Perpendicular Reality

The giant complex of Moscow City that appeared on the map of Moscow a few years ago makes one wonder about a lot of various aspects of architectural typology of high-rise buildings. The phenomenon of a "vertical city" and solutions proportionate to it were discussed in our conversation with Sergey Estrin – the author of a whole number of bright projects of public and residential interiors in Moscow's high-rises.

Interviewed by:
Lilya Aronova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

14 September 2016

Interview

Archi.ru:
– What do you think is the niche that the complex of Moscow City now occupies in the nation's capital structure?

Sergey Estrin:
– A traditional city – which Moscow definitely is – is a horizontal one. It has a historical center, shopping streets, industrial and residential areas; it can also have in it, let's say, ethnic or entertainment quarters. This is a city that we all are used to, a city we can easily find our way around in, and know what to expect from. But once this habitual paradigm gets such a perpendicular structure as this skyscraper complex, this, of course, becomes quite a noticeable phenomenon, both from the town-planning standpoint and in terms of how the people that live and work in it perceive the world around them. This is a totally different business model: not just a new quarter but a building that can be seen from virtually every part of the city; not just a house or a street but a set of individual addresses – the Eurasia tower, the Mercury tower, and so on. Which, of course, goes a long way to boost the popularity of such housing.

- Meaning, first of all, this is a whole new level of prestige?

– This is a whole new city format that is laden – and this is ever so important – with a totally different emotional content. The breathtaking panoramas, the sunrises and sunsets, the clouds drifting over and around you, the roofs that are "the fifth façade" of the city, and this is about the only way for you to take a good look at them, and they are beyond beautiful! And what about the night views? When viewed from the fiftieth floor, even the trivial traffic jams turn into an art object: when the city is dissected with glowing lines, red and yellow, you involuntarily start perceiving the geography of Moscow in a different way, with all of its boulevards and highways. Not everyone, by the way, will feel comfortable at such a great height, but if a person is psychologically ready for it, once they've felt the adrenaline rush, they will probably want to experience that feeling again. The very idea of the tower always teetering a little bit – at its highest point, the amplitude can reach a whole meter!

– What else does this format yield, besides the emotional experience?

– A skyscraper, as a rule, is a building that is multifunctional and one that is divided into zones: offices, a residential part, a retail part, and so on. Oftentimes, swimming pools and fitness centers are added, as well as conservatories, movie theaters, restaurants, and art galleries. Meaning – without ever leaving the building you can get virtually everything that a modern megalopolis has to offer. And I think it's not even about saving you the trouble of traveling around the city – I can hardly imagine somebody staying indoors for days – this restaurant and this garden will soon feel monotonous to him or her. But the very feeling of finding yourself in such a densely packed and saturated environment, as if a whole city stood up on end – is attractive for many people. You see, there is this type of country housing – the rural solitude, nature, sky, landscapes. And there is a city, bustling, full of life and mobility. And now a new format has come – when you are sort of in the city but at the same time a hundred meters above it, and it's also just as quiet, and you can admire the sunrises and the sunsets, the only difference being that you don't have to wait in traffic jams to finally get there. Of course, I am not speaking of people for whom this is their first or only residence – these will hardly ever opt for apartments in a skyscraper. But for those who maybe already has an apartment in the city, and a house in the country, this skyscraper residence may become an intriguing alternative.

– Obviously, this new urban environment calls for new architectural solutions, including the interior design ones?

– Absolutely! Of course, you might be tempted to go ahead and multiply manifold your time-tested techniques, scaling them five or ten meters up – and there you are! And this is, of course, something that many architects do, by the way. The result, however, looks rather stilted and monotonous. It is my opinion that an architectural stylistic device has to match the magnitude of the volume it is applied to. Take the entrance group, for example – this is a high-responsibility element that actually is the beginning of this new and exciting city environment for everyone who enters it. It must be perceived accordingly from the outside, and on the inside it must match the premises that will ensue, careful attention to detail being also absolutely necessary for the designer, no matter how grand the scale of the building might be. And these details must look great from every conceivable angle so that they will not look dull or monotonous. Such approach will let the interior live a long life and every time a person that enters it will be put in the mood that corresponds to a certain emotional state that this grand building deserves.

When we were thinking out the public spaces for the Eurasia Tower, we chose "Forest Symphony" as the leitmotif. The entrance group of the office area is decorated with stylized tropical trees – powerful trunks and wide crowns. Upon a closer look, however, one will find that there is a lot of details, every single one of which is unique. The slits in the wooden panels of the leaves are of various configurations, the veneer sheet is indeed made of wood, even if it covers a thirty-meter-wide wall; the "spots of light" that show through the foliage are the result of a sophisticated lighting system...

zooming — Public areas in the "Eurasia" Tower in the complex of "Moscow City". Implementation, 2014 © Sergey Estrin Architects

For "Eurasia", we did the public interiors of all the seventy floors, starting with the ascent from the underground level where the visitor was to already get a feeling of being in a different world, before they ever reached the elevator lobby.

