Julius Borisov: UNK Project: western principles in Russian architecture.

"UNK Project" Bureau that celebrated its 15th birthday last year is the rare example of a Russian company that was organized and that operates according to the western model - operates successfully. Which fundamentals were borrowed by the Russian architects from their western colleagues and how the Russian architects were able to implement these fundamentals into the domestic practice - about this we are talking with one of the founders of the company, architect Julius Borisov.

Interviewed by:
Anna Martovitskaya
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

09 April 2013

Interview

Archi.ru: Julius, your company was founded by three architects - you, Nikolai Milovidov, and Julia Tryaskina. When I read your CV's the first thing that caught my eye was the fact that you all have an experience of working in foreign companies, and in all the three cases this is basically how you started your careers. Do I get it right that this experience was crucial for you in the creation of a company of your own, that you deliberately used the western model of organizing your architectural business?

Julius Borisov: Yes, we did spend some of our formative years in the West. Nikolai Milovidov used to work in a Swiss company named "Fela Plannings AG", Julia Tryaskina - in the American company NOK Architecture, and I myself graduated from Bauhaus, Dessau, and started my career in Berlin's Smidt&Partners. While we were learning the basics of our profession over there, here, in Moscow, the so-called "Luzhkov" style was still blossoming which resulted in the wild surge of real estate prices, the main criterion of the building quality being the very opportunity to get all the necessary approvals to build your square footage. Regretfully - or perhaps luckily - we were completely spared this experience. Quite the contrary - one of the most fundamental things we leaned when working in western companies was that the quality of your building can only be measured by a sum total of its architectural, functional, and operational values. And we decided that here we would work in exactly the same way. And, while all around us there was the square-footage binge going on, what we did was work on smaller projects where we could implement our principles. These were private little houses, flats, office interiors, and retail spots. Now that the quality architecture is gradually getting back into demand, we are starting to take on the objects of a greater scale.

UNK Project HQ

Private house in the settlement of Zhukovka XXI

Archi.ru: What do you mean by "quality architecture"?

Julius Borisov: Quality architecture is architecture that you are ultimately not ashamed of at the end of the day. The kind that does not make you feel resentful, the kind that does not make you want to immediately change something or at least make a correction. Quality - it is when people use the building day by day and stop noticing that it is even there. From the point of view of the end consumer, quality of architecture is simply getting his money's worth.

Archi.ru: In other words, the functionality of the designed project prevails over its form for you?

Julius Borisov: You cannot judge by this or that property alone. In the best of the worlds, I think, the building should be built in such a way that, in spite of the contemporary image and up-to-date construction materials, it would look as if it had always stood there. A different issue is that functionality is always opposed to the beauty of forms, and if we speak about this dichotomy, then, yes, functionality is definitely something that we put on top of everything else. The question of form and style is really secondary; everything starts off from the specifications and the givens, and everything is created with them in mind and for them. We are deeply convinced that in any style you can do a great job and a really poor job. There are plenty of examples of mediocre classics out there, just as there are of the mediocre hi-tech. This is exactly why "UNK Project" does not have a specific recognizable style; it is far more important for us to stick to our initial principles of logic, rationality, and integrity of our projects.

Private house in the settlement of Zhukovka XXI

Archi.ru: UNK Project won several industry awards for the projects of office interiors, retail objects, and housing projects over the last year alone. Does that mean that your company avoids not only stylistic preferences but also preferences of some specific typology?

Julius Borisov: Our main specialty is human being. In all of its various aspects: homo sapience, homo resting, homo working, homo living. We had an experience of building an industrial object - we built a plant of a very sophisticated structure but that was a single case. Generally, we work with humans and for humans, designing housing projects, offices, shopping malls, showrooms, and whole settlements. Lucky for us, the modern humans prefer multifunctional space, so specializing in only one particular technology is simply unnecessary.

Archi.ru: Among the three of you, the leading architects of the bureau, are there any typology preferences?

Julius Borisov: Julia, as often is the case, is responsible for the sectors of beauty and retail, Nikolai is a great expert in offices, and I am more keen on the 3D design. This does not mean, though, that each of us works strictly in one genre: our favorite method is synergy, and we always share our experience with one another. This is why we do not have any steady teams of architects - for each project, we form a dedicated author collective. One thing remains the same though: we work each of our projects down to the last detail - such keen attention to detail has become our habit and at the same time our credo particularly because for a long time we mostly worked with smaller projects. Each member of our team has acquired a wealth of knowledge - figuratively speaking, somebody is a virtuoso designer of door handles, somebody - of stained glass, and now this knowledge helps us work out large scale projects in as much detail as possible, giving them individuality.

Archi.ru: Do you still work with small projects? They must only be interesting to you as a testing ground of sorts for experimenting with your new creative ideas?

