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.
Written by: Alyona Kuznetsova Translated by: Anton Mizonov
Where ancient rocks, in timeless, quiet rest,
Reflect in waters still, a mirror true,
There, with a careful, tender hand impressed,
Someone submerges treasure deep and blue.
Nicholas Roerich
This year, the “Open City” festival unveils new dimensions under the curatorship of Tsymailo, Lyashenko & Partners. The theme they selected belongs to the realm of the timeless yet elusive and complex to discuss – “The Space of Spirit,” touching on both its religious context and its broader, secular significance. Despite many “buts” this choice feels deeply relevant, resonating with the oscillations of the pendulum of cultural thought. Our era has striking parallels to the period between the two World Wars. Much like back then, people are seeking grounding, explanations, and justifications to navigate reality and its darker sides. But now, these supports are often found outside traditional religious institutions – Nietzsche, breakthroughs in neuroscience, and an information landscape swollen to gargantuan proportions have changed things. More commonly, people turn to esotericism, mysticism, or wellness culture. Where once there was Helena Blavatsky, now we have Elena Blinovskaya.
In this context, it indeed seems valuable to pause and contemplate both oneself and the eternal. What deity do I serve? What do I believe? To what standards do I hold my values? Who is the author of the starry sky and the moral law?
And, more specifically – how does all this coexist within a city? Does the sacred still have a place in the everyday? Does it have a home?
Reflecting the breadth of the theme, the festival offers an impressive array of engaging workshops. We took part in one of them.
The Sacred Language of Nature
GAFA proposed seeking the sacred through understanding nature’s language, a perspective that feels both logical and deeply authentic. If we assume that the sacred truly exists, it emerged long before us; in the “day” of the universe, humanity occupies at most the last few minutes. Thus, it’s plausible that the sacred is most purely expressed or concentrated outside human culture – in nature, which might be seen as an original source.
Expedition to Kilpola Island as part of the “Open City” festival, 2024
Remember the film “Arrival”, which centers on a concept from linguist Ferdinand de Saussure? The protagonist learns the aliens’ language, and in doing so gains the ability to foresee the future, absorbing a fundamental skill of these beings along with their language. Similarly, by learning nature’s language – a language that may indeed articulate the sacred – we might come closer to understanding the essence of the sacred itself.
Expedition to Kilpola Island as part of the “Open City” festival, 2024
GAFA is not the first to search for traces of divinity in nature, yet their approach ingeniously aligns with reality. How much unspoiled nature remains even in our own country? People venture to the Putorana Plateau, the Katun River, or the volcanoes of Kamchatka in pursuit of it. Yet such journeys demand both time and resources, which are often scarce. Karelia, as an alternative, offers an abundance of primal wilderness and mystery, both near and elusive. And it’s here, in the Ladoga skerries, that Nicholas Roerich spent two very important years of his life.
The Treasure, 1919
Copyright: Nicholas Roerich
Why Roerich?
In his flight log, Yuri Gagarin compared what he saw through the porthole to the colors of Roerich’s art. Many would recognize Roerich’s distinctive purple and blue canvases. He is sometimes playfully called the “Russian Indiana Jones” by some researchers – an archaeologist, traveler, artist, and thinker who pursued treasures of a different kind.
We know a fair amount about Roerich’s time in Karelia: where he lived, that he created nearly 200 works, and that he developed his characteristic palette there. In his tale named “The Flame”, he describes the “joy and vigor” of the north. As cultural historian Dmitry Popov writes, in Karelia, “the master gazed ever more deeply into the eternal beauty of celestial constellations, increasingly wishing to unite them with the mysteries of the earth, ever more convinced in his search for kindred threads between the ‘here’ and the ‘there’.”
The students of the workshop took on a similar quest during the expedition.
In the Beginning Was the Word (and at the End)
Many were eager to venture into Karelia – GAFA received 65 applications from students in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kazan, out of which only 15 could be selected. A fairly simple application exercise – an essay on “My Place of Power” – helped identify a motivated and diverse group. This essay also marked the first step in their reflections on the sacred.
A touch of mystery accompanied the selection, as several participants turned out to be classmates from MARHI. This wasn’t intentional; all portfolios and essays were submitted anonymously to the workshop curators.
The resulting group was indeed diverse – some of the participants were already employed at major architectural companies, others focused on industrial design, considered graduate studies in Milan, or questioned their career paths. Many had visited Karelia or similar places, while others were tasting lingonberries or walking barefoot on moss for the first time.
