По-русски

Sergey Trukhanov: "The shape must be conditioned by its environment".

The leader of "T+T Architects" Bureau on his working fundamentals and the recent project done by his team.

Anna Martovitskaya

Interviewed by:
Anna Martovitskaya
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

03 June 2013
Interview
mainImg

Archi.ru: When was "T+T Architects" founded?

Sergey Trukhanov: From the formal standpoint, our company is quite young: it was founded early in 2012. But the team of which I am the leader, came together a lot earlier: for a number of years, we all worked as part of another bureau. Some of the projects that we had started back then were later on completed under the new brand and were rightfully included into the portfolio of "T+T Architects".

Archi.ru: As far as I understand, the name of the bureau is in no way associated with your second name?

Sergey Trukhanov: "T+T" stands for "transparent territory". This simple formula reflects the essence of our approach to doing our architectural projects. The transparency and openness of all our project solutions, their being motivated and understandable to our client, our contractor, and our end consumer is something that we place our main bet on. The architecture of the building, as well as its social and functional program, must be reasoned by its environment, its logistics, its aesthetic and social value, and everything that nowadays is usually referred to as "context". Probably it's mainly because of this that our projects cannot boast some outstanding style, characteristic of us alone. We do not have the goal of manifesting our "architectural ego" in each of our projects, even though I do not think this is such a bad thing.

Archi.ru: Then how would you describe your architecture?

Sergey Trukhanov: Speaking of our architectural and interior design projects, I would say that we try to make each one of them as dynamic as possible. We are not attracted by the structures that are sort of "a thing in itself" and exist apart from the city and its people; forts are definitely not our typology. We have a lot more of a soft spot for the projects like "White Square" - a complex on a tiny strip of land that feels like Manhattan on a miniature scale.

 

Courtyard of "Studio #8"

Archi.ru: In other words, you put the environment that you create above the shape that you do?

Sergey Trukhanov: I would say, interaction of the object with its environment is more important than its shape. The shape must be conditioned by its environment, not the other way around. In this sense, we are the big advocates of the approach when any project is regarded as a set of clear-cut, logical, and consistent diagrams - think Bjarke Ingels to mention but one name. It's a very simple process, actually: first we take a cube in a windswept field and then transform it with regard to the insolation, the wind rose, the viewing properties, the traffic and the pedestrian flow chart. Superimposing one group of factors over another, we are getting the required matrix, and architecture stops being something divine and mysterious - it becomes a logical science that can be learned and understood. In our work we try to guide ourselves by these fundamentals. As Kurt Vonnegut said, "any scientist that can't explain to a six-year old what he's doing is a charlatan".

Archi.ru: I was just about to ask you if the English name of your company signifies your adherence to the principles of the contemporary western architecture. According to my observations, you do have the principles of somebody who learned or practiced in a western bureau.

Sergey Trukhanov: There are no "western" or "Russian" principles of architecture, they are all the same. There is a context in which these principles are to be implemented, and this context can indeed vary dramatically. One must correlate to the other, otherwise your project, be it a building or an interior design, will inevitably turn into a mere "art object". And it doesn't matter what school you went to - what matters for us is whether our employee is really ready to learn and grow, whether he is committed to excellence. At T+T, we have the graduates of Moscow Institute of Architecture, and of Moscow State University of Civil Engineering - but this does not mean that we do not try to be always updated on the latest trends of Russian and the world's architecture.

How does you bureau work? Do you have working groups, or do you attend personally to each and every project?

Sergey Trukhanov: We are a full-cycle bureau, i.e. we start with the architectural proposals and concepts, and our job is finished when the last light has been installed. T+T Architects Bureau consists in fact of two independent divisions - the architectural design headed by Alexander Brovkin, and the interior design headed by Vladimir Chukanov. Each of these two divisions consists of several working groups with Alexander and Vladimir supervising the results of their work. As for myself, I, of course have to give the formal approval to each of the projects but I do not always elaborate each and every detail. We do not run an "author" architectural bureau, and one of the things that we surely don't have is the "stylistic dictatorship". What we do have is our common ideology and construction norms and rules. Our every concept is the result of joint discussions and making collective decisions.

Archi.ru: What qualities should an architect possess to get a job at your bureau?