Julius Borisov: Frankly speaking, I do not like the term "testing ground". We don't make tests on our clients. When we examine a new offer, we make all sorts of evaluations, including evaluating it in terms of our self expression but the square footage never was the reason why we agreed to do this or that particular project or turned it down. Yes, we can take on a project with zero profit if we see interesting possibilities in it. But regardless of whether we design a big project or a small one, we inevitably keep up our commitment to excellence.

Private house in the settlement of "Zapadnaya Dolina" ("Western Valley")

Archi.ru: Recently, you started, on a long-term basis, working with the British architectural company Scott Brownrigg. What does this partnership give you?

Julius Borisov: At some stage we realized that we were lacking the knowledge of new building materials and modern technologies, the advanced experience, if you will. So we made an agreement about the joint work with our British partners. This partnership is a classic example of a "win-win" deal - we learn to apply new technologies and techniques, while our English colleagues now have the opportunity to work with greater confidence in Russia and the CIS.

Archi.ru: Do I get it correct that now you invite your British partners to work on almost all of your projects, and not only when it is necessary, say, according to contest specifications, to come as an international team?

Julius Borisov: Definitely. We invite our British colleagues every time that we have a reason to think that their participation in the project will bring about better results. Our clients readily agree with us - the joint Russian/British project may come out a bit more expensive but the end result, considering the terms, timing, construction expenses, and so on, brings a far better return on investment. The excellently designed project gives you the opportunity to save the operation costs later on - luckily, our clients either know this from their own experience or are capable of listening to our reasons.

UNK Project HQ

Archi.ru: Generally, do you often take part in bids and tenders?

Julius Borisov: We like closed tenders with clear and unambiguous rules of the game and a guarantee of the seriousness of the client's intentions. There are also such contests out there, participating in which and winning which is our point of honor. For example, last year's open contest for the "Technopark" housing project in Skolkovo. We feel so confident in the field of low-rise construction, we are such experts in it that we did not even need to be backed up by our western partners. Winning that contest was for us a matter of principle. Which we did. Now the project is starting to get implemented.

UNK Project HQ

Archi.ru: What is the number of your employees?

Julius Borisov: Over 50.

Archi.ru: I deliberately asked for numbers because a few years ago Julia in one of her interviews said that having an architectural company with a staff of over 25 people is not really a nice idea because things start to operate in an assembly line fashion...

Julius Borisov: We get more clients - we take in more people. Late last year we even moved to a bigger office in order to accommodate our growing staff. Our key values are still the same, though: we only invite to work at UNK Project those people that are capable of coming up with an original idea and an original concept. We are not running a Soviet-style "project institute", we have an architectural office that is all about mobility and creativity.

Archi.ru: As architects, how comfortable are you working in the contemporary Moscow?

Julius Borisov: Well, you know, this is such an ambiguous question... The poorer the quality of the city environment, the more work there is for the architects - and in this sense, today's Moscow is very comfortable. On the other hand, it is now that things are taking a turn for the better, the chase of square meters is already history, and both the developers and the city authorities are interested in the city getting quality and comfortable architecture. At least on the level of lip service the architectural authorities are trying to make it easier for the designers, simplify the approval proceduresand so on. So, generally we do not grudge working here and now.

Archi.ru: Your portfolio includes a large number of projects developed for various regions of the Russian Federation...

Julius Borisov: Yes, we designed for Saint Petersburg, Voronezh, Krasnoyarsk, and a number of other cities. Now there has formed a certain trend: Moscow clients look for western or "pro-western" architects, and the regional clients - for Moscow ones. Lucky for us, we feel confident in either of the two sectors.

Archi.ru: Do you think it necessary to educate your clients, develop their taste and thus help the quality architecture to come into being?

Julius Borisov: This sure sounds like an honorable mission, of course, but in real life it turns out that educating your clients is often hard and not really rewarding... We are not an educational center, after all. And we are not interested in clients that are only after their square footage. They do not need us either. Basically, we work with commercial organizations that are ready to invest in the long-term quality results. And, interacting with them, we stand up for the solutions that we think are right and sensible.

Archi.ru: How topical for you is the issue of the construction quality? It is common opinion that in this country it ruins 90 percent of competent and sensible solutions...

Julius Borisov: As architects that work in Russia, we, of course, are confronted with this issue now and then. Still, the way I see it, very often the term "poor construction" is used to cover up the poorly developed projects. Because we execute our projects on a highly professional level, prepare the construction specification ourselves, and, not lastly to our British partners, offer are clients the best possible building materials, this guarantees the construction quality that is nothing but the best. Although, yes - and here I will be totally honest with you - now and then you have to spend colossal amounts of energy to convince your client to make a choice in favor of the quality materials. But we know that it is all worth it.

