Starchitects Foster+Partners unveil modern Art Deco skyscraper in Yekaterinburg

Architecture studio Foster+Partners has completed the building of a golden skyscraper in the heart of Russia’s Yekaterinburg. Commissioned in 2012, the construction was finished in 2021, making the tower the first building to be completed by the international architectural firm in Russia.

A collaboration with the local architectural firm P.M. VostokProekt, the 15-storey-building has a facade made of golden triangular shapes, inspired by the chemical structure of copper.

The tower houses offices for RMK, one of Russia’s biggest copper producers.

“The starting point for the office floors was to reinvent the headquarters as a ‘house for staff’ – instead of the conventional large, communal workspaces, the rooms are of a more intimate, domestic scale,” Foster+Partners say. Yet, while they may have dropped open plan offices, the construction maintains the air of a classic office building, with high ceilings, and glazed walls.

Set alongside a public park and river, the building has a private garden, a gym, sauna, meeting spaces, external rooms for lunch and relaxation, and an executive dining area.