Archival photographs are one of the most reliable ways to study history. The St. Petersburg Slide Archive Cluster will be a place where students will have the opportunity to work directly with primary sources for their research, and photographers passionate about vintage photography techniques will find a place where they can gather, and like Yakov Chernikhov, the architect of the building, create slides that capture the present.
The defining feature is the network of ventilation systems that fill the space. Rather than fighting them, the decision was made to amplify their presence and weave them into the interior narrative. The stylistic language draws on the visual language of slide transparencies, as these share more in common with metallic structures than one might initially perceive…
