Overcoming the Context

A detailed story of a housing project on the Rublevskoye Highway, with which "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS" won a closed architectural tender.

Written by:
Anna Martovitskaya
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

27 January 2014

Object

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoye Highway © "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS"

The contest for the best project of a residential complex that is planned to be built in Moscow at the crossing of the Rublevskoye Highway and the Yartsevskaya Street was organized by "PIK" Group and Moskomarkhitektura in the fall of last year. Announced on the threshold of the winter holidays, its results were already covered by Archi.ru. In this issue we will share in more detail about Sergey Skuratov project whose solution was unanimously voted to be the best by the judging panel.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoye Highway © "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS"

As the author reminisces, the project included two ultimate priorities: highlighting the town-planning importance of the land site and creating a new centerpiece of this area. The thing is that the crossing of the Rublevskoye Highway and the Yartsevskaya street is a very high point (this is the crest of the Krylatsky Hill) and it is perfectly viewable from the capital's even most remote places - but the developers that already tried their hand at this place, least of all concerned themselves with their town-planning responsibility. In spite of the proverbial expensiveness of the newly-built houses on the Rublevskoye Highway, their appearance leaves one at best unimpressed, if not scared by their height and thickness. Actually, this was the reason why Moskomarkhitektura launched this architectural contest: the land site that faces the crossroads is virtually the last vacant spot here that, thanks to its front position, can still be capable of "rearranging" the haphazardly-forming urban environment.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoye Highway. Compositional options © "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS"

Totally, "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS" developed over a dozen options of the town-planning solutions of the future complex, consequently filling the almost rectangular site sometimes with "slab" houses, sometimes with a "megastructure" screen-house, and sometimes with various towers. The idea that it was towers that would best suit this place, came to the architects' minds, strictly speaking, at an early stage: the exceptional observability of this site dictated the transparent and silhouette-based solutions – but their quantity and positions were the subject of a long discussion. The numerous models show that the high-rises would many times change their shape and move around the site. The studio even came up with an option when the towers were connected at the bottom by a Y-shaped stylobate with its "bird" facing the Rublevskoye Highway. From the remote points, however, they would overlap with one another, and the contest was won by a composition of four volumes of different height, spaced out along the perimeter of the conditional rectangle, and positioned closer to the midpoints of each of its sides.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoye Highway. The final composition of the volumes © "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS"

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoye Highway. © "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS"

The tallest tower (40 floors) is the one that faces the Yartsevskaya Street. On the other side of the street, there is already a high-rise in the shape of a stepped arched ridge. The Skuratov residential complex picks up the "red line" set by this building - but its pristine thin verticals offset the latter's excessive weight, setting a new frame of reference in the panorama of this neighborhood. The tower that borders on the Rublevskoye Highway relief road, and its vis-a-vis located within the site, are of equal height (30 floors), and, in turn, pick up the pattern set by more distant high-rises that close up the perspective of the Yartsevskaya Street on the other side of the highway. And finally, the most northern tower, the farthest from the tunnel, has only 24 floors in it - it serves as a transition element of sorts, one that fixes the relief drop that starts behind the construction site. What is interesting here is the fact that, by opting for the different-height composition, Skuratov virtually violated the specifications that provided for the detailed distribution of useful area over the sections of the complex. "Yes, we deliberately decided to disregard this clause by placing our bet on the dramatic compositional solution that "catches" the chaotic vertical rhythms and empty spaces of the old and new houses, bringing into this town-planning chaos a note of balance and tranquility" - explains the architect. As we already know, the judging board agreed with this reasoning.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoye Highway © "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS"

The architectural solution of the towers is simple and dramatic at the same time. Each of the volumes has two "material" and two "penetrable" facades. The former are ceramic surfaces with the "punch-cards" of windows; the latter have on them, above the all-surface glazing, light and clear-cut grid of lamellae that hide the stanza balconies with the outdoor blocks of split-systems. The color palette of the complex consists of but two colors - white and terra-cotta; they alternate from facade to facade in such a way that each house is different from its neighbors. At first glance, the whole idea looks pretty simple: white "punch-card" here, red "punch-card" there (side wall this time) - but is this particular way of alternating the colors that enables the authors to maximally enrich the visual feel of the complex from dirrerent sides.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoye Highway © "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS"