Expedition to Kilpola Island as part of the “Open City” festival, 2024
One of the outcomes of the expedition will be a book, with each chapter dedicated to different aspects of the sacred. For this reason, during their forest walks, the students were encouraged to capture their thoughts, and then develop them into more profound essays.
Expedition to Kilpola Island as part of the “Open City” festival, 2024
The expedition took place on the island of Kilpola – a spot not far from the place where Roerich once lived on a smaller neighboring island. Here, it’s easy to encounter a moose, wild boar, or hare, to be startled by the nighttime silence, to see stars and the northern lights, to feast on blueberries, and to fill a basket with chanterelles within minutes.
Expedition to Kilpola Island as part of the “Open City” festival, 2024
One of the skerries hosts the retreat center “Ostrov” (“Island”) which served as the workshop’s base camp. The center offers a modest asceticism well-suited to the expedition’s purpose: the menu is meat-free, there’s almost no cell reception or Wi-Fi, facilities are outdoors, and you’re expected to wash your own dishes. Yet only a hundred meters from the cabins, you’re surrounded by wild forest, and without an offline map, it’s easy to get lost in it. Under the guidance of the center’s founder, Alexander Argelander, the participants ventured into the most remote parts of the forest. Such walks showed that the sacred remains inaudible in a crowd; it requires solitude and silence.
Contrary to the harsh northern stereotype, the Karelian Isthmus dazzles with an incredible variety of colors and landscapes. Landscape engineer Evgeny Levin – a highlight of the trip – helped the group of students appreciate the genius of evolution and the divine beauty of natural forms. Walking kilometers along trails (and often off-trail as well), they frequently stopped to admire nature’s designs. Here, a boulder with a sloping edge forms a platform for a delicate composition: fern fronds grow through a moss carpet, yellow birch leaves scatter gracefully, a red berry adds a focal point, and a mushroom balances the arrangement. Symbiosis, beauty, and harmony – a beautiful name for a new chapter! Moving on, they find marvelous wetland meadows that filter heavy metals from water, and smooth stone basins within granite – Jun’ya Ishigami’s work is impressive, but even he cannot match the natural perfection of the shapes created by the waves. Nearby, colorful lichens resemble a fisherman’s camouflage jacket. Succession, root systems, material cycling, fungal networks – the group eagerly scribbled notes. Evgeny’s enthusiasm was infectious, connecting what they saw with real-life applications: sponge cities, shade and rain gardens.
The packed schedule included not only forest hikes but also lectures, qigong, plein air painting sessions, and various workshops, ensuring no one left without answers. Victoria Gavalidi acted as a catalyst for the group’s mental explorations, keeping everyone on their toes with questions that sparked discussion. With each hour, ideas about the sacred multiplied, definitions grew more complex, sometimes gaining clarity, sometimes losing it. Grigorios Gavalidis, a skilled moderator, helped keep thoughts grounded, guiding and refining them. Yet, at one fireside “meeting”, he observed, “We won’t find the sacred. First, you need to understand who you are, define the person”.
Perhaps he was right – understanding the sacred is a journey, one that may never reach a definitive truth. Yet there is great value in the search itself.
Expedition to Kilpola Island as part of the “Open City” festival, 2024
There was also space for leisure – an essential part of the creative life. Free time was used in myriad ways: some of the students painted, others climbed hills to commune with the local spirit, or floated on paddleboards in the cold waters of Lake Ladoga, feeling like explorers landing on untouched islands. Many rose before dawn to greet the sun from the water. They drank tea with Vasily. And in these quiet moments, perhaps, they best heard their own inner voice.
Where the Moose Goes
Talking about the sacred in the language of nature proved to be quite simple: participants frequently referred to roots, cycles of life and death, adaptation, and symbiosis, all while gazing at the endlessly diverse patterns around them. At one point, the moose became a symbol for their discussions. Where is it headed, and what is it thinking? Grigorios shared his experience of encountering this creature on a forest path – it seemed to an urban dweller like an alien being, its eyes reflecting the wisdom of the universe. The tale of the moose even made its way to Sergey Kuznetsov upon their return to Moscow.
Grigorios Gavalidis, Victoria Gavalidi, Evgeny Levin. Expedition to Kilpola Island as part of the “Open City” festival, 2024
As a result, each participant found their own sense of the sacred, which they will express through drawings and text for the collective book. The students also collected various artifacts during the expedition to create a unified panel. A third outcome of the workshop will be a film that intersperses reflections on the sacred with scenes of the Karelian landscapes. Given the intensive work of two cameramen, it promises to be visually stunning.
