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​Embroidery on Context

What is the Moscow Monorail metro line – a means of transportation or just an amusement ride? Keeping it in working order is detrimental to the city budget, and generally it is like a suitcase without a handle. The Wowhaus interns worked on the project of turning the Monorail into a “Monogarden”, a giant (5 square kilometers) urban tourist attraction that picks up on both local and city scenarios in terms of function and imagery as well.

23 July 2018
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The history of the reorganization project of the Monorail began when information was published that the city had plans for tearing it down altogether. Instead of tearing down the Monorail bearing structure, the Wowhaus architects propose to turn it into a recreational area – a combination of a park and a sports field.

According to the architects’ vision, the theme of the park was to be sports – the structure of the park is formed around its jogging and bicycle tracks, and the architects have named their rather peculiar kind of park “the path of health”. But – sports are an obvious matter; there are plenty of various sports facilities around of every conceivable kind nowadays. What makes this project different is the architects’ careful “reading” of the territory and its context, and their stringing various scenarios and functions on the ill-starred metro line. What the architects did was make sure that a walk or a bicycle ride a little over 5 kilometers long should be full of various interesting impressions – yet at the same time they made sure that the new unconventional park should attract those who lives or works nearby.

The town-planning context. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


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Functional zoning. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


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The event program. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


The architects thought out every detail of the process of reforming all the five kilometers of the overland metro line from the construction and engineering standpoint. Here is the thing: at some places, the monorail tracks run side by side, and at some places they run a few meters apart – what the architects did was connect them with platforms on the inside, adding extra cantilevered platforms on the outside as well, thus dramatically increasing the overall area of the top part. As for the stations – rather large units with broad passenger platforms – the architects also revised them functionally, trying to make the most of their heated and covered premises.

The Monorail starts off at the Timiryazevskaya metro station, where the academic buildings and dormitories of the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy are situated, and this is why at this place the project provides for a greenhouse which is inscribed into the turnaround of the metro line and serves as the starting point of the park.

Functional zoning and potential users. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


Section views. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


Section views. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


The “sleeping belt” residential areas situated between the Timiryazevskaya and Ulitsa Milashenkova stations are treated by the architects as the zone of popularization of sports, designed not so much for professional athletes as for sports enthusiasts of all age brackets, from children to senior citizens: here the architects are placing interactive playgrounds, recreation areas, and, again, a public greenhouse.

The next part of the flyover metro line runs over a railroad track, and, according to one of the versions, the Transportation Department is planning to keep the tram running here. Should this become the case, the architects provided a ramp for the cars to make it over the railroad tracks by way of the fragment of the reformed flyover. This part of the Monorail is in fact a “transient zone” – here the jogging and bicycle trails run parallel to the railway, fenced off from the tram traffic by green espaliers.

Section views. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


The greenhouse. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


The zone of popularizing sports that crosses the sleeping belt between the Timiryazevskaya and Ulitsa Milashenkova metro stations. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


The middle of the Monorail is the Teletsentr (“TV Center”) metro station. The employees of the TV center need recreational areas situated within a walking distance of their workplaces, these recreation areas including walking places, cafes, restaurants, shops, and, possibly, fitness centers – the casual zone that is devised by the architects here includes all these infrastructure projects. Further on, it bleeds into the zone called “Daydream Garden” – a park territory planted with fruit and berry-bearing trees. This place commands a fine view of the Ostankinskaya Church and the Ostashkovskoe Estate, the pond, and the famous Moscow TV-tower, for which the architects have designed sightseeing platforms. In addition to the trees, blossoming in spring and bearing fruit in summer, the garden includes an open-air panoramic swimming pool having no analogues in Moscow – the swimmers will actually be able to get to the edge and look at the Ostankinskiy Pond from up above.

