По-русски

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.

03 July 2025
Object
mainImg
Architect:
Nikolay Pereslegin
Sergey Pereslegin
Firm:
Kleinewelt Architekten http://www.kleinewelt.ru/
MIRA is located some 7 km away from the Garden Ring and 10 km from the MKAD. Outside its windows lies the Yauza River, and across a footbridge, a landscaped park with the Rostokino Aqueduct, renovated 20 years ago. For decades, the site was hidden behind dense vegetation between the Mosvodostok municipal facility and School No. 293. To the west stands the 1957 Ministry of Agriculture building by Ivan Zholtovsky; to the north is the simple constructivist volume of the cotton factory by Ginzburg and Lisogor. Just beyond the school to the south is the well-known 1968 “House on Stilts” by architects Viktor Andreev and Trifon Zaikin – a slab raised on V-shaped supports, vis-à-vis Vera Mukhina’s Worker and Kolkhoz Woman monument. This is a context of highly recognizable structures from different periods, styles, and significance.

The architects responded to this eclectic environment by “rhyming” each building of MIRA with its immediate surroundings – taking cues from whichever landmark was closest. They also considered the views opening from each direction. The result is a set of buildings situated close together, sharing a similar underlying design logic, yet subtly varied in form and expression as a response to their specific context.

In practice, the project comprises two separate underground parking footprints and podiums. The larger one stretches along the edge of the river slope and actively engages with the topography, as the elevation drops by about 5 meters from west to east: the podium is taller at the back of the site and lower near the avenue. This single podium unites what are effectively two buildings – K1 and K2 – visually articulated as three volumes. At the southern end of the plot, tucked deeper into the site, stands a separate slab, K3. Thus, the site is well utilized, yet the central part retains a significant courtyard, enclosed but only partially – on two sides rather than all four.

  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten
  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten


Two buildings – K1 and the larger slab K2 – are sliced diagonally. At first glance, it might seem they share a single slicing plane, but in fact the cuts are parallel: the third building’s slice is shifted slightly farther south. Still, in reality they will read as a single diagonal gesture. The first cut, on K1, opens up sunlight access for Zholtovsky’s building; the second opens views to the east, toward the rising sun. There’s also a subtle western orientation, as the slice – starting at the tenth floor on K2 and at the sixth on K1 – runs almost perfectly along a west-to-east axis.

  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten
  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten


Otherwise, the buildings are oriented parallel and perpendicular to Mira Avenue, which here runs northeast at a 60-degree angle. The diagonal cut effectively “reveals” this orientation in the massing of the buildings themselves.

At the cut corners, triangular terraces are planned. Ideally, these will become shared open-air spaces for residents – at least for each individual building. That said, the inner courtyard is also generous in size. And, as noted earlier, the Rostokino park is just a few steps away.

Landscaping for the podium, courtyard, and surrounding grounds was designed by the architectural company Druzhba (“Friendship”), which incorporated a street-level retail zone within the complex and created pedestrian pathways leading to the riverfront and across the footbridge to the park. Within the development itself, a “Forest Trail” park will be planted – featuring shrubs, boulders, wild grasses, trees, a spring-like fountain, and swings.

  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten
  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten / provided by the press service of Moskomarkhitektura


Interestingly, the two buildings parallel to the highway are the ones that respond most sharply to their surroundings. The 15-story K1, located next to Zholtovsky’s 11-story building, echoes classical themes due to this proximity. Still, the reference remains abstracted and restrained: here we see rounded, semi-cylindrical columns, while the inter-floor cornices take the shape of concave, pointed waves. In contrast, Zholtovsky’s building has flat pilasters. The color palette is also deliberately divergent – dark, nearly black rather than the expected yellow. In other words, there’s no literal imitation – just a distant dialogue with classicism. Naturally, there are no capitals. And the uppermost floors shed any ornamentation entirely: they’re fully glazed, which both lightens the overall appearance and allows for additional square footage and additional height.