The festival’s final exhibition, which will showcase the outcomes of the Karelian expedition, will take place in November at the “Ruin” wing of the Shchusev Museum of Architecture.
This journey was made possible through the support of like-minded companies, including Tegola, Arkhitail, and the Timeless project.
A Roadside Picnic of Urban Planning Theorists
Marina Egorova, head of Empate Architectural Bureau, brought together urban planning theorists – the successors of Alexey Gutnov and Vyacheslav Glazychev – to revive the substance and depth of professional discourse. At the first meeting, much ground was covered: the participants revisited the theoretical foundations, aligned their values, examined a cutting-edge case of the Kazan agglomeration, and concluded with the unfathomable intricacies of Russian land demarcation. Below, we present key takeaways from all the presentations.
Perspective View
CNTR Architects has designed a business center for a new district in Yekaterinburg, aiming to reduce the need for commuting and make the residential environment more diverse. The architectural solutions are equally focused on creating spatial flexibility, comfortable working conditions, and a memorable image that could allow the building to become a spatial landmark of the district.
Malevich and Bathhouses, Nature and High-Tech
The Malevich Bathhouse complex is scheduled to open in the fall of 2025 on the Rublyovo-Uspenskoye Highway. The project, designed by DBA-GROUP under the leadership of Vladislav Andreev, is an example of an unconventional approach to the image of a spa in general and of a bathhouse in particular. Deliberately avoiding any kind of allusion, the architects opted for streamlined forms with characteristic rounded corners, a combination of wood with bent glass, and restrained contemporary shapes – both inside and out. Let’s take a closer look at the project.
Rather, a Tablecloth and a Glass!
After many years, the long-abandoned Horse Guards Department building in St. Petersburg has finally received the attention it deserves: according to a design by Studio 44, the first restoration and adaptation works are scheduled to begin this year. Both the intended function and the general scope of works imply minimal alteration to the complex, which has preserved traces of its three-century history. All solutions are reversible and aimed, above all, at opening the monument to the city and immersing it in a lively social scene – hence the choice of a cultural center scenario with a strong gastronomic component.
Materialization of Airflows
The Nikolai Kamov International Airport in Tomsk opened at the end of August last year. We have already written about the project – now we are taking a look at the completed building. Its functionality is reinforced by symbolic undertones: the architects at ASADOV sought to reflect local identity in the architecture as fully as possible.
The City as a Narrative
Sergey Skuratov’s approach to large urban plots could best be described as a “total design code”. The architect pays equal attention to the overall composition and the smallest of details, striving to ensure that every aspect is thoroughly thought out and subordinated to the original vision. It’s a Renaissance-like approach, really – a titanic effort demanding remarkable willpower and perseverance. The results are likewise grand – architecture that makes a statement. This article looks at the revived concept for the central section of the Seventh Heaven residential district in Kazan, a composition so thoroughly considered that even the “gradient of visual emphasis” (sic!) across the facades has been carefully worked out. It also touches on the narrative idea behind the project – and even the architect’s own doubts about it.
A Garden of Hope for Freedom
In October, at the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery in Suzdal, the Prison Yard Garden opened on the site that had served as a prison from the 18th century until the Khrushchev Thaw. The architectural concept was developed by NOῨD Short Film, and the landscape design by the MOX landscape bureau. In fact, there are two gardens here – very different ones. We try to understand whether they evoke the right emotions in visitors, while also showing the beauty of June’s ruderal plants in bloom.
A Laconic Image of Time
The Time Square residential complex, built on the northern edge of St. Petersburg, appears more concise and efficient than its neighbor and predecessor, the New Time complex. Nevertheless, the architect’s hand is clearly felt: themes of “black and white”, “inside and outside”, and most notably, the “lamellar” quality of the facades that seems to visibly “eat away” at the buildings’ mass – everything is played out like a well-written score. One is reminded of both classical modernism and the so-called “post-constructivism”.
The Flower of the Lake
The prototype for the building of the Kamal Theater in Kazan is an ice flower: a rare and fragile natural phenomenon of Lake Kaban “froze” in the large, soaring outlines of the glass screens enclosing the main volume, shaping its silhouette and shielding the stained-glass windows from the sun. The project, led by the Wowhaus consortium and including global architecture “star” Kengo Kuma, won the 2021/2022 competition and was realized close to the original concept in a short – very short – period of time. The theater opened in early 2025. It was Kengo Kuma who proposed the image of an ice flower and the contraposition of cold on the outside and warmth on the inside. Between 2022 and 2024, Wowhaus did everything possible to bring this vision to life, practically living on-site. Now we are taking a closer look at this landmark building and its captivating story.
