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A New Track

We took a thorough look at D_Station, a railcar repair depot dating back to 1906, recently reconstructed while preserving its century-old industrial structure, upon the project by Sergey Trukhanov and T+T Architects. Though work on the interiors – set to house restaurants and public spaces – is still underway, the building’s exterior already offers plenty to see. Visitors can explore the blend of old and new brickwork, appreciate the architect’s unique interpretation of ruin aesthetics, and enjoy the newly built pedestrian route that connects the Citydel Business Center’s arches to Kazakova Street.

26 November 2024
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News of the completed reconstruction of the 1906 railcar repair depot near Kursky Station first broke in October this year. Soon, the building is expected to become a bustling urban oasis, although the interiors are not yet finished. The list of announced anchor tenants includes “Brunnen Beer House” (Paulaner Brauhaus), Alexey Olkhovoy’s restaurant and event space “Original”, the lounge bar and concert venue “Rarum”, and the signature sushi restaurant “Japmen”.
 
The T+T Architects team has also envisioned a new route: a staircase leading up to a bridge over the railway tracks. For now, this path remains closed off by barriers, although young people are already hopping over them with ease. Once opened, the pedestrian route will provide a shortcut between the Garden Ring and Kazakova Street, enhancing the transparency of the urban territory – a perfect reflection of Sergey Trukhanov’s whole creative philosophy. We will remind you at this point that, according to the architect, his company’s  name, T+T, stands for “Transparency Territory”.

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    The pedestrian route from the city cide and from the cide of the Citydel business center. D_Station, project, 2023
    Copyright: © Т+Т Architects
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    View from the railroad tracks. D_Station, project, 2023
    Copyright: © Т+Т Architects

 
Part of this pedestrian route was actually built back in the early 2000s, thanks to the wide arches of the two buildings that make up the Citydel Business Center (2001–2008). The path through these arches, descending from the Garden Ring into the office courtyard, has long led to the ruin of the old depot.

D_Station
Copyright: Photograph © Mikhail Mulach / provided by Т+Т Architects

 
However, this is no ordinary ruin. Lacking official heritage status, the building gained a reputation in the 2000s as a “spontaneous art squat” where informal exhibitions, concerts, plays, and performances were held, according to the architects. The creation of a pedestrian passage through the massive office complex back then seems to have served a purpose. After the 2010s, however, the depot fell completely into disuse. Now it is being reborn in a new capacity, with a landscaped pedestrian route running along its side. The enclosure of the small plaza in front of D_Station, made from pre-charred wooden planks, draws attention not only with its unusual texture but also by echoing the black-framed openings of the business center.

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    D_Station, 11.2024
    Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, Archi.ru
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    D_Station, 11.2024
    Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, Archi.ru

 
We covered the renovation project for the Kurskaya depot back in 2019. In addition to new public spaces and improved pedestrian connectivity, the project emphasizes the importance of reconstruction. T+T Architects are passionate about restoration work, boasting an impressive portfolio in this area. Both the client and the architects decided to preserve the depot building despite its lack of official heritage protection.
 
The most valuable facades, made of red brick, feature classic industrial decorative elements: large windows with arched lintels, pilasters, astragals, corbels, and sills. Not overly ornate, but not plain either, the 1906 structure was both practical and expressive.

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    D_Station
    Copyright: Photograph © Mikhail Mulach / provided by Т+Т Architects
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    D_Station, 11.2024
    Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, Archi.ru

 
The top floor was expanded with a mansard level clad in dark standing-seam metal, complemented by black frames. In some areas, drainpipes extend into elegant black gravel beds, which are mirrored by white stones used in the landscaping.

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    D_Station, 11.2024
    Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, Archi.ru
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    D_Station, 11.2024
    Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, Archi.ru

 
One striking design feature highlights the theme of ruins. The depot once had a transverse wing extending toward the city, similar to a transept. This section was demolished in the latter half of the 20th century and did not survive to the architects’ era. However, their creative solution was to preserve a fragment of the original wall encased in a glass shell – the main modern intervention and a focal display piece. This approach to ruins – preservation through display – represents a contemporary perspective. A fragment gains value when encased in a glass case, lending a 19th-century relic an almost ancient aura.

