По-русски

Pastel and Glass

For two months already, in Saint Petersburg, works "Boris Eifman Dance Academy", the unique building of which was designed by "Studio 44".

05 November 2013
Object
mainImg
Firm:
Company:
Object:
Boris Eifman Dance Academy
Russia, St. Petersburg, Liza Chaikina str., 2

Project Team:
Architects: Yavein Nikita Igorevich (the head), Kulachenkov Valeri Leonidovich, Snezhkin Georgi Sergeevich, Aksenov Sergei Igorevich Constructor: Gershtein Vladimir Ionovich

12.2008 — 2010 / 2011 — 2013

Construction Committee of St Petersburg Government

This project was already covered by Archi.ru three years ago - back then, Studio 44 won the tender to become the general design contractor for the "Dance Academy", and, from then on, the work did not stop for a single day. The construction period took two years which is quite a short while for a project of such magnitude. It was not the only the aggressive schedule of implementing the project that became the doubtless achievement of the "customer-architect-developer" triad, though: what is really important is the quality of construction work that this team was able to achieve. Ultimately, this is what counts for a happy end with any architectural project - when the end-result building fully answers the authors' original idea.

With a total area of 12 square meters, "Dance Academy" is situated on the spot of the former "Assambleya" Movie Theater on Lisa Chaikina Street, where for years the rehearsal studio of Eifman theater was situated. Formally, this building never was a monument of architecture (after the reconstruction of 1958 all of its walls and floors were substituted with new ones). Still, the architects decided to keep its main facade intact - first of all, so as not to violate the architectural context of the street, and second of all, so as to restore, guided by the author's idea of 1911, the imposing entrance exedra with a coffered semi-dome. The antique origin of this decorative element goes a long way to underline the meaning of tradition for the art of ballet: without mastering the fundamental technique, one cannot start choreographic experiments. The "background" of the exedra is made up of the blind facades of the new school building (these volumes are recessed deeper into the block and they step aside a little, as if "peeking" from behind the "Assambleya", even though the architects add a modern twist to them, laying the bricks in the shape of QR-codes of popular quotations about ballet. So, the classic and the contemporary are intertwined on the academy's main facade to symbolize its tribute to the Russian ballet tradition as well as its openness to the new trends.

 

Speaking about bricks! In this project, the architects use the light-beige Finnish brick that was chosen, in the first place, specifically because of its color that perfectly matched the restored facade of "Assambleya". Later on, when the work was already underway, it turned out that the Finnish regulations allow for significantly larger fluctuations in the size and smoothness of bricks than the Russian ones do. "At some places, the brickwork looked downright lopsided and untidy, and we, together with the customer and the contractor, went all the way to take these places apart and then straighten out manually each and every brick with our ruler - Nikita Yavein shares - We are really proud with the result that we ultimately got: this is arguably the city's best brickwork among its new brickwork projects".

 

The building was erected on a really constrained land site, and the most challenging task for the architects was meeting both the land site restrictions and the regulations for designing educational institutions. "It was a bare pass" - Nikita Yavein shares while showing the modest-sized yard territory into which "Studio 44" was ultimately able to squeeze two four-story buildings - the educational and the residential ones, interconnected with an atrium. The functional agenda of the "Academy" is saturated indeed: it provides for full board and lodging, its students not only living and studying here but also doing sports and, if necessary, going through medical check-ups with the appropriate doctors, the medical center occupying a whole separate floor. The last thing in the world the architects wanted to do, though, was distributing all the relevant premises over the two "boxes" - this would have been boring and not really conductive to a creative atmosphere - so, instead of the "two buildings and an atrium" definition, the architects prefer to say "a system of buildings". By means of the atrium, as well as the numerous cantilevers, overpasses, and stairways, the buildings are engaged into an interesting and meaningful dialogue.

 

The main public area of "Dance Academy" is literally flooded with light - at the few moments one is really taken aback with its size and planning complexity. The architects made a beautiful spin of contrasts: getting exposed to the building with such a reserved, "buttoned-up" facade, one does not in the least expect to find behind it a multi-level labyrinth with glass walls. The inside layout is based on the "aquarium principle": the teachers will always be able to trace the student's progress from the dormitory to the class or dancing hall, while all the subtleties of the teaching process will be hidden from the passers'-by eyes.