Peaceful Integration on Mira Avenue
The MIRA residential complex (the word mir means “peace” in Russian), perched above the steep banks of the Yauza River and Mira Avenue, lives up to its name not only technically, but also visually and conceptually. Sleek, high-rise, and glass-clad, it responds both to Zholtovsky’s classicism and to the modernism of the nearby “House on Stilts”. Drawing on features from its neighbors, it reconciles them within a shared architectural language rooted in contemporary façade design. Let’s take a closer look at how this is done.
An Interior for a New Format of Education
The design of the new building for Tyumen State University (TyumSU) was initially developed before the pandemic but later revised to meet new educational requirements. The university has adopted a “2+2+2” system, which eliminates traditional divisions into groups and academic streams in favor of individualized study programs. These changes were implemented swiftly – right at the start of construction. Now that the building is complete, we are taking a closer look.
New Aeroflot Office: Lightness, Play, Comfort
Even if you have no plans to fly with Aeroflot anytime soon, their new office at 2A 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street is still worth a visit for its interior design alone.
Penthouses and Kokoshniks
A new residential complex designed by ASADOV Architects for the Krasnaya Roza business district responds to its proximity to 17th-century landmarks – the chambers of the Hamovny Dvor and St. Nicholas Church – as well as to the need to preserve valuable façades of a historic rental house built in the Russian Revival style. The architects proposed a set of buildings of varying heights, whose façades reference ecclesiastical architecture. But we were also able to detect other associations.
Centipede Town
The new school campus designed by ATRIUM Architects, located on the shores of a protected lake in the Imeretian Lowland Ornithological Reserve, represents an important and ambitious undertaking for the team: this is not just a school, but a Presidential Lyceum for the comprehensive development of gifted children – 2,500 students from age 3 through high school. At the same time, it is also envisioned as a new civic hub for the entire Sirius territory. In this article, we unpack the structure and architecture of this “lyceum town”.
Warm Black and White
The second phase of “Quarter 31”, designed by KPLN and built in the Moscow suburb town of Pushkino, reveals a multifaceted character. At first glance, the complex appears to be defined by geometry and a monochrome palette. But a closer look reveals a number of “irregular” details: a gradient of glazing and flared window frames, a hierarchy of façades, volumetric brickwork, and even architectural references to natural phenomena. We explore all the rules – and exceptions – that we were able to discover here.
Skylights and Staircase
Photos from March show the nearly completed headquarters of FSK Group on Shenogina Street. The building’s exterior is calm and minimalist; the interior is engaging and multi-layered. The conical skylights of the executive office, cast in raw concrete, and the sweeping spiral staircase leading to it, are particularly striking. In fact, there’s more than one spiral staircase here, and the first two floors effectively form a small shopping center. More below.
The Whale of Future Identity
Or is it a veil? Or a snow-covered plain? Vera Butko, Anton Nadtochy, and the architects of ATRIUM faced a complex and momentous task: to propose a design for the “Russia” National Center. It had to be contemporary, yet firmly rooted in cultural codes. Unique, and yet subtly reminiscent of many things at once. It must be said – the task found the right authors. Let’s explore in detail the image they envisioned.
Greater Altai: A Systemic Development Plan
The master plan for tourism development in Greater Altai encompasses three regions: Kuzbass, the Altai Republic, and Altai Krai. It is one of twelve projects developed as part of the large-scale state program bearing the simple name of “Tourism Development”. The project’s slogan reads: “Greater Altai – a place of strength, health, and spirit in the very heart of Siberia”. What are the proposed growth points, and how will the plan help increase the flow of both domestic and international tourists? Read on to find out.
The Colorful City
While working on a large-scale project in Moscow’s Kuntsevo district – one that has yet to be given a name – Kleinewelt Architekten proposed not only a diverse array of tower silhouettes in “Empire-style” hues and a thoughtful mix of building heights, creating a six-story “neo-urbanist” city with a block-based layout at ground level, but also rooted their design in historical and contextual reasoning. The project includes the reconstruction of several Stalin-era residential buildings that remain from the postwar town of Kuntsevo, as well as the reconstruction of a 1953 railway station that was demolished in 2017.
In Orbit of Moscow City
The Orbital business center is both simple and complex. Simple in its minimalist form and optimal office layout solution: a central core, a light-filled façade, plenty of glass; and from the unusual side – a technical floor cleverly placed at the building’s side ends. Complex – well, if only because it resembles a celestial body hovering on metallic legs near Magistralnaya Street. Why this specific shape, what it consists of, and what makes this “boutique” office building (purchased immediately after its completion) so unique – all of this and more is covered in our story.