The entrance to the residential part – situated on the ground level – is also designed in the vein of this "forest" theme: again, large elements are there, but these are not as large as in the office group – all due to the fact that hall space is smaller in itself, just as the part that follows it. All the lights are of the hidden type – it was important for us that it should not be concentrated on any specific detail but glow out of nowhere, as if oozing through the leaves like rays of sunlight.

– We've been speaking about the entrance groups. And what about the interiors of the upper floors and penthouses?

– Well, what really makes them different is the sheer fact that the city panorama outside the window is such a powerful sight to see that you cannot really compete with it, and you needn't, either. However, you still want to achieve the effect that when a person turns away from the window he sees something that deserves to be there next to this magnificent view. Designing a penthouse at the 76th floor of one of the Moscow City towers, we put really a lot of time and effort into a living room wall trying to achieve a certain proportional correlation with a wildly beautiful view. It was a wall about twenty meters long, and we designed it as a stack of cubes covered with leaf copper that looks like exposed reinforcing bars are showing through it - and we shined glowing rays of light over it, like over a theater curtain.

– Doesn't sound like a piece of living space in its traditional meaning...

– Exactly! And this is where I came in – that such a penthouse is probably not the only apartment that the owner has. Of course, this place includes comfortable bedrooms, and a kitchen, and everything that you might ever need to live a normal life – but you can still hardly fancy a family with three kids in such an interior, these kids jumping around and you having a hard time trying to figure out how to stop them from hurting themselves. Our point, however, is this: if Moscow has gotten a whole new different architectural environment, it must also look different.

For example, in "Sokolinoe Gnezdo" ("Hawk's Nest") housing complex we "suspended" a glass island on the second level of the penthouse - this island is only accessible by a glass stairway, and you get a complete sensation of hovering over the city.

And in the penthouse of one of the Constellation towers that's on the Shabolovka Street, we decorated the ceiling curvilinear plaster panels that looked like clouds, while some of the rooms were designed in a futuristic "cosmic" style.

There was also one apartment in the Moscow Tower that had nothing nebulous to it – instead, we used another "striking" element, a huge azure wave with a lacy edge of sea foam. What's interesting about this apartment is the fact that its ceilings are not really high, almost like in a regular house, but the usual interior, neatly stuccoed, with wooden skirting boards and plywood door panes is the last thing you want to do on the fortieth floor with such panoramas!

– So, do you want to say that classic interior elements simply cannot fit in such living space?

– Again, if you take a certain technique, you don't want to use it verbatim – you need to revise it in reference to the current situation. Take such a seemingly trivial thing as curtains – each time we had to reinvent them over again! In this case, they don't perform their usual utilitarian function of shading the window - it is clear that with such breathtaking views you won't ever want to draw the curtains. Rather, you need them to compositionally link the ceiling and the floor. In the Shabolovka project, for example, each curtain is in fact an art object made of several kilometers of vertical Venetian blinds that, when backlit from below, look like a wooden sculpture. This is just the right example of a large-scale solution that it took us a long time to find because traditional techniques and materials were totally misplaced here.

The light has also its own specifics here. Generally, what you want to do most often with the light in this case is just turn it off, so you don't want to lay any particular stress on the lights. At the same time, you need to have a sufficient number of spotlights and you need to provide for different lighting scenarios. In the City, for example, we hid the lights into laser-engraved columns – they visually organize the place, and they are pretty decorative themselves. And in the Shabolovka project we hid the lights above the "clouds" on the ceiling, thus getting a kind of light that's very close to the ambient light behind the windows.

And as for the classic you asked me about... Well, of course, in such an interior you cannot run plasterwork over the cornice and you cannot use columns from a ready-made plaster items catalogue. But if we are to take, say, the base of some classic column, and make its shaft just stop dead at the ceiling – well, it didn't exactly match the ceiling height here – and place the column's head somewhere on the hundredth floor – this would be a very powerful thing to do. And, again, this will be a solution of a whole new level corresponding and proportionate to the new space paradigm.

14 September 2016

Interviewed by:

Lilya Aronova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

Headlines now

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

Construction has begun on the building of the OMK (United Metallurgical Company) Corporate University in Nizhny Novgorod’s town of Vyksa, designed by Ostozhenka Architects. The most interesting aspect of the project is how the architects immersed it in the context: “extracting” a diagonal motif from the planning grid of Vyksa, they aligned the building, the square, and the park to match it. A truly masterful work with urban planning context on several different levels of perception has long since become the signature technique of Ostozhenka.

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”

Architects from “Mezonproject” have developed a project for the reconstruction of the regional youth center “Polyot”(“Flight”) in the city of Oryol. The summer youth center, built back in the late 1970s, will now become year-round and acquire many additional functions.