The garden is continued by a family recreation zone. The “Ulitsa Akademika Koroleva” station – a rather large building with a rectangular plan – is turned by the authors into a sports kindergarten, which becomes the nucleus of this zone. Next to it, there is a recreation center and a parents’ waiting lounge, with cafés and restaurants, including those situated on the roof; these are meant to ensure the inflow of visitors in the evening. Further on, the theme of a sports center is picked up by a two-level playground with a roof that protects it from the rain.

The transient zone. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


The zone of the Ostankino Pond. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


Above the Ostankino Pond. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


The attention of those going for a stroll around the All-Russia exhibition center will be attracted by the lush vegetation in the experimental greenhouse – the architects are turning the former Vystavochny Tsentr station into it. The plants “spill over” and entwine around the structures of the Monorail like a jungle – as if the nature had broken loose from the anthropogenic control and seized the flyover altogether. The narrative is augmented by lighting installations – currently, the project presents them as rainbow arches.

Next comes the zone of professional sports: venues for power lifting, workout, extreme sports, gyms, and a first medical aid point. The sports area then gives way to the cultural one – the final part of the park. 

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The Daydreaming Garden. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


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The Daydreaming Garden. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


"Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


According to the project, the building of the former depot of the Monorail, behind the Ulitsa Sergeya Eisensteina, close to the the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography, hosts experimental theater venues with turntable stages. The building will also include a museum of graffiti and street art, combining it with a museum of transport that has lost its home. The idea to use the exhibits of the museum as a canvas will help to combine the art and the transport expositions. 

It is worth mentioning that the idea of turning an outdated monorail into a hanging garden is not exactly groundbreaking – after the Zaryadye Park was opened you will hardly find a Muscovite who has not heard about New York’s Highline park, and that’s the first thing that comes to mind. The similarity to the famous DS+R park on rails is also apparent – meanwhile, the authors of the project neither deny nor highlight it, reminding us that the first “hanging garden” in history built on an old railway was the Parisian park La Coulée verte, that was made in 1988-1993. On the other hand, as the authors of the project admit, they were more inspired by the example of the Seoul park Skygarden, which was built by MVRDV in 2015-2017.

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The family recreation zone. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


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The family recreation zone. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


The family recreation zone. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


This project is essentially an urbanist research work that combines the upbeat spirit of sports with passeism, the inevitable companion of urban meditation. Combining these things, not quite related to each other – the young and the old, the joyful and the pensive, the pragmatic and the melancholy, which invites the observer to read the many meanings, and at the same time is not at odds with the direct pragmatic use has recently become one of the trademark techniques of this architectural firm. 

The Monogarden was first presented at Arch Moscow in May of 2018; recently it also got shortlisted for the WAF prize.

The zone next to the All-Russia Exhibition center. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


The experimental greenhouse. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


The zone next to the All-Russia Exhibition center. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


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Professional sports zone. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


The of the All-Russia Exhibition center that completes the turnaround with a theater stage. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


The of the All-Russia Exhibition center that completes the turnaround with a theater stage. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


The zone of the All-Russia Exhibition center that completes the turnaround with a theater stage. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


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The depot floor plan. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


The zone of the All-Russia Exhibition center that completes the turnaround with a theater stage. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS
The zone of the All-Russia Exhibition center. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS
Presentation of the "Monosad" project at Arch Moscow 2018 © WOWHAUS
Presentation of the "Monosad" project at Arch Moscow 2018 © WOWHAUS
The swimming pool. "Monosad" project © WOWHAUS


