Deus Particula,
Andrey Berger
Interiors: UNK Interiors,
Chief architect: Olga Anokhina,
Art curator: Arseniy Kryukov, Ars Nova,
Parametric design: ContextMachine studio,
Engineering and installation: Macrofabrica, SK Struktura,
Photography: Daniel Annenkov,
Location: Moscow City, Moscow
Two large-scale art panels are installed on the first floor of the new Moscow Towers skyscraper—within two side lobbies that will soon open to visitors. The project exists at the intersection of art and engineering, where architecture, reflection, and movement merge into a single system.
I was interested in how high-rise architecture inherits from Gothic tradition—the same aspiration upward, the connection between earth and sky through light. Medieval cathedrals were built around a beam that pierced the space from above, creating a vertical vector. In Moscow Towers, this principle is embodied in the building’s architectural logic: three towers are organized around a transparent central volume, compressed between two mirrored ones—symbolizing a beam of light.
The complex is based on a tripartite plan, reminiscent of a Gothic cathedral with three naves. This parallel became the starting point for the concept. I chose to “split” this central beam and trace how its energy fractures upon contact with the foundation and disperses across the first floor—particularly through the side lobbies where the panels are located. The artistic layer becomes a system that captures this movement, a visual record of how light and color propagate through the architectural body of the building.
The composition follows the rhythm of light in motion. Myriads of metaphorical particles form a flow resembling murmuration—a structure that emerges from the coordinated movement of many elements. These particles do not depict light itself, but rather its trace, its presence. On the surface of the panels, the viewer does not see the flow directly, but its imprint—the trajectories of particles frozen in a golden reflection of thousands of small elements.
The technical foundation of the project was developed in collaboration with architects and engineers. The panels are composed of thousands of mirrored plates, each with an individual tilt angle and tone. A parametric system of reflection control amplifies the hand-painted layer applied over the mirrored surfaces. Different types of polishing allow light to be directed differently across each section. In this way, technology becomes not just a tool, but a co-author of the artistic gesture.
A cloud of metallic panels transforms into a canvas, while the line—guided by the artist’s hand—acts as a mediator between technology and human presence. For me, this project is about how architecture can once again become a carrier of ideas, and about the embodied experience of space by the viewer.