Contest project for Skolkovo

09 April 2013

Headlines now

Faraday Grid

The project of the Omsk airport by ASADOV Architects is another concept among the 14 finalists of a recent competition. It is called “The Bridge” and is inspired by both the West Siberian Exhibition of 1911 and the Trans-Siberian Railway bridge over the Irtysh River, built in 1896. On one hand, it carries a steampunk vibe, while on the other, there’s almost a sense of nostalgia for the heyday of 1913. However, the concept offers two variants, the second one devoid of nostalgia but featuring a parabola.

Review

Midway upon the Journey of Our Life

Recently, Tatlin Publishing House released a book entitled “Architect Sergey Oreshkin. Selected Projects”. This book is not just a traditional book of the architectural company’s achievements, but rather a monograph of a more personal nature. The book includes 43 buildings as well as a section with architectural drawings. In this article, we reflect on the book as a way to take stock of an architect’s accomplishments.

Inverted Fortress

This year, there has been no shortage of intriguing architectural ideas around the Omsk airport. The project developed by the architectural company KPLN appeals to Omsk’s history as a wooden fortress that it was back in the day, but transforms the concept of a fortress beyond recognition: it “shaves off” the conical ends of “wooden logs”, then enlarges them, and then flips them over. The result is a hypostyle – a forest of conical columns on point supports, with skylights on top.

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Transformation of Annenkirche

For Annenkirche (St. Anna Lutheran Church in St. Petersburg), Sergey Kuznetsov and the Kamen bureau have prepared a project that relies on the principles of the Venice Charter: the building is not restored to a specific date, historical layers are preserved, and modern elements do not mimic the authentic ones. Let’s delve into the details of these solutions.

The Paradox of the Temporary

The concept of the Russian pavilion for EXPO 2025 in Osaka, proposed by the Wowhaus architects, is the last of the six projects we gathered from the 2022 competition. It is again worth noting that the results of this competition were not finalized due to the cancellation of Russia’s participation in World Expo 2025. It should be mentioned that Wowhaus created three versions for this competition, but only one is being presented, and it can’t be said that this version is thoroughly developed – rather, it is done in the spirit of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, the project is interesting in its paradoxical nature: the architects emphasized the temporary character of the pavilion, and in its bubble-like forms sought to reflect the paradoxes of space and time.

The Forum of Time

The competition project for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025 in Osaka designed by Aleksey Orlov and Arena Project Institute consists of cones and conical funnels connected into a non-trivial composition, where one can feel the hand of architects who have worked extensively with stadiums and other sports facilities. It’s very interesting to delve into its logic, structurally built on the theme of clocks, hourglasses and even sundials. Additionally, the architects have turned the exhibition pavilion into a series of interconnected amphitheaters, which is also highly relevant for world exhibitions. We are reminding you that the competition results were never announced.

Mirrors Everywhere

The project by Sergey Nebotov, Anastasia Gritskova, and the architectural company “Novoe” was created for the Russian pavilion at EXPO 2025, but within the framework of another competition, which, as we learned, took place even earlier, in 2021. At that time, the competition theme was “digital twins”, and there was minimal time for work, so the project, according to the architect himself, was more of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, this project is interesting for its plan bordering on similarity with Baroque projects and the emblem of the exhibition, as well as its diverse and comprehensive reflectiveness.

Report

The Steppe Is Full of Beauty and Freedom

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The Snowstorm Fish

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The Mirror of Your Soul

We continue to publish projects from the competition for the design of the Russian Pavilion at EXPO in Osaka 2025. We are reminding you that the results of the competition have not been announced, and hardly will ever be. The pavilion designed by ASADOV Architects combines a forest log cabin, the image of a hyper transition, and sculptures made of glowing threads – it focuses primarily on the scenography of the exhibition, which the pavilion builds sequentially like a string of impressions, dedicating it to the paradoxes of the Russian soul.

Part of the Ideal

In 2025, another World Expo will take place in Osaka, Japan, in which Russia will not participate. However, a competition for the Russian pavilion was indeed held, with six projects participating. The results were never announced as Russia’s participation was canceled; the competition has no winners. Nevertheless, Expo pavilion projects are typically designed for a bold and interesting architectural statement, so we’ve gathered all the six projects and will be publishing articles about them in random order. The first one is the project by Vladimir Plotkin and Reserve Union, which is distinguished by the clarity of its stereometric shape, the boldness of its structure, and the multiplicity of possible interpretations.

Object

The Fortress by the River

ASADOV Architects have developed a concept for a new residential district in the center of Kemerovo. To combat the harsh climate and monotonous everyday life, the architects proposed a block type of development with dominant towers, good insolation, facades detailed at eye level, and event programming.