Sergey Trukhanov: What I value in people most is their active attitude - from a personal and from a professional standpoint. Meaning - we do not hire the "give me the exact instructions for what to do" type. Plus - these should be people that are ready and willing to withstand the mad tempo of our work - simply because the basic pool of our orders is not supposed to stay in the pre-design phase for long. We have not yet designed large-scale agglomerations, our main specialty being the projects of redeveloping former industrial buildings to fit the current needs, office complexes, and commercial interiors, i.e. projects that have rigorous and contract-stipulated deadlines that we simply cannot violate. I am not the direct advocate of the age limit idea but we generally hire young people. The architects who are past forty and who have a Soviet "Project Institute" background generally cannot withstand our tempo.

Archi.ru: You mentioned redevelopment projects. When studying the portfolio of T+T Architects at you website, I noticed that they do prevail among your implementations. Do you consider this "genre" your main specialty?

Sergey Trukhanov: We never deliberately set a goal to specialize in this area but renovating old buildings proved to be just as exciting as designing new ones. Besides, what is always exciting is the challenge to preserve the already-formed house planning, breathe a new life into the old building in the contemporary reality. This is why our clients enjoy working with us in this genre. In particular, we highly value our cooperation with the company "KR Properties" for which we did a number of such projects. In 2010, for example, we did a concept for renovating a milling plant in Orenburg that was later on awarded the prize of International commercial property awards. Right now we are taking an active part in the renovation project of the "Danilovskaya Manufactura" factory building, doing both the exterior and interior remodeling. Plus right now we are finishing the implementation of a very interesting project of improving the courtyards of the building that is in fact the HQ of KR Properties themselves. The asymmetric elongated strip of land, practically "locked up" from all sides by the facades of the adjacent buildings - we were able to turn it into a thought-through cozy territory by virtue of using the various green zones, foot walks, partially exposing the sunk-in windows of the basement floor, and making recreation spaces.

 

Interior of the public spaces of the business center "Danilovskaya Manufactura 1867"


Territory of the office center of KR Properties


We are also very proud of the project of the loft block "Studio #8" that has just been awarded the honorary diploma of the "Golden Section 2013". This is a reconstruction of the factory building in the Airport driveway that will be turned into an apartment complex. According to the specifications, we were to keep the construction footprints intact and all of the buildings that were possible to keep and renovate. Plus - the land site is immediately adjacent to the residential complex "Triumph Palace" whose aesthetics and dimensions we were to offset in a graceful unobtrusive manner. We solved this challenge at the expense of the roof that we turned in fact into a new facade. And in order to avoid competing with this high-rise either in the grade of the housing or in the typology we did our project in the loft aesthetic, like an up-to-date European country house.

 

Loft block "Studio 8"


Reconstruction project of a milling factory in the city of Orenburg

Archi.ru: In this sense, there is a lot of charisma about your office - Roof Point on the Luzhnetskaya Embankment. Could you please share how it came about that the office of the architectural bureau is also a showroom and a media venue at the same time?

Sergey Trukhanov: We think that our office is the perfect reflection of our approach: it is transparent, laconic, and understandable at first sight. When we first found ourselves in that loft, we were stricken by its giant window commanding the view of the Luzhniki Stadium and the Moscow City, as well as by its open structures and the opportunity to use the roof. We removed all the partitions and the annexes that were left from the previous owners, and then we saw the girders of the wooden structure of the roof that ultimately became one of the key design elements, just as the original wooden floors from the floor boards that had been hidden under the carpet in their "previous" life. Why the media venue? Well, we thought that it would be a shame to hide such a place because it lends itself to meetings, panel discussions, and communication. Plus we wanted to create a venue where people could discuss various issues and prove their viewpoints unhindered by the constraints of the corporate culture.

 

Interior of the office "Roof point"

Interior of the office "Roof point"

Archi.ru: Generally, how important is the social function for you? Do you purposefully include it into you projects?

Sergey Trukhanov: We always try to do that if our customer goes for it. One of the main goals of the project "Studio #8" that we set for ourselves was making this block as open as possible to the passers-by, give the "address" to the object, turn the "squeezed" streets and territory spots into improved places where the tenants could take a rest or go for walks. Also, very interesting for us was the housing projects of the land site across from "Bagrationovskaya" metro station, along Barclay Street. today, this is a wasteland, through which the local people go from the metro station to their houses. The plot is "in the encumbrance", meaning - the investor is required to build something for the city here, and we were to come up with the idea just what it could be. First of all, we kept and legalized this already-existing passage along this axis, and placed a multi-level public space with cafes, shops, numerous passages, and terraces. What we ultimately got was a building that was all transparent, see-through, safe, and dramatic.