The overall color of the "aquarium" is light chartreuse, and the architects chose it for a painfully long time: while creating the educational institution for children, the architects wanted to break away as far as possible from giving a "hospital" feel to it - meaning, the interiors that are bright and clean but totally faceless. The softness and expressiveness of the chosen shade is enhanced by the floors and staircases of natural wood, as well as by the multi-colored portals of the dance halls. Beyond the confines of the atrium, the color palette of the Academy's interiors grows significantly more complex: the walls of its classrooms and halls are painted pastel colors of dozens of shades, the halls for the little ones being decorated in brighter colors, the playrooms in the residential block designed in bright yellow. The architects confess that, by employing this technique, they tried to make up for the shortage of sunny days in Saint Petersburg latitudes.

 

Totally, "Dance Academy" has in it 14 ballet halls, including one that is the size of the stage in the Emperor Theater (it also provides about a hundred chairs for the performers' parents), and an assembly hall joined together with the student lounge. The latter is a special pride of "Studio 44": it appeared due to the same reason of dire space constraints but the end result looks really imposing indeed - some of the wide stairs of the grand stairway are separated with a white screen, thus turning the whole thing into an amphitheater that is viewable practically from every conceivable angle of the school.

The cooperation between "Studio 44" and Boris Eifman and the school he founded did not end at the point of creating the educational and residential complex at the Lisa Chaikina Street. The building next to the former cinema theater - the wooden mansion of Dobert-Steikmann - will also soon become part of the academy. It is planned that it will house the management office, the hybrid library, as well as a few apartments for the guest teachers and guests of the Academy. And, even though this building is no longer protected and is no longer considered an architectural monument either, "Studio 44" keeps it completely intact, paying homage to the uniqueness of the wooden edifice that has miraculously survived into the present day.


zooming
Boris Eifman Dance Academy © Studio 44
zooming
zooming


Firm:
Company:
Object:
Boris Eifman Dance Academy
Russia, St. Petersburg, Liza Chaikina str., 2

Project Team:
Architects: Yavein Nikita Igorevich (the head), Kulachenkov Valeri Leonidovich, Snezhkin Georgi Sergeevich, Aksenov Sergei Igorevich Constructor: Gershtein Vladimir Ionovich