23 July 2018

Headlines now
Layers and Levels of Flight
This project goes way back – Reserve Union won this architectural competition at the end of 2011, and the building was completed in 2018, so it’s practically “archival”. However, despite being relatively unknown, the building can hardly be considered “dated” and remains a prime example of architectural expression, particularly in the headquarters genre. And it’s especially fitting for an aviation company office. In some ways, it resembles the Aeroflot headquarters at Sheremetyevo but with its own unique identity, following the signature style of Vladimir Plotkin. In this article, we take an in-depth look at the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) headquarters in the Moscow agglomeration town of Zhukovsky, supplemented by recent photographs from Alexey Naroditsky – a shoot that became only recently possible due to the fact that improvements were finally made in the surrounding area.
Light and Shadow
In this article, we delve into the architectural design of the “Chaika” house by DNK ag architects, which was recently completed in 2023 as part of the collection of signature designs at ZILArt. As is well-known, all the buildings in this complex follow a design code, yet each one is distinct. This particular building stands out not only for its whiteness and minimalism but also for the refined use of a limited number of techniques that, together, create what can confidently be called synergy.
Casus Novae
A master plan was developed for a large residential area with a name of “DNS City”, but now that its implementation began, the plan has been arbitrarily reformatted and replaced with something that, while similar on the surface, is actually quite different. This is not the first time such a thing happens, but it’s always frustrating. With permission from the author, we are sharing Maria Elkina’s post.
Treasure Hunting
The GAFA bureau, in collaboration with Tegola and Arkhitail, organized an expedition to the island of Kilpola in Karelia as part of Moskomarkhitektura’s “Open City” festival. There, amidst moss and rocks, the students sought answers to questions like: what is the sacred, where does it dwell, and what sustains it? Assisting the participants in this quest were landscape engineer Evgeny Levin, artist Nicholas Roerich, a moose, and the lack of cellular connection. Here’s how the story unfolded.
Depths of the Earth, Streams of Water
In the Malaya Okhta district, the Akzent building, designed by Stepan Liphart, was constructed. It follows a classic tripartite structure, yet it’s what you might call “hand-drawn”: each façade is unique in its form and details, some of which aren’t immediately noticeable. In this article, we explore the context and, together with the architect, delve into how the form was developed.
Fir Tree Dynamics
The “Airports of Region” holding is planning to build an airport in Karachay-Cherkessia, aiming to make the Arkhyz and Dombay resorts more accessible to travelers. The project that won in an invitation-only competition, submitted by Sergey Nikeshkin’s KPLN, blends natural imagery inspired by the shape of a conifer seed, open-air waiting spaces, majestic large trees, and a green roof elevated on needle-like columns. The result is both nature-inspired and WOW.
​A Brick Shell
In the process of designing a clubhouse situated among pine trees in a prestigious suburban area near Moscow, the architectural firm “A.Len” did the façade design part. The combination of different types of brick and masonry correlates with the volumetric and plastique solutions, further enhanced by the inclusion of wood-painted fragments and metal “glazing”.
Word Forms
ATRIUM architects love ambitious challenges, and for the firm’s thirtieth anniversary, they boldly play a game of words with an exhibition that dives deep into a self-created vocabulary. They immerse their projects – especially art installations – into this glossary, as if plunging into a current of their own. You feel as if you’re flowing through the veins of pure art, immersed in a universe of vertical cities, educational spaces – of which the architects are true masters – and the cultural codes of various locations. But what truly captivates is the bold statement that Vera Butko and Anton Nadtochy make, both through their work and this exhibition: architecture, above all, is art – the art of working with form and space.
Flexibility and Acuteness of Modernity
Luxurious, fluid, large “kokoshniks” and spiral barrel columns, as if made from colorful chewing gum: there seem to be no other mansion like this in Moscow, designed in the “Neo-Russian-Modern” style. And the “Teremok” on Malaya Kaluzhskaya, previously somewhat obscure, has “come alive with new colors” and gained visibility after its restoration for the office of the “architectural ecosystem” as the architects love to call themselves. It’s evident that Julius Borisov and the architects at UNK put their hearts into finding this new office and bringing it up to date. Let’s delve into the paradoxes of this mansion’s history and its plasticity. Spoiler: two versions of modernity meet here, both balancing on the razor’s edge of “what’s current”.
