ACVAPROJECT

Anatoly Kolotovkin designed the sixteen-storey tower block facing Moscow Boulevard during his time as director of the Moldgiprostroy Institute from 1977, working with Tatiana Lamova, who had previously collaborated with S. Vasilyev and S. Shoikhet on public buildings across the city. Lamova also worked with Kolotovkin on the Ministry of Construction and Industrial Materials building and on the planned town of Alomva along the Baikal-Amur Railway in the Russian Federation. The tower consists of two interlacing rectangular volumes staggered in height, with a third lower volume following the corner of the street intersection below. The entire structure sits on a two-floor base, the upper level of which is wrapped in a succession of semi-cylindrical elements with windows in unusual geometric configurations. The load-bearing structure is monolithic slip-formed concrete. Broad facade windows with rhomboidal side casings alternate with a wavy cast concrete pattern across the tower surfaces, and a utilities level with vent-like openings caps the building. The taller tower carries radio antennae on its roof. The semi-cylindrical base elements and the undulating concrete surface give the building an aquatic character, with sources of formal inspiration that suggest a submarine or an underwater colony. The complex adjoins a 1960s structure facing Alecu Russo Street that previously housed the institute's older operations. Following the social changes of the 1990s, the tower was converted to commercial use and now operates as Casa de Comert SOIUZ. It previously housed a cinema that operated during the era when VHS piracy dominated informal film distribution in the city.Sonnet 4.6