The Altai Ornament
The architectural company Empate has developed the concept for an eco-settlement located on a remote site in Altai. The master plan, which resembles a traditional ornament or even a utopian city, forms a clear system of public and private spaces. The architects also designed six types of houses for the settlement, drawing inspiration from the region’s culture, folklore, and vernacular building practices.
Pro Forma
Photos have emerged of the newly completed whisky distillery in Chernyakhovsk, designed by TOTEMENT / PAPER – a continuation of their earlier work on the nearby Cognac Museum. From what is, in essence, a merely technical and utilitarian volume and space, the architects have created a fully-fledged theatre of impressions. Let’s take a closer look. We highly recommend a visit to what may look like a factory, but is in fact an experiment in theatricalizing the process of strong spirit production – and not only that, but also of “pure art”, capable of evolving anywhere.
The Arch and the Triangle
The new Stone Mnevniki business center by Kleinewelt Architekten – designed for the same client as their projects in Khodynka – bears certain similarities to those earlier developments, but not entirely. In Mnevniki, there are more angular elements, and the architects themselves describe the project as being built on contrast. Indeed, while the first phase contains subtle references to classical architecture – light touches like arches, both upright and inverted, evoking the spirit of the 1980s – the second phase draws more distantly on the modernism of the 1970s. What unites them is a boldly expressive public space design, a kaleidoscope of rays and triangles.
Health Factory
While working on a wellness and tourist complex on the banks of the Yenisei River, the architects at Vissarionov Studio set out to create healing spaces that would amplify the benefits of nature and medical treatments for both body and soul. The spatial solutions are designed to encourage interaction between the guests and the landscape, as well as each other.
The Blooming Mechanics of a Glass Forest
The Savvinskaya 27 apartment complex built by Level Group, currently nearing completion on an elongated riverfront site next to the Novodevichy Convent, boasts a form that’s daring even by modern Moscow standards. Visually, it resembles the collaborative creation of a glassblower and a sculptor: a kind of glass-and-concrete jungle, rhythmically structured yet growing energetically and vividly. Bringing such an idea to life was by no means an easy task. In this article, we discuss the concept by ODA and the methods used by APEX architects to implement it, along with a look at the building’s main units and detailing.
Grace and Unity
Villa “Grace”, designed by Roman Leonidov’s studio and built in the Moscow suburbs, strikes a balance between elegant minimalism and the expansive gestures of the Russian soul. The main house is conceived as a sequence of four self-contained volumes – each could exist independently, yet it chooses to be part of a whole. Unity is achieved through color and a system of shared spaces, while the rich plasticity of the forms – refined throughout the construction process – compensates for the near-total absence of decorative elements.
Daring Brilliance
In this article, we are exploring “New Vision”, the first school built in the past 25 years in Moscow’s Khamovniki. The building has three main features: it is designed in accordance with the universal principles of modern education, fostering learning through interaction and more; second, the façades combine structural molded glass and metallic glazed ceramics – expensive and technologically advanced materials. Third, this is the school of Garden Quarters, the latest addition to Moscow’s iconic Khamovniki district. Both a costly and, in its way, audacious acquisition, it carries a youthful boldness in its statement. Let’s explore how the school is designed and where the contrasts lie.
A Twist of the Core
A clever and concise sculptural solution – rotating each floor by N degrees – has created an ensemble of “dancing” towers: similar yet different, simple yet complex. The designers meticulously refined a single structural node and spent considerable effort on the column construction – after that, “everything else was easy”. The architects also rotated the core walls on each floor to maximize the efficiency of the office spaces.
The Sculpting of Spring Forest Matter
We’ve been observing this building for a couple of years now: seemingly simple, perhaps even unassuming, it fits in remarkably well with the micro-district context shaped by the Moscow MCD road junctions. This building sticks in the memory of everyone who drives along the highway, even occasionally. In our opinion, Sergey Nikeshkin, by blending popular architectural techniques and approaches of the 2010s, managed to turn a seemingly simple structure into a statement “on the theme of a house as such”. Let’s figure out how this happened.
Water and Wind Whet the Stone
The Arisha Terraces residential complex, designed by Asadov Architects, will be built in a district of Dubai dedicated to film and television production. To create shaded spaces and an intriguing silhouette, the architects opted for a funnel-shaped composition and nature-inspired forms of erosion and weathering. The roofs, podium, and underground spaces extend leisure opportunities within the boundaries of a man-made “oasis”.