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In the Rhombus Grid

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Object

Generational Connection

Another modern estate, designed by Roman Leonidov, is located in the Moscow region and brings together three generations of one family under one roof. To fit on a narrow plot without depriving anyone of personal space, the architects opted for a zigzag plan. The main volume in the house structure is accentuated by mezzanines with a reverse-sloped roof and ceilings featuring exposed beams.

Object

Three Dimensions of the City

We began to delve into the project by Sergey Skuratov, the residential complex “Depo” in Minsk, located at Victory Square, and it fascinated us completely. The project has at least several dimensions to it: historical – at some point, the developer decided to discontinue further collaboration with Sergey Skuratov Architects, but the concept was approved, and its implementation continues, mostly in accordance with the proposed ideas. The spatial and urban planning dimension – the architects both argue with the city and play along with it, deciphering nuances, and finding axes. And, finally, the tactile dimension – the constructed buildings also have their own intriguing features. Thus, this article also has two parts: it dwells on what has been built and what was conceived

Object

New “Flight”

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The Yauza Towers

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News

Arch, Pearl, Wing, Wind

In the social media of the governor of the Omsk region, voting was conducted for the best project for the city’s new airport. We asked the finalists to send over their projects and are now showcasing them. The projects are quite interesting: the client requested that the building be visually permeable throughout, and the images that the architects are working with include arches, wings, gusts of wind, and even the “Pearl” painting by Vrubel, who was actually born in Omsk.

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Architecture and Leisure Park

For the suburban hotel complex, which envisages various formats of leisure, the architectural company T+T Architects proposed several types of accommodation, ranging from the classic “standard” in a common building to a “cave in the hill” and a “house in a tree”. An additional challenge consisted in integrating a few classic-style residences already existing on this territory into the “architectural forest park”.

Overview

The U-House

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Object

Black and White

In this article, we specifically discuss the interiors of the ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh. Interior design is a crucial component of the overall concept in this case, and precision and meticulous execution were highly important for the architects. Julia Tryaskina, head of UNK interiors, shares some of the developments.

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The “Snake” Mountain

The competition project for the seaside resort complex “Serpentine” combines several typologies: apartments of different classes, villas, and hotel rooms. For each of these typologies, the KPLN architects employ one of the images that are drawn from the natural environment – a serpentine road, a mountain stream, and rolling waves.

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Opal from Anna Mons’ Ring

The project of a small business center located near Tupolev Plaza and Radio Street proclaims the necessity of modern architecture in a specific area of Moscow commonly known as “Nemetskaya Sloboda” or “German settlement”. It substantiates its thesis with the thoroughness of details, a multitude of proposed and rejected form variants, and even a detailed description of the surrounding area. The project is interesting indeed, and it is even more interesting to see what will come of it.

Object

Feed ’Em All

A “House of Russian Cuisine” was designed and built by KROST Group at VDNKh for the “Rossiya” exhibition in record-breaking time. The pavilion is masterfully constructed in terms of the standards of modern public catering industry multiplied by the bustling cultural program of the exhibition, and it interprets the stylistically diverse character of VDNKh just as successfully. At the same time, much of its interior design can be traced back to the prototypes of the 1960s – so much so that even scenes from iconic Soviet movies of those years persistently come to mind.

Object

The Ensemble at the Mosque

OSA prepared a master plan for a district in the southern part of Derbent. The main task of the master plan is to initiate the formation of a modern comfortable environment in this city. The organization of residential areas is subordinated to the city’s spiritual center: depending on the location relative to the cathedral mosque, the houses are distinguished by façade and plastique solutions. The program also includes a “hospitality center”, administrative buildings, an educational cluster, and even an air bridge.

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Pargolovo Protestantism

A Protestant church is being built in St. Petersburg by the project of SLOI architects. One of the main features of the building is a wooden roof with 25-meter spans, which, among other things, forms the interior of the prayer hall. Also, there are other interesting details – we are telling you more about them.

Object

The Shape of the Inconceivable

The ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh brings to mind a famous maxim of all architects and critics: “You’ve come up with it? Now build it!” You rarely see such a selfless immersion in implementation of the project, and the formidable structural and engineering tasks set by UNK architects to themselves are presented here as an integral and important part of the architectural idea. The challenge matches the obliging status of the place – after all, it is an “exhibition of achievements”, and the pavilion is dedicated to the nuclear energy industry. Let’s take a closer look: from the outside, from the inside, and from the underside too.

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Rays of the Desert

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Object

The Dairy Theme

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The Road to the Temple

Under a grant from the Small Towns Competition, the main street and temple area of the village of Nikolo-Berezovka near Neftekamsk has been improved. A consortium of APRELarchitects and Novaya Zemlya is turning the village into an open-air museum and integrating ruined buildings into public life.