12.2008 — 2010 / 2011 — 2013

Construction Committee of St Petersburg Government

05 November 2013

Headlines now
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”.
Elevation 5642
The Genplan Institute of Moscow has developed a comprehensive development project for three ski resorts in the Caucasus, which have been designated as special economic zones of the tourism and recreation type. The first of these zones is Elbrus. The project includes the construction of new ski runs, cable cars, and hotels, as well as the modernization of stations and improvements to the Azau tourist meadow. To expand the audience and enhance year-round appeal, a network of eco-trails is also being developed. In this article, we provide a detailed breakdown of each stage.
The IT Town
Taking the example of the first completed phase of the “U” district, we examine how the new neighborhood in Innopolis will be organized. T+T Architects and HADAA formed a well-balanced and ingenious master plan with different types of housing, a green artery, a system of squares, and a park in the town’s central part.
The Heart Lies Within
The second-phase building of the Evgeny Primakov School already won multiple awards while still in the design stage. Now that it’s completed, some unfinished nuances remain – most notably, the exposed ceiling structures, which ideally should have been concealed. However, given the priority placed on the building’s volumetric composition, this does not seem critical. What matters more is the “Wow!” effect created by the space itself.
Magnetic Forces
“Krylatskaya 33” is the first large-scale residential complex to appear amidst the 1980s “micro-districts” that harmoniously coexist with the forests, the river, the slopes, and the sports infrastructure. Despite its imposing scale, the architects of Ostozhenka managed to turn the complex into something that can be best described as a “graceful dominant”. First, they designed the complex with consideration for the style and height of the surrounding micro-districts. Second, by introducing a pause in its tallest section, they created compositional tension – right along the urban planning axis of the area.
Orion’s Belt
The Stone Khodynka 2 office complex, designed by Kleinewelt Architekten for the company Stone, is built with an ergonomic layout following “healthy building” principles: natural light, ventilation, and all the necessary features for an efficient office environment. On the outside, it resembles – like many contemporary buildings – an iPhone: sleek, glowing, glass-and-metal, edges elegantly rounded. Yet, it responds sensitively to the Khodynka context, where the main theme is the contrast between vertical and horizontal lines. The key intrigue lies in the design of the “stylobate” as a suspended passage, leaving the space beneath it open for free pedestrian movement.
Grigory Revzin: “It Was a Bold Statement Made on the Sly. Something Won”
In this article, we discuss the debates surrounding the circus competition and the demolition of the CMEA building with the most renowned architectural critic of our time. A paradox emerges in the process: while nostalgia for the Brezhnev era seems to be in vogue in Russia, a landmark building – the “axis” of the Warsaw Pact – has been sentenced to demolition. Isn’t that strange? We also find out that wow-architecture has made a comeback as a post-COVID trend. However, to make a truly powerful statement, professionals still remain indispensable.
Exposed Concrete
One of the stages of improving a small square in the town of Lermontov was the construction of a skatepark. Entrusting this part of the project to the XSA team, the city gained a 250-meter trick track whose features resemble those of land art objects – unparalleled in Russia in both scale and design. Here’s a look at how the experimental snake run in the foothills of the Caucasus was built.
One Step Closer To the Dream
The challenges of getting all the mandatory approvals, an insufficient budget, and construction site difficulties did not prevent ASADOV Bureau from achieving its main goal in the realization of the school project in the town of Troitsk – taking another step away from outdated notions of educational spaces toward creating a fundamentally new academic environment.
Chalet on the Rock
An Accor hotel in Arkhyz, designed by A.Len, will be situated at the gateway to the resort’s main tourist hubs. The architects reinterpreted the widely popular chalet style while adding an unexpected twist – an unfinished structure preserved on the site. The design team transformed this remnant into an exciting space featuring an open-air pool and a restaurant with panoramic views of the region’s highest mountain ridges.
Sergey Skuratov: “By and large, the project has been realized in line with the original ideas”
In this issue, we talk to the chief architect of Garden Quarters, looking back at the history and key moments of a project that took 18 years to develop and has now finally been completed. What interests us most are the transformations that the project underwent during construction, and the way the “necessary void” of public space was formed, which turned this remarkable complex into a fragment of a whole new type of urban fabric – not just at the horizontal “street” level but in its vertical structure as well.
A Unique Representative
The recently concluded year 2024 can be considered the year of completion for the “Garden Quarters” residential complex in Moscow’s Khamovniki. This project is well-known and, in many ways, iconic. Rarely does one manage to preserve such a number of original ideas, achieving in the end a kind of urban planning Gesamtkunstwerk. Here is a subjective view from an architecture journalist, with an interview with Sergey Skuratov soon to follow.
Field of Life
The new project by the architectural company PNKB (an acronym for “Design, Research, and Advisory Bureau”), led by Sergey Gnedovsky and Anton Lyubimkin, for the Kulikovo Field Museum is dedicated to the field as a concept in its own right. The field has long been a focus of the museum’s thorough and successful research. Accordingly, the exterior of the new museum building is gentler than that of its predecessor, which was also designed by PNKB and dedicated specifically to the historic battle. Inside, however, the building confidently guides the visitor from a luminous atrium along a spiral path to the field – interpreted here as a field of life.
A Paper Clip above the River