Yuri Vissarionov: “A modular house does not belong to the land”
It belongs to space, or to the air... It turns out that 3D printing is more effective when combined with a modular approach: the house is built in a workshop and then adapted to the site, including on uneven terrain. Yuri Vissarionov shares his latest experience in designing tourist complexes, both in central Russia and in the south. These include houseboats, homes printed from lightweight concrete using a 3D printer, and, of course, frame houses.
​Moscow’s First
“The quality of education largely depends on the quality of the educational environment”. This principle of the last decade has been realized by Sergey Skuratov in the project for the First Moscow Gymnasium on Rostovskaya Embankment in the Khamovniki district. The building seamlessly integrates into the complex urban landscape, responding both to the pedestrian flow of the city and the quiet alleyways. It skillfully takes advantage of the height differences and aligns with modern trends in educational space design. Let’s take a closer look.
Looking at the Water
The site of Villa Sonata stretches from the road to the water’s edge, offering its own shoreline, pier, and a picturesque river panorama. To reveal these sweeping views, Roman Leonidov “cut” the façade diagonally parallel to the river, thus getting two main axes for the house and, consequently, “two heads”. The internal core – two double-height spaces, a living room and a conservatory, with a “bridge” above them – makes the house both “transparent” and filled with light.
The White Wing
Well, it’s not exactly white. It’s more of a beige, white-stone structure that plays with the color of limestone – smoother surfaces are lighter, while rougher ones are darker. This wing unites various elements: it absorbs and interprets the surrounding themes. It responds to everything, yet maintains a cohesive expression – a challenging task! – while also incorporating recognizable features of its own, such as the dynamic cuts at the bottom, top, and middle.
Urban Dunes
The XSA Ramps team designed and built a three-part sports hub for a park in Rostov-on-Don, welcoming people of all ages and fitness levels. The skate plaza, pump track, and playground are all meticulously crafted with details that attract a diverse range of visitors. The technical execution of the shapes and slopes transforms this space into a kind of sculptural composition.
Proportional Growth
The project for the fourth phase of the ÁLIA residential area has been announced. The buildings are situated on an elongated plot – almost a “ray” that shoots out from the center of the area towards the river. Their layout reflects both a response to Moscow’s architectural preferences over the past 15 years, shifting “from blocks to towers”, and an interpretation of the neighboring business park designed by SOM. Additionally, the best apartments here are not located at the very top but closer to the middle, forming a glowing “waistline”.
The “Staircase” Building
In designing the “Details” residential complex in New Moscow, Rais Baishev spiced up the now-popular Moscow theme of a “courtyard” building with an idea drawn from the surrealist drawings by Maurits Escher. He envisioned the stepped silhouettes and descending slopes as a metaphysical mega-staircase, creating a key void within the courtyard that gave the project an internal “spine”. This concept is felt both in the building’s silhouette and on its façades.
Projection of the Quarter
No one doubted that the building that Vladimir Plotkin designed as part of the “Garden Quarters” would be the most modernist of all. And it turned out just that way: while adhering to the common design code, the building successfully combines brick and white stone, rhythmically responding to the neighboring building designed by Ostozhenka, yet tactfully and persistently making a few statements of its own. This includes the projection of the ideal urban development composition “14–9–6”, which can be found right next door, mathematical calculations, including those for various types of terraces (and perhaps the only reminder of the Soviet past of the Kauchuk rubber factory!), and the white “cross-stitch” pattern of the façade grid.
Domus Aurea
In this issue, we examine the “Tessinsky-1” house, designed by Sergey Skuratov and completed in 2023. Located in the middle of the Serebryanicheskaya Embankment district, at the intersection of its main streets, this house assumes a sort of “nodal” role: it not only responds to everything around it and preserves many memories of the former EMA factory within itself, but it weaves all this into a newly directed pattern, reconciling bright “gold” and dark-colored brick, largely with the help of the new, modern-yet-archaic Columba brick, which, come to think about it, is the most precious element here.
The Chimney of Nikola-Lenivets