  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten
  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten


The facades of the other two buildings develop not classical, but modernist themes. Building K3, set deep within the block and farthest from Mira Avenue, runs parallel to the iconic “House on Stilts”. Its facades are predominantly glass – though not in flat panes, but angled and folded like creases or ridges, as visible in both floor plans and renderings. In press releases, the facade is described as “dynamic”. The zigzag rhythm of its edges subtly echoes the balconies of the 1968 building next door, forming a friendly visual dialogue between the two structures.

  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten
  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten


The most compositionally sophisticated façade belongs to Building K2, which faces the Rostokinsky Park. Building K2 consists of three distinct volumes: the primary residential block clad in light-gray stone, a pink tower, and, finally, a “glass” link between them.

  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten
  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten


The stone-clad portion is calm and orderly: horizontal and vertical joints of stone panels frame rectangular windows.

The pink tower is the visual landmark of the entire complex. In the urban context of Mira Avenue, with its constant stream of traffic, the tower plays the role of a beacon. Clad in pink stone, its top floors serve as a kind of observation deck, fully glazed to offer panoramic views. The penthouse in this zone also includes an open-air terrace.

  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten
  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten / provided by the press service of Moskomarkhitektura


The upper levels of all three buildings are compositionally set apart by generous glazing, helping to break up the massing and visually highlight the most prestigious apartments.

Two entrances to the residential complex are planned from the riverfront side. The entrance zone is flanked by V-shaped supports – an homage to the neighboring “House on Stilts”.

  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten
  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten


To sum up: MIRA Residential Complex belongs to a typology increasingly common in Moscow in recent years – high-rise developments with a dominant tower, in this case reaching 83.1 meters. The key benefit of this type is the ability to house a large number of residents in close proximity to parks and urban amenities.
What sets Kleinewelt Architekten apart in this dense format is their focus on compositional variety and volumetric interplay – building clusters with distinct but harmonized elements. And also their color palette: these architects frequently place black next to dusty rose and pale gray. Their signature muted emerald green is absent here, but it is more than compensated for by the lush greenery of the surrounding landscape.

zooming
MIRA residential complex
Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten


Another defining feature is the attention to detail. This is more or less a prerequisite for modern residential projects in Moscow: façades especially need a certain “spark” or distinctive flourish. In this case, that role is played by unusual black columns – responding to Zholtovsky’s white pilasters. They are one of the key design elements here, as can be seen even in the concept sketches. The way they are drawn – bold and expressive – speaks volumes.

  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten
  • zooming
    MIRA residential complex
    Copyright: © Kleinewelt Architekten


But it’s not the only key element. There’s also the tower, the “accordion” building, the V-shaped legs… The ultramodern facades are carefully composed to correlate with nearby buildings – immediate neighbors. And this is what sets the complex apart from another local high-rise: Vladimir Plotkin’s Tricolor. That building is even taller – 190 meters – with varied forms and heights, but it’s wrapped in a continuous striped “skin”. It, too, enters into dialogue with the city and even with the “House on Stilts” – which becomes clear when you drive by it heading out of the city down Mira Venue. But Tricolor’s references are legible only from a distance – sometimes it feels like from two kilometers away.

The approach taken in MIRA is both similar and different. It’s shorter, more intricate, and its context is close at hand. It seems designed to “dissolve” the typical verticality of a tower into the urban fabric.

A metaphor comes to mind: imagine two students – one standing up straight in the balcony seats, the other raising a hand from the fifth row. That’s roughly the difference. And perhaps this difference was inevitable, shaped by the time and context that separate the two high-rises – built more than a decade apart.

Another key distinction: MIRA is turned away from the avenue. Its predecessors ceremonially frame one of the capital’s main arterial roads. In the new complex, that role is given to one of the three volumes – and the smallest one at that. The bulk of the apartments instead face the park. The main entrances are located there as well. The architects themselves have likened the development to an “island” – clearly referring to a sense of privacy.



All in all, MIRA appears to be an example of a “polite” high-rise. Not as tall as its neighbor, but closer to the center. Attuned to nearby landmarks, responding to them with a touch of playful defiance – but with care. A peaceful project on Mira Avenue.

