Hexagon (Concept), Moscow, Russia

As of February 24, 2022, we are forced to let the cooperation rest.

The Hexagon (Eng: hexagon, Russian: Shestigrannik) was designed for the First All-Russian Agricultural and Crafts Exhibition in Gorky Park in 1923 by architects Ivan Zholtovsky, Viktor Kokorin and Mikhail Parusnikov. The buildings were planned as open, unheated and uninsulated exhibition halls. After a complex foundation was laid in the marshy terrain, the 6 pavilions were erected within 1.5 months. The exhibition opened in August 1923 and closed only three months later in October. This was followed by changing uses and repeated reconstructions, in particular facades were bricked up. As one of the first Soviet reinforced concrete structures, the Hexagon is a listed building. After the end of the Soviet Union, the buildings were looted. Since a devastating fire, in which not only the wooden roofs were lost, only the skeleton of the reinforced concrete structure remained. The site has been closed to the public ever since.
The aim of the renovation is to transform the former open exhibition buildings (in some cases there were no walls and no window glass) into a fully air-conditioned art museum that meets today's international requirements. At the same time, the transparency and filigree of the original design should be maintained.

In the initial planning stages leading up to the building application, Transsolar sized and fitted heating, cooling and ventilation components in consultation with SANAA Architects. The main challenges were the consequences of the radical change of use from an air-open unheated hall without walls to an enclosed, fully air-conditioned art museum, without changing the original dimensions. Thus, the technical systems had to respect the existing building structure and monument protection regulations, but heating, cooling and ventilation has to be state of the art.
Transsolar developed a climate and comfort concept and also undertook the dimensioning of the essential technical components. For this purpose, systems were designed and functionally tested using thermal simulation and room air flow simulation (CFD). Ventilation ducts were designed in 3-D models in coordination with the architects and structural engineers. Heating and cooling is primarily provided by temperature-controlled floor and ceiling surfaces, with air systems covering peak loads.

The building will be connected to Moscow district heating. Cooling is provided on the one hand by a thermally activated excavation stabilization system, which taps the 7°C / 44.6°F cold groundwater, and on the other hand from electrically driven chillers whose recooling units are positioned in the basement. The installation of a heat pump to utilize waste heat from the 100,000 m³ basement and the groundwater via the activated excavation piles was rejected for reasons of economy. However, a subsequent installation is possible.
The architects rejected the idea of covering the very suitable roof surfaces with photovoltaics.