Share this on

Designs Unveiled for Moscow's "Wedding Palace"

The tower is part of a major ongoing development project three miles from the Kremlin.

Mairi Beautyman -- Interior Design, 1/31/2008 12:00:00 AM

A twisting 46-story tower based on French sculptor Auguste Rodin's The Kiss is slated to make its mark on the Moscow skyline. Designed for the Russian capital by RMJM Hillier in collaboration with artist Karen Forbes, the head of the School of Drawing and Painting at Edinburgh College of Art, the City Palace Tower is billed as the first building to be co-designed by an architect and artist from conception.

The tower will house office, retail, and civic space, a museum, and two luxurious civil wedding venues. On the top floor, a ballroom will dish out sweeping views of Red Square to wedding parties of up to 200 guests. The project is part of an ongoing development plan encompassing a central business district on a former industrial zone, three miles from the Kremlin. It is expected to be completed in Summer 2011.

"Our proposal for this building is deeply rooted in its place and is both a contextual response to the City of Moscow and an emotional response to the brief which included some unusual but important public functions," says Tony Kettle.

A limited edition 80-page book covering the design, "City Palace, Moscow," is available through the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Images courtesy of RMJM Hillier