Architect:
Nikolay Pereslegin
Sergey Pereslegin
Firm:
Kleinewelt Architekten http://www.kleinewelt.ru/

03 July 2025

Headlines now
View
“Strangers” in the City
We asked Alexander Skokan for a comment on the results of 2025 – and he sent us a whole article, moreover one devoted to the discussion we recently began on the “appropriateness of high-rises” – or, more broadly speaking, “contrasting insertions into the urban fabric”. The result is a text that is essentially a question: why here? Why like this?
Interview
Dmitry Ostroumov: “To use the language of alchemy, we are involved in the process of “transmutation...
What we ended up having was an extremely unusual conversation with Dmitry Ostroumov. Why? At the very least, because he is not just an architect specializing in the construction of Orthodox churches. And not just – which is an extreme rarity – a proponent of developing contemporary stylistics within this still highly conservative field. Dmitry Ostroumov is a Master of Theology. So in addition to the history and specifics of the company, we speak about the very concept of the temple, about canon and tradition, about the living and the eternal, and even about the Russian Logos.
Object
A Glazed Figurine
In searching for an image for a residential building near the Novodevichy Convent, GAFA architects turned to their own perception of the place: it evoked associations with antiquity, plein-air painting, and vintage artifacts. The two towers will be entirely clad in volumetric glazed ceramic – at present, there are no other buildings like this in Russia. The complex will also stand out thanks to its metabolic bay-window cells, streamlined surfaces, a ceremonial “hotel-style” driveway, and a lobby overlooking a lush garden.
Report
A Knight’s Move via the Cour d’Honneur
Intercolumnium Architects presented to the City Planning Council a residential complex project that is set to replace the Aquatoria business center on Vyborgskaya Embankment. Experts praised the overall quality of the work, but expressed reservations about the three cour d’honneurs and suggested softening the contrast between the facades facing the embankment and the Kantemirovsky Bridge.
Object
A Small Country
Mezonproekt is developing a long-term master plan for the MEPhI campus in Obninsk. Over the next ten years, an enclave territory of about 100 hectares, located in a forest on the northern edge of the city, is set to transform into a modern center for the development of the nuclear energy sector. The plan envisions attracting international students and specialists, as well as comprehensive territorial development: both through the contemporary realization of “frozen” plans from the 1980s and through the introduction of new trends – public spaces, an aquapark, a food court, a school, and even a nuclear medicine center. Public and sports facilities are intended to be accessible to city residents as well, and the campus is to be physically and functionally connected to Obninsk.
Object
Pearl Divers
GAFA has designed an apartment complex for Derbent intended to switch people from a work mode to a resort mindset – and to give the surrounding area a much-needed jolt. The building offers two distinct faces: restrained and laconic on the city side, and a lushly ornate façade facing the sea. At the heart of the complex, a hidden pearl lies – an open-air pool with an arch, offering views of a starry sky, and providing direct access to the beach.
Object
A Satellite Island
The Genplan Institute of Moscow has prepared a master plan for the development of the Sarpinsky and Golodny island system, located within the administrative boundaries of Volgograd and considered among the largest river islands in Russia. By 2045, the plan envisions the implementation of 15 large-scale investment projects, including sports and educational clusters, a congress center with a “Volgonarium”, a film production cluster, and twenty-one theme parks. We explain which engineering, environmental, and transportation challenges must be addressed to turn this vision into reality. The master plan solutions have already been approved and incorporated into the city’s general development plan.
Object
The Amber Gate
The Amber City residential complex is one of the redevelopment projects in the former industrial area located beyond Moscow’s Third Ring Road near Begovaya metro station. Alexey Ilyin’s studio proposed an original master plan that transformed two clusters of towers into ceremonial propylaea, gave the complex a recognizable silhouette, and established visual connections with new high-rise developments on both right and left – thus integrating it into the scale of the growing metropolis. It is also marked by its own futuristic stylistic language, based on a reinterpreted streamline aesthetic.
Object
A Theater Triangle
The architectural company “Chetvertoe Izmerenie” (“Fourth Dimension”) has developed the design for a new stage of the Magnitogorsk Musical Theater, rethinking not only theater architecture but also the role of the theater in the contemporary city.
Interview
Aleksei Ilyin: “I approach every task with genuine interest”