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The Yauza Towers

In Moscow, there aren’t that many buildings or projects designed by Nikita Yavein and Studio 44. In this article, we present to you the concept of a large multifunctional complex on the Yauza River, located between two parks, featuring a promenade, a crossroads of two pedestrian streets, a highly developed public space, and an original architectural solution. This solution combines a sophisticated, asymmetric façade grid, reminiscent of a game of fifteen puzzle, and bold protrusions of the upper parts of the buildings, completely masking the technical floors and sculpting the complex’s silhouette.

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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

The Jois complex combines height with terraces, bringing the most expensive apartments from penthouses down to the bottom floors. The powerful iconic image of the U-shaped building is the result of the creative search for a new standard of living in high-rise buildings by the architects of “Genpro”.

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

A school for 1750 students is going to be built in Dubai, designed by IND Architects. The architects took into account the local specifics, and proposed a radial layout and spaces, in which the children will be comfortable throughout the day.

Object

The Dairy Theme

The concept of an office of a cheese-making company, designed for the enclosed area of a dairy factory, at least partially refers to industrial architecture. Perhaps that is why this concept is very simple, which seems the appropriate thing to do here. The building is enlivened by literally a couple of “master strokes”: the turning of the corner accentuates the entrance, and the shade of glass responds to the theme of “milk rivers” from Russian fairy tales.

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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.

Object

Towers Leaning Towards the Sun

The three towers of the residential complex “Novodanilovskaya 8” are new and the tallest neighbors of the Danilovsky Manufactory, “Fort”, and “Plaza”, complementing a whole cluster of modern buildings designed by renowned masters. At the same time, the towers are unique for this setting – they are residential, they are the tallest ones here, and they are located on a challenging site. In this article, we explore how architects Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova tackled this far-from-trivial task.

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In the spirit of ROSTA posters

The new Rostselmash tractor factory, conceptualized by ASADOV Architects, is currently being completed in Rostov-on-Don. References to the Soviet architecture of the 1920’s and 1960’s resonate with the mission and strategic importance of the enterprise, and are also in line with the client’s wish: to pay homage to Rostov’s constructivism.

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The Northern Thebaid

The central part of Ferapontovo village, adjacent to the famous monastery with frescoes by Dionisy, has been improved according to the project by APRELarchitects. Now the place offers basic services for tourists, as well as a place for the villagers’ leisure.

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Brilliant Production

The architects from London-based MOST Architecture have designed the space for the high-tech production of Charge Cars, a high-performance production facility for high-speed electric cars that are assembled in the shell of legendary Ford Mustangs. The founders of both the company and the car assembly startup are Russians who were educated in their home country.

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Three-Part Task: St. Petersburg’s Mytny Dvor

The so-called “Mytny Dvor” area lying just behind Moscow Railway Station – the market rows with a complex history – will be transformed into a premium residential complex by Studio 44. The project consists of three parts: the restoration of historical buildings, the reconstruction of the lost part of the historical contour, and new houses. All of them are harmonized with each other and with the city; axes and “beams of light” were found, cozy corners and scenic viewpoints were carefully thought out. We had a chat with the authors of the historical buildings’ restoration project, and we are telling you about all the different tasks that have been solved here.

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The Color of the City, or Reflections on the Slope of an Urban Settlement

In 2022, Ostozhenka Architects won a competition, and in 2023, they developed and received all the necessary approvals for a master plan for the development of Chernigovskaya Street for the developer GloraX. The project takes into account a 10-year history of previous developments; it was done in collaboration with architects from Nizhny Novgorod, and it continues to evolve now. We carefully examined it, talked to everyone, and learned a lot of interesting things.

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A Single-Industry Town

Kola MMC and Nornickel are building a residential neighborhood in Monchegorsk for their future employees. It is based on a project by an international team that won the 2021 competition. The project offers a number of solutions meant to combat the main “demons” of any northern city: wind, grayness and boredom.

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A New Age Portico

At the beginning of the year, Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport opened Terminal C. The large-scale and transparent entrance hall with luminous columns inside successfully combines laconism with a bright and photogenic WOW-effect. The terminal is both the new façade of the whole complex and the starting point of the planned reconstruction, upon completion of which Tolmachevo will become the largest regional airport in Russia. In this article, we are examining the building in the context of modernist prototypes of both Novosibirsk and Leningrad: like puzzle pieces, they come together to form their individual history, not devoid of curious nuances and details.

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A New Starting Point

We’ve been wanting to examine the RuArts Foundation space, designed by ATRIUM for quite a long time, and we finally got round to it. This building looks appropriate and impressive; it amazingly combines tradition – represented in our case by galleries – and innovation. In this article, we delve into details and study the building’s historical background as well.

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Molding Perspectives

Stepan Liphart introduces “schematic Art Deco” on the outskirts of Kazan – his houses are executed in green color, with a glassy “iced” finish on the facades. The main merits of the project lie in his meticulous arrangement of viewing angles – the architect is striving to create in a challenging environment the embryo of a city not only in terms of pedestrian accessibility but also in a sculptural sense. He works with silhouettes, proposing intriguing triangular terraces. The entire project is structured like a crystal, following two grids, orthogonal and diagonal. In this article, we are examining what worked, and what eventually didn’t.