In this article, we talk with Vitaly Lutz from the Genplan Institute of Moscow about the design and unique features of the pedestrian bridge that now links the two banks of the Yauza River in the new cluster of Bauman Moscow State Technical University (MSTU). The bridge’s form and functionality – particularly the inclusion of an amphitheater suspended over the river – were conceived during the planning phase of the territory’s development. Typically, this approach is not standard practice, but the architects advocate for it, referring to this intermediate project phase as the “pre-AGR” stage (AGR stands for Architectural and Urban Planning Approval). Such a practice, they argue, helps define key parameters of future projects and bridge the gap between urban planning and architectural design.
Living in the Architecture of One’s Own Making
Do architects design houses for themselves? You bet! In this article, we are examining a new book by TATLIN publishing house. This book – unprecedented for Russia – features 52 private homes designed and built by contemporary architects for themselves. It includes houses that are famous, even iconic, as well as lesser-known ones; large and small, stylish and eccentric. To some extent, the book reflects the history of Russian architecture over the past 30 years.
A City Block Isoline
Another competition project for a residential complex on the banks of the Volga in Nizhny Novgorod has been prepared by Studio 44. A team of architects led by Ivan Kozhin concluded that using a regular block layout in such a location would be inappropriate and developed a “custom design” approach: a chain of parceled multi-section buildings stretching along the entire embankment. Let’s explore the features and advantages of this unconventional method.
Competition: The Price of Creativity?
Any day now, we’re expecting the results of a competition held by the “Samolet” development group for a plot in Kommunarka. In the meantime, we share the impressions of Editor-in-Chief Julia Tarabarina, who managed to conduct a public talk. Though technically focused on the interaction between developers and architects, the public talk turned into a discussion about the pros and cons of architectural competitions.
Terraced Design
The “River Park” residential complex has confidently and securely shaped the Nagatinsky Backwater shoreline. Featuring a public embankment, elevated courtyards connected by pedestrian bridges, and brick façades, the development invites exploration of its nuanced response to the surrounding context, as well as hints of the architects’ megalithic design thinking.
A Kremlin’s Core and Meteorite Fragments
We continue our coverage of the competition projects for the residential district that the development company GloraX plans to build along the embankment of the Rowing Channel in Nizhny Novgorod. ASADOV Architects approached the concept through a deep dive into local identity, using storytelling to pinpoint a central idea for the design: the master plan and composition are imagined as if a meteorite had struck a “proto-Kremlin”. Sounds weird? Find more details below!
The Volga Regatta
GloraX plans to develop a residential complex spanning 14 hectares along the Volga River in Nizhny Novgorod. The winning design in a closed-door competition, created by GORA Architects, features housing typologies ranging from townhouses to terraced high-rise slabs, a balance of functions, diverse ways of engaging with the water, and even a dedicated island (no less!) for the city residents.
Life Plans
The master plan for the residential district “Prityazheniye” (“Gravity”) in Naberezhnye Chelny was developed by the architectural company A.Len, taking into account the specific urban planning context and partially implemented solutions of the first phase. However, the master plan prioritized its own values: a green framework, a system of focal points, a hierarchy of spaces, and pedestrian priority. After this, the question of what residents will do in their neighborhood simply doesn’t arise.
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.
Four Different Surveys
The “Explore the City” competition, organized this year by the Genplan Institute of Moscow, stands out as a pretty unconventional one for the architectural field but aligns perfectly well with the character of urban planning work. The winning project analyzed contemporary residential complexes, combining urban planning insights with a realtor’s perspective to propose a hybrid approach. Other entries explored public centers, motivations for car ownership, and housing vacancy rates. A fifth participant withdrew. Here’s a closer look at the four completed works.
Scheduled Evolution
ASADOV Architects unveiled the EvyCenter pavilion, a microcultural hub for fostering personal growth, organizing workshops, and doing gymnastics. Additionally, this pavilion serves as a prototype for a scalable country house, drawing inspiration from the “Loskutok” project, and constructed from CLT panels in a factory. This marks the beginning of a developer project initiated by the architectural firm (sic!), which is seeking partners to expand both small Evy settlements and even larger Evy cities, which are, according to Andrey Asadov, aimed at fostering the “evolutionary” development of the people who will inhabit them.
The Golden Crown
The concept for a dental clinic in Yekaterinburg, developed by CNTR Studio, revolves around the idea of a “mouth full of gold”: pristine white porcelain stoneware walls are complemented by matte brass details. To avoid an overly literal interpretation, the architects focused on the building’s proportions, skillfully navigating between sunlight requirements and fire safety regulations.
Flexibility and Integration
Not long ago, we covered the project for the fourth phase of the ÁLIA residential complex, designed by APEX. Now, we’ve been shown different fence concepts they developed to enclose the complex’s private courtyards, incorporating a variety of public functions. We believe that the sheer fact that the complex’s architects were involved in such a detail as fencing speaks volumes.
A Step Forward
The HIDE residential complex represents a major milestone for ADM architects and their leaders Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova in their quest for a fresh high-rise aesthetic – one that is flexible and layered, capable of bringing vibrancy to mass and silhouette while shaping form. Over recent years, this approach has become ADM’s “signature style”, with the golden HIDE tower playing a pivotal role in its evolution. Here, we delve into the project’s story, explore the details of the complex’s design, and uncover its core essence.