Aleksei Ilyin has been working on major urban projects for more than 30 years. He has all the necessary skills for high-rise construction in Moscow – yet he believes it’s essential to maintain variety in the typologies and scales represented in his portfolio. He is passionate about drawing – but only from life, and also in the process of working on a project. We talk about the structure and optimal size of an office, about his past and current projects, large and small tasks, and about creative priorities.
Object
​A Golden Sunbeam
A compact brick-and-metal building in the growing Shukhov Park in Vyksa seems to absorb sunlight, transform it into yellow accents inside, and in the evening “give it back” as a warm golden glow streaming from its windows. It is, frankly, a very attractive building: both material and lightweight at the same time, with lightness inside and materiality outside. Its form is shaped by function – laconic, yet far from simple. Let’s take a closer look.
Architecton Awards
In 2025, the jury of the Architecton festival reviewed the finalist projects through live, open presentations held right in the exhibition hall – a rather engaging performance, and something rarely seen among Russian awards. It would be great if “Zodchestvo” adopted this format. Below, we present all the winning projects, including four special nominations.
send.project
Garden of Knowledge
UNK architects and UNK design created the interiors of the Letovo Junior campus, working together with NF Studio, which was responsible for developing the educational technology that takes into account the needs and perception of younger and middle school children.
The Silver Skates
The STONE Kaluzhskaya office quarter is accompanied by two residential towers, making the complex – for it is indeed a single ensemble – well balanced in functional terms. The architects at Kleinewelt gave the residential buildings a silvery finish to match the office blocks. How they are similar, how they differ, and what “Silver Skates” has to do with it – we explore in this article.
Overview
On the Dynastic Trail
The houses and townhouses of the “Tsarskaya Tropа” (“Czar’s Trail”) complex are being built in the village of Gaspra in Crimea – to the west and east of the palaces of the former grand-ducal residence “Ai-Todor”. One of the main challenges for the architects at KPLN, who developed the project, was to respond appropriately to this significant neighboring heritage. How this influenced the massing, the façades, and the way the authors work with the terrain is explored in our article.
Object
A New Path
The main feature of the Yar Park project, designed by Sergey Skuratov for Kazan, is that it is organized along the “spine” of a multifunctional mall with an impressive multi-height atrium space in its middle. The entire site, both on the city side and the Kazanka River embankment, is open to the public. The complex is intended not to become “yet another fenced enclave” but, as urban planners say, a “polycenter” – a new point of attraction for the whole of Kazan, especially its northern part, made up of residential districts that until now have lacked such a vibrant public space. It represents a new urban planning approach to a high-density mixed-use development situated in the city center – in a sense, an “anti-quarter”. Even Moscow, one might say, doesn’t yet have anything quite like it. Well, lucky Kazan!
Object
Beneath the Azure Sky
A depository designed by Studio 44 will soon be built in Kenozersky National Park to preserve and display the so-called “heavens” – ceiling structures characteristic of wooden churches in the Russian North, painted with biblical scenes. For each of these “heavens”, the architects created a volume corresponding in scale and dimensions to the original church interior. The result is a honeycomb-like composition, with modules derived directly from the historic monuments themselves, allowing visitors to view the icons from the historically accurate angle – from below, looking upward. How exactly this works is the subject of our story.
Object
​The Power of Lines
The building at the very beginning of New Arbat is the result of long deliberations over how to replace the former House of Communication. Contemporary, dynamic, and even somewhat zoomorphic in character, it is structured around a large diagonal grid. The building has become a striking accent both in the perspective of the former Kalinin Avenue and in the panorama of Arbat Square. Yet, unfortunately, the original concept was not fully realized. In 2020, the Moscow ArchCouncil approved a design featuring an exoskeleton – an external load-bearing structure, which eventually turned into a purely decorative element. Still, the power of the supergraphic “holds” the building, giving it the qualities of a new urban landmark with iconic potential. How this concept took shape, what unexpected associations might underlie the grid’s form, and why the exoskeleton was never built – all this is explored in our article.
News
Resort on the Kama River
Wowhaus has developed a project for the reconstruction of Korabelnaya Roshcha (“Mast Grove”), a wellness resort located on the banks of the Kama River.