 

City square at Barclay Street in Moscow


Archi.ru: A very optimistic project for Moscow, don't you think?

Sergey Trukhanov: I believe that little strokes fell great oaks, you know. We will offer to build something of this kind. Other architects will. And ultimately somebody will get lucky to actually build a project like this. One day Moscow will start turning into a city that is convenient to live in. Like I said, the very context will start changing.

Archi.ru: Meaning - generally you are optimistic of Moscow's future?

Sergey Trukhanov: In today's Moscow, the architecture suffers a lot because the implementation budgets are always being cut. This is how usually it goes: you develop a concept, show it to your client, and he goes: "Wow! Fantastic! Uhh... Can we build this beauty for three kopecks?" You answer that, no, we cannot. That is, they have the guts to accept a daring concept but they do not want to spend the money. The companies that operate differently are very few indeed but they are there, and it inspires some certain optimism. The regions have a reverse problem: people are really afraid to approve daring projects to implementation while the budgets sometimes exceed Moscow ones. Such a vicious circle!

Generally, it is hard to speak about any quality of the project if it is expected to bring the return on investment within 5 years at the most. To me, this is an inconceivably short term. The ideology of "temporary workers" really has a negative effect - hence the total economy on implementation which ultimately makes a negative difference in the quality of the buildings. In Europe, there is a multitude of schemes that help bring the payback period earlier. I really hope to survive into the time when such schemes will work in Russia - and then we will be able to apply the "European" principles to the fullest.

zooming
zooming
zooming
zooming


03 June 2013

Anna Martovitskaya

Interviewed by:

Anna Martovitskaya
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov
Headlines now
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.
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.
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”.
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”.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
​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.
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.
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.
​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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
An Educational Experiment for the North
City-Arch continues to work on the projects that can be termed as “experimental public preschools”: private kindergartens and schools can envy such facilities in many respects. This time around, the project is done for the city of Gubkinsky, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. A diverse educational and play environment, including a winter garden, awaits future students, while the teachers will have abundant opportunities to implement new practices.
Alexandra Kuzmina: “Working is easy when the rules are the same for everyone”
The subject matter of Moscow Region’s booth and presentations at Zodchestvo Festival was the concept of “Integrated Land Development”, and for a good reason: this task is very challenging, very relevant, and Moscow Region has already accumulated quite a formidable experience in this regard. In this article, we are speaking to the main architect of the region: about master plans and who makes them, about where you obtain resources for creating a comfortable environment, about her favorite projects, about why there are so few good architects, and what we should do with the bad ones.
The Cemetery: Inside and Outside
The workshop organized by the Genplan Institute of Moscow scored one of the two first places at the “Open City” festival. Its subject is reorganization of municipal cemeteries. Two action plans were proposed, diametrically opposite: one for the downtown and one for the suburbs.
Our Everything
Who is Alexey Shchusev? In the last couple of weeks, since the architect’s 150th birthday, different individuals have answered this question differently. The most detailed, illustrated, and elegantly presented response is an exhibition held in two buildings of the Museum of Architecture on Vozdvizhenka. Four curators, a year and a half of work performed by the entire museum, and exhibition design by Sergey Tchoban and Alexandra Sheiner – in this article, we take you on a tour of the exhibition and show what’s what in it.
For Mental Reboot
At the architectural competition held in 2023 in Novosibirsk, the project by GORA Architects – a pedestrian bridge leading to the town of Bor – was awarded the “Golden Capital” prize. In this country, more than a hundred pedestrian bridges are constructed each year. What makes the Bor bridge different?
Gold Embroidery
A five-story housing complex designed by Stepan Liphart in Kazan, responds to the stylistically diverse context with its form, both integral and agile, and as for the vicinity of the “Ekiyat” movie theater, the complex responds to it with a semblance of theater curtain folds, and active plastique of its balconies, that bear some resemblance to theater boxes. Even if excessively pompous a little bit, the complex does look fresh and modern. One will have a hard time finding Art Deco elements in it, even though the spirit of the 1930s, run through the filter of neo-modernism, is still clearly felt, just as a twist of the Occident.