In this issue, we are examining the “Obelisk House” designed by KATARSIS and built for the Arkhstoyanie 2023 festival. However, it was only finished later on, and this is why we are examining it now. It seems to us that after the “Obelisk House” appeared in Nikola-Lenivets, a dialogue and a few inner connections appeared between the temporary structures built here. These houses no longer look like “accidental neighbors”, more of which below.
​Periscope by the Bay
The jury awarded the second place in the competition for a public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the companies GORA (“Mountain”) and M4. In the consortium’s proposal, the building resembles a sperm whale with a calf swimming next to it or a periscope, whose lenses capture the most spectacular views from the surrounding landscape.
From Arcs to Dolmens
While working on the competition project for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, ASADOV Architects prioritized the value of the natural and urban environment, aiming to preserve the balance of the location while minimizing the resemblance of the volume that they designed to a “traditional building”. The task was challenging, and the architects created three versions, one of which having been developed after the competition, where their main proposal took third place. However, the point of interest here is not the competition result but the continuity of creative thinking.
Hide and Seek
The ID Moskovskiy house, designed by Stepan Liphart in St. Petersburg, in the courtyards near Moskovskiy Avenue beyond the Obvodny Canal and recently completed, is notable for several reasons. Firstly, it has been realized with considerable accuracy, which is particularly significant as this is the first building where the architect was responsible not only for the facades but also for the layouts, allowing for better integration between the two. On the other hand, this building is interesting as an example of the “germination” of new architecture in the city: it draws on the best examples from the neighborhood and becomes an improved and developed sum of ideas found by the architect in the surrounding context.
The Big Twelve
Yesterday, the winners of the Moscow Mayor’s Architecture Award were announced and honored. Let’s take a look at what was awarded and, in some cases, even critique this esteemed award. After all, there is always room for improvement, right?
Above the Golden Horn
The residential complex “Philosophy” designed by T+T architects in Vladivostok, is one of the new projects in the “Golubinaya Pad” area, changing its development philosophy (pun intended) from single houses to a comprehensive approach. The buildings are organized along public streets, varying in height and format, with one house even executed in gallery typology, featuring a cantilever leaning on an art object.
Nuanced Alternative
How can you rhyme a square and space? Easily! But to do so, you need to rhyme everything you can possibly think of: weave everything together, like in a tensegrity structure, and find your own optics too. The new exhibition at GES-2 does just that, offering its visitor a new perspective on the history of art spanning 150 years, infused with the hope for endless multiplicity of worlds and art histories. Read on to see how this is achieved and how the exhibition design by Evgeny Ace contributes to it.
Blinds for Ice
An ice arena has been constructed in Domodedovo based on a project by Yuri Vissarionov Architects. To prevent the long façade, a technical requirement for winter sports facilities, from appearing monotonous, the architects proposed the use of suspended structures with multidirectional slats. This design protects the ice from direct sunlight while giving the wall texture and detail.
Frozen Magma
A competition for the creation of a public and cultural center was held in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Three architectural companies made it to the final, and we consider it important to share about the work of each. Let’s start with the winner – the consortium led by Wowhaus.
Campus within a Day
In this article, we talk about what the participants of Genplan Institute of Moscow’s hackathon were doing at the MosComArchitecture booth at the “ArchMoscow” exhibition. We also discuss who won the prize and why, and what can be done with the territory of a small university on the outskirts of Moscow.
Vertical Civilization
Genpro considered the development of the vertical city concept and made it the theme of their pavilion at the “ArchMoscow” exhibition.
Marina Yegorova: “We think in terms of hectares, not square meters”
The career path of architect Marina Yegorova is quite impressive: MARHI, SPEECH, MosComArchitectura, the Genplan Institute of Moscow, and then her own architectural company. Its name Empate, which refers to the words “to draw” in Portuguese and “to empathize” in English, should not be misleading with its softness, as the firm freely works on different scales, including Integrated Territorial Development projects. We talked with Marina about various topics: urban planning experience, female leadership style, and even the love of architects for yachting.