to her, the building of the new salon turns into a huge advertising stand: the largest service in Eastern Europe shines with the biggest corporate star. The architectural image is in the service of “the interests of world capital” and, given the political significance of the Mercedes, in the public service.

“Glamor saucepan” (New model, N6-2002)

Avilon, salon and service center of Mercedes-Benz on Volgogradsky Avenue. Architects Alexander Asadov, Andrei Asadov (“Mosproekt-2”, Asadov workshop). Another home for cars, but not for their private life, but for public. Here they contemplate, touch, buy. And the building is therefore a cross between a museum, a club and a shop. It was carried out in accordance with the corporate style (glass, metal, blue color), but with the boldness of a Russian architect, who has reached a high-tech order. The walls leaned, the roof flew, and how it all rests on thin columns is the secret of the designer Nodar Kancheli. There is so much architectural chic here that even the main object of admiration – the “Mercy” proper – somehow dims against this background.

“THREE POEMS” (“Headquarters”, February 2003)

The three-pointed star, which became the emblem of Mercedes-Benz, means the three elements that are subject to the concern’s machines – air, water and earth. This idea is also embodied in the architecture of the building of a new shopping center, just built in Moscow and resembling a crystal bottle externally intended for storing precious ambrosia rather than for placing modern cars.
On the deserted Volgogradsky Avenue, among the soot-covered, obsolete factory buildings and old gas stations, the most up-to-date Avilon Mercedes-Benz dealership center has emerged. It became the largest in Eastern Europe and was built in an incredibly short time – 9 months. The design process has not yet been finally completed, and the workers have already begun to build a foundation. Construction proceeded in the spirit of the first five-year Soviet period, and the center itself recalled the best capitalist traditions. The Germans recognized that Avilon is the first outstanding architectural object in this area that meets all modern requirements (architects A. Asadov and A. A. Asadov, engineer A. Nebytov).
Imagine an inverted truncated cone: the larger diameter of the base became the roof, and the smaller area became the floor. This is exactly what the showroom looks like. Props hold the roof of round metal columns, inclined at an angle of seventy-five degrees. To them, by means of narrow metal outlets, floors of the second and third floors are suspended. From the bottom it may seem that the upper areas of the exhibition hall, with the cars standing on them, hover in the air (designers N. Kancheli and E. Vladimirov). At first they planned to display the exhibition halls on a ramp, made in the form of a spiral and connecting the first floor with the last. But it turned out that the diameter of the round room is small, with the result that the ramp was too steep. Then the architects found a solution that radically changed the whole look of the building. Machines exposed on flat circular balconies. They go up there with the help of a glass elevator, the cabin and the mechanism of which have become the most noticeable elements of the interior.
Buying a car turns into a kind of theatrical action. You go up to the balcony, where the latest models of Mercedes cars are exhibited, and choose the “car of your dreams”. Then it is solemnly placed in the crystal elevator cabin and slowly descends to the first floor. What is lacking is solemn Wagner music. In the center of the showroom is a swimming pool in which Japanese Kio carps swim. The transparent design of the elevator originates right from the water, and here is also installed a rotating podium, on which an old 1937 Mercedes flaunts, evacuated from the Baltic states. It symbolizes the continuity of tradition, because the history of the company began in the 70s of the last century, when the technical director of the gas engine factory Deutz Gottlieb Daimler realized that the invented internal combustion engine would change the world. The right to name a new car in the name of his daughter was negotiated with the director of the concern, the consul of Austria-Hungary, Emil Jelinek. Comfortable ground floor chairs, a beauty salon, a small restaurant with a summer terrace … The center is divided into three zones – a showroom, a service part and a warehouse. Outside the building is painted in typical company colors – silver and dark blue. Inside, architects opted for bright colors — orange, yellow, blue — creating a sunny, upbeat atmosphere. At the request of the customer, the architects replaced the restrained tones provided by the project in office space with more radical ones.
One of the attractions of the service room was a fully automated car wash brought from Canada. The owner of the car can observe through the glass case how the robot puts in order the appearance of the “four-wheeled friend”. The whole operation proceeds without human intervention. The car is installed on a self-propelled platform, after processing with brushes it is dried with a powerful jet of air. With the help of elements of landscape design, a highly man-made interior was added to life. Small indoor areas and exterior balconies are decorated with lawns and exotic plants. Architects masterfully solved the problem of the usually impersonal ceiling of large technical buildings. To increase the illumination, a roof light was used in the form of a three-beam star, mounted in the center of the roof. This gave the building some romance. Behind the center, shining with its high-tech facets, hid the homely building of the Moscow Automobile Institute. It is possible that the Russian Gottlieb Daimler, capable of making a breakthrough in the hopeless domestic auto industry, is working here at the training computer.

“New style Mercedes-Benz” (“Mercedes” N3-2002)

On October 3, in Moscow, on Volgogradsky Avenue, the opening ceremony of the new center of the partner company ZAO Daimler-Chrysler Automobile RUS by the Mercedes-Benz Avilon brand was held. In the presence of numerous distinguished guests, the head of the Daimler-Chrysler AG representative office in Russia and the general director of DaimlerChrysler Automobile RUS CJSC Gerhard Hilgerth announced the opening of the largest and most modern Mercedes-Benz center in Russia. Representatives of the DaimlerChrysler AG concern represented by Dr. Wenzel Weber, Director of Sales and Marketing of Mercedes-Benz cars in Central Europe, the CIS, the Middle East and Africa, and the management of ZAO DaimlerChrysler Automobiles RUS ”, but also well-known politicians and businessmen, as well as representatives of the media. During the presentation, the guests were presented the entire range of Mercedes-Benz – from the A-class to exclusive copies performed by AMG, as well as the 1934 old-fashioned Mercedes-Benz model and two Maybach cars produced in 1939. The first and second throughout the ceremony, a video was broadcast about the stages of the construction of the Avilon Center. The classical orchestra harmoniously complemented the festive atmosphere.
After the speeches of officials and guests, fireworks began, and those present were invited to the banquet hall for a buffet table, where the State Jazz Orchestra of Russia played under the guidance of People’s Artist Oleg Lundstrem during the whole festival.
The architecturally noteworthy and original in terms of the interior of the Avilon Center building was built according to the original project of the architect Andrei Asadov with the participation of Nikolay Prudnikov, who is responsible for the compliance of the corporate style with Mercedes-Benz partners. It was during the construction of Avilov that the architectural solution was fully coordinated with the new requirements of the brand’s design and became a new word in the design of showrooms. This concerns, in particular, the harmonious use of glass and metal, the original color palette, the tonal accentuation of the building segments, depending on their purpose and style-forming design elements. Construction of the new center lasted 9 months.
In the opened center cars are located on three levels. Moving cars between levels is carried out using a special hydraulic lift of a special design. The showroom of the new center is located around the perimeter of the internal space on all floors of the building. In the center of the hall on the podium are the latest models. In addition to a car dealership and a service area, customers will be able to visit a Mercedes cafe and beauty salon.
The new center will sell new and used passenger cars, SUVs, trucks, armored cars of the Mercedes-Benz brand from the car dealership and to order; all types of service, technical and warranty service in more than 30 posts, the sale of original spare parts and accessories, as well as provide a number of additional services, including insurance, credit, car rental and leasing cars.
With the opening of the Avilon Center, the new approach of Mercedes-Benz to the design of dealerships is being realized – an original architectural solution built on greater visual openness. Currently, no automaker has such dealerships. Mercedes-Benz has new partner enterprises in the capital and in the Russian regions that will be executed in a new style.