Object
Nests in Primorye
The eco-park project “Nests”, designed by Aleksey Polishchuk and the company Power Technologies, received first prize at the Eco-Coast 2025 festival, organized by the Union of Architects of Russia. For a glamping site in Filinskaya Bay, the authors proposed bird-shaped houses, treehouses, and a nest-shaped observation platform, topping it all with an entrance pavilion executed in the shape of an owl.
Object
The Angle of String Tension
The House of Music, designed by Vladimir Plotkin and the architects of TPO Reserve, resembles a harp, and when seen from above, even a bass clef. But if only it were that simple! The architecture of the complex fuses two distinct expressive languages: the lattice-like, transparent, permeable vocabulary of “classical” modernism and the sculptural, ribbon-like volumes so beloved by today’s neo-modernism. How it all works – where the catharsis lies, which compositional axes underpin the design, where the project resembles Zaryadye Concert Hall and where it does not – read in the article below.
Object
How Historic Tobolsk Becomes a Portal to the Future
Over the past decade, the architectural company Wowhaus has developed urban strategies for several Russian cities – Vyksa, Tula, and Nizhnekamsk, to name but a few. Against this backdrop, the Tobolsk master plan stands out both for its scale – the territory under transformation covers more than 220 square kilometers – and for its complexity.
Object
St. Petersburg vs Rome
The center of St. Petersburg is, as we know, sacred – but few people can say with certainty where this “sacred place” actually begins and ends. It’s not about the formal boundaries, “from the Obvodny Canal to the Bolshaya Nevka”, but about the vibe that feels true to the city center. With the Nevskaya Ratusha complex – built to a design that won an international competition – Evgeny Gerasimov and Sergei Tchoban created an “image of the center” within its territory. And not so much the image of St. Petersburg itself, as that of a global metropolis. This is something new, something that hasn’t appeared in the city for a long time. In this article, we study the atmosphere, recall precedents, and even reflect on who and when first called St. Petersburg the “new Rome”. Clearly, the idea is alive for a reason.
Object
On the Wave
The project of transforming the river port and embankment in the city of Cheboksary, developed by the ATRIUM Architects, involves one of the city’s key areas. The Volga embankment is to be turned into a riverside boulevard – a multifunctional, comfortable, and expressive space for work and leisure activities. The authors propose creating a new link with the city’s main Krasnaya (“Red”) Square, as well as erecting several residential towers inspired by the shape of the traditional national women’s headdress – these towers are likely to become striking accents on the Volga panorama.
Interview
Valery Kanyashin: “We Were Given a Free Hand”
The Headliner residential complex, the main part of which was recently completed just across from Moscow City, is a kind of neighbor to the MIBC that doesn’t “play along” with it. On the contrary, the new complex is entirely built on contrast: like a city of differently scaled buildings that seems to have emerged naturally over the past 20 years – which is a hugely popular trend nowadays! And yet here – perhaps only here – such a project has been realized to its full potential. Yes, high-rises dominate, but all these slender, delicate profiles, all these exciting perspectives! And most importantly – how everything is mixed and composed together... We spoke with the project’s leader Valery Kanyashin.
Object
​The Keystone
Until quite recently, premium residential and office complexes in Moscow were seen as the exclusive privilege of the city center. Today the situation is changing: high-quality architecture is moving beyond the confines of the Third Ring Road and appearing on the outskirts. The STONE Kaluzhskaya business center is one such example. Projects like this help decentralize the megalopolis, making life and work prestigious in any part of the city.
send.project
Perpetuum Mobile
The interior of the headquarters of Natsproektstroy, created by the IND studio team, vividly and effectively reflects the client’s field of activity – it is one of Russia’s largest infrastructure companies, responsible for logistics and transport communications of every kind you can possibly think of.
Object
Water and Light
Church art is full of symbolism, and part of it is truly canonical, while another part is shaped by tradition and is perceived by some as obligatory. Because of this kind of “false conservatism”, contemporary church architecture develops slowly compared to other genres, and rarely looks contemporary. Nevertheless, there are enthusiasts in this field out there: the cemetery church of Archangel Michael in Apatity, designed by Dmitry Ostroumov and Prokhram bureau, combines tradition and experiment. This is not an experiment for its own sake, however – rather, the considered work of a contemporary architect with the symbolism of space, volume, and, above all, light.