What The HSE Cultural Centre Will Look Like

In autumn 2019, a competition was announced to provide identity design for the Cultural Centre, which has opened after reconstruction at our Pokrovka site. During the last year, students have joined together with competition mentors to develop projects for the Centre’s re-design. As a result, eight teams presented their works to the jury, and after the jury has selected the three finalists, the whole university will be able to vote for the winner.

Before the reconstruction on Pokrovsky Boulevard, the Cultural Centre was one of the focal points of student life, and it’s now becoming that again. Students have developed their visions for the renewed Centre’s identity, and now, the jury will select the finalists.

‘We can see the huge intellectual, analytical and creative work that has been done by students as part of this project’

To prepare for the competition, the teams worked together with mentors, including industry leaders, and members of the Association of Russian Branding Companies. These mentors have collaborated with the students since the beginning, helping them to develop their strategy, look for branding ideas, and identify the target audience and its needs.

The students have been in permanent contact with their mentors via chats, video calls, and meetings at the mentors’ offices, which also helped them to become immersed in the creative process and working environment of their teachers. Now their work will be assessed by the competition jury, which includes Alina Pyazok, co-founder of Little Big Family, Denis Simachev, fashion designer, Alexander Kruglov, marketing director at VK, Pokras Lampas, calligraphy artist, and many others.

‘All the teams have demonstrated how deeply they are involved in the topic, and undoubtedly the Cultural Centre is a centre of attraction, networking, development and creativity. Everyone agreed that the centre should be an open, multi-functional and multidisciplinary space that brings together diverse people’, said Igor Mospanov, jury member and creative director of Mildberry, an international branding agency.

Many jury members remarked upon the huge analytical and creative work carried out by the students, as well as their effort and quality of concepts:

‘When I agreed to be on the jury, I thought that it would be fairly straightforward and wouldn’t take too much time, but I was wrong. Having looked at all the eight projects, I can definitely say that each of them is worth continuing with’, said Petr Abroskin, director of marketing operations at Yandex.

Excerpts from concepts suggested by the teams:

All concepts and comments by jury members are available on the competition website. After the jury has selected the three finalists, the organizers will publish information on all-university vote for the project that will become the new concept for the Cultural Centre renewal.

June 17, 2020