F-1: Phenomenally first. The atomic project that changed the world

The exhibition of the Polytechnic Museum and the Kurchatov Institute was issued to coincide with the anniversary of the first nuclear reactor launch in the USSR. The exposition is located on the two floors of the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman Pavilion at VDNH. Thematically, the exhibition is divided into five sections arranged in chronological order. The first section tells about the origin of the Soviet atomic project and the scientific search around the potential of nuclear energy. At the entrance visitors occur in the hall that recreates the atmosphere of the 1920-s, prevailing among scientists who freely exchanged their experience and knowledge in the field of nuclear energy. The exposition of this hall imitates a living research environment: the plywood desks with scientific instruments and periodicals of that time, a graphite board with computational formulas; the portraits of scientists that took part in scientific research hanging on the wall.

The next section is the reverse side of the first one and is devoted to the period of the late 1920-s – early 1930-s, when scientific developments became secret and the espionage began to grow. The long darkened corridors create the visual effects of narrowing of the space, which generally enhances the feeling of tension and surveillance.

The spatial solution of the third part of the exposition refers to the field conditions in which scientists worked on the creation of the atomic bomb. Its architecture resembles a simple tent of Laboratory No. 2 in Shchukino – the plywood covered with white stain imitates a raised drapery.

The key section of the exhibition is the “Decisive Experiment”, which tells about the day when the F-1 nuclear reactor was first launched. Its central element is a full-scale model of the reactor, representing a dark massive block of graphite masonry in a lapidary shell of gray-blue walls of Soviet laboratories.

Architecture: Vera Odyn, Pavel Makarenkov, Nikita Morenov, Anna Novikova, Fyodor Polushkin, Gayane Vartanyan, Elizaveta Agafonova, Polina Aravina
Customer: Polytechnic Museum
Curators: Sergey Rykov, Olga Burasova
Status: Implementation
Location: Moscow, VDNH, pavilion “Worker and collective farmer”
Area: 530 m2
Year: 2021
Photos: Olga Alekseenko

        • The long darkened corridors create the interesting visual effects of narrowing of the space, which generally enhances the feeling of tension and surveillance

    • The spatial solution of the third part of the exposition refers to the field conditions in which scientists worked on the creation of an atomic bomb. Its architecture resembles a simple tent of Laboratory No. 2 in Shchukino – the plywood covered with white stain imitates a raised drapery

    • The key section of the exhibition is the “Decisive Experiment”, which tells about the day when the F-1 nuclear reactor was first launched. Its central element is a full-scale model of the reactor, representing a dark massive block of graphite masonry in a lapidary shell of gray-blue walls of Soviet laboratories