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    D_Station
    Copyright: Photograph © Mikhail Mulach / provided by Т+Т Architects
  • zooming
    D_Station
    Copyright: Photograph © Mikhail Mulach / provided by Т+Т Architects

 
The outer edges of the broken walls frame both the glass shell and the entrance to its left, resembling columns of ruins. Their jagged surfaces naturally catch the eye, reinforcing the motif of historical layers embedded in a modern context.

D_Station, 11.2024
Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, Archi.ru

 
Near the entrance, the design introduces new brickwork: small, multicolored bricks harmonizing with the historic ones. Laid in a modernist zigzag pattern, this brickwork evokes the broken fragments of the old structure. Here, near the entrance, the bricks feel almost “restless”.

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    D_Station, 11.2024
    Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, Archi.ru
  • zooming
    D_Station
    Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, Archi.ru

 
In the northern section, more recent walls adjoin the original 1906 structure. These are narrower, giving the building a telescopic effect, widening from north to south. The brick in this area is fundamentally different: dark and small, though not the elongated Roman style. It contrasts subtly with the historic brick, creating a harmonious yet distinguishable background. The interplay between these two materials underscores their shared terracotta roots despite their differences.

D_Station, 11.2024
Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, Archi.ru

 
The new brick is smooth, dark, and modern in its simple rhythm. Emerald-green glazed inserts add a cool-toned contrast while subtly referencing the facades of Kazakov Grand Loft (2019–2022), located on the opposite side of the railway tracks. That building also features dark brickwork but pairs it with copper-red metal for a tonal juxtaposition. I wonder if this dialogue appeared by coincidence or by design.


 
One way or another, D_Station feels multifaceted and sophisticated. This layered composition helps balance the building’s elongated mass while uniting its elements related to different periods. From the bridge, one can see a setback marking the location of an old powerline pylon. Here, a black metal wall and a corner window stand vis-à-vis with wood-colored slats. At the northern end, a sequence of diminishing volumes culminates in a wooden pergola over the plaza.

D_Station, 11.2024
Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, Archi.ru

 
The site will likely gain additional nuances and details as the project progresses, but one thing near D_Station is certain: the sense of spatial intrigue will remain. It’s easy to say that the backlot of the Citadel business center and the former abandoned site have been given new life, but there’s more to it than that. One could also note the paradoxical placement of the building: its eastern façade aligns with fences enclosing two plazas and directly borders the railway’s edge, rendering it entirely inaccessible. Yet this same façade is highly visible from the bridge, adding an enigmatic quality to the building. In many ways, the depot remains tied to its railway origins. Yet D_Station’s new purpose – as hinted by its name, perhaps intentionally echoing the word “distance” – represents a departure from history. The building is now distanced, both figuratively and literally, as we observe it from afar, standing on the bridge.
 
It is equally fascinating to explore D_Station from the three pedestrian-accessible “urban” sides, where the ground level constantly shifts – sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically. The elevation change here is significant, about 5 meters from the Garden Ring to the railway. In the southern section, the building is surrounded by thin stone steps, slightly raised above the plaza and sidewalk. Moving northward, the path rises while the building sinks into a recessed area with a grassy slope. The northern plaza emerges at a one-and-a-half-story elevation. This interplay of levels makes the space unconventional. Its originality lies in the rises and falls, the changing perspectives, and the contrasts of impression. The recessed sections emphasize the building’s historical age, as if such “backlots” are where we instinctively look for something out of the ordinary. In this case, the difference is that it has been carefully landscaped and feels like a miniature yet natural extension of the art clusters around the Kursky Railway Station area.



26 November 2024

Headlines now
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Nests in Primorye
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The Angle of String Tension
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How Historic Tobolsk Becomes a Portal to the Future
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On the Wave
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​The Keystone
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Perpetuum Mobile
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Water and Light
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Champions’ Cup
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Semi-Digital Environment
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History never ends
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A Deep, Crystal Shine
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Grigory Revzin: “What we should do with the architecture of the seventies”
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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
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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.
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
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