The silhouette is rendered still more dramatic by the caps of the towers - slender as they are, the high-rises grow thinner as they go up becoming more penetrable. Skuratov does not place the living floors under the very roof but, conversely, builds here public terraces framed by a pergola. The most important public area, though, is the three-level stylobate that takes up almost the whole site and comprising all the maintenance and service facilities of the complex. Its outer perimeter houses the area of the shops, offices, banks, and other services, and is marked with the genre-classic "arcade", while in the intersection points of this horizontal with the verticals of the towers the "stone fabric" if the facade gets elegantly bent out marking the entrance lobbies of the living floors.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoye Highway © "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS"

Generally, turn-ups and bends become the most important finishing touch that completes the architectural image of the complex. And it seems like this technique was prompted by the same immediate context - at this very point, the Yartsevskaya Street plunged down into a tunnel, and its elongated funnel is turned directly to the future complex. A similar deformation takes place not only on the bottom level but on the topmost one as well: the roofs over the public terraces of the towers are visibly sunk inside. On the layouts, the architects even draw tell-tale lifting weight, and Sergey Skuratov adds to it a poetic explanation that once a helicopter landed here and left this huge dent. Because of this, one of the supports of the pergola came out slanted - not really the most eye-catching detail against the background of the entire complex but sure a fair bit of intrigue for a keen observer.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoye Highway © "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS"

While the stylobate itself is accessible for the general public, its roof is only meant for the people that live in the complex. Upon it, Sergey Skuratov proposed to make a park of a complex terrain and with a whole system of ramps, bridges, and overpasses. Along its perimeter runs a jogging track, from which green slopes come down in a giant amphitheater to the central area with a sports and a playground. What is interesting is the fact that above these venues the architects propose to install awnings and connect them with each house with covered passages which will provide the tenants with an opportunity to go outside in any weather. Of course, the softscape with a natural terrain effect is a costly luxury but it will not pump up the budget of the project: the architects propose to cut the costs at the expense of the original layout of placing the car parks and the maintenance facilities (one underground one above-ground, skillfully hidden under the slopes, instead of the usual expensive construction pits).

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoye Highway © "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS"

Incidentally, just as rationally the authors of the project approached the task of designing the apartment part of the complex. For example, the wetcore areas of all the apartments are placed along the inside perimeter of the floor, next to the communication nuclei, which will provide the tenants with an opportunity to plan out their apartments to their own liking. The use of "Zerringer" facade system will allow for mounting the facades from the inside to the side edges of the intermediate floors, i.e. without building the trestle and parallel to the construction of the monolith framework, which will also help to cut the time and the cost of the construction. The economic benefits of the project were appraised by the judging panel as highly as the architectural and planning solution of the complex. One can only hope that the future apartment buyers will value these benefits just as highly - namely, the comparative accessibility of these apartments and their stylish up-to-date feel.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoye Highway © "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS"

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoye Highway. Building 3, plan of the typical floor © "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS"

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoye Highway. Building 2, plan of the typical floor © "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS"

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoye Highway. Building 1, plan of the typical floor © "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS"

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoye Highway. Sergey Skuratov's sketches © "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS"

27 January 2014

Headlines now

Object

Office on Trubnaya

We continue publishing projects by Valery Kanyashin. A building once described, a quarter century ago, as an example of “quiet modernism” has remained just that in some people’s memory. According to Anatoly Belov, its main quality is its unobtrusiveness. The architects from Ostozhenka say the leading role here is played by context and landscape – the change in elevation. Yet is it really so inconspicuous?

Object

The First International

With this publication, we begin a series of texts dedicated to works by the late Valery Kanyashin, one of the founders of Ostozhenka Architects. As it happens, the projects he was involved in largely illustrate our understanding of the firm and its history. The first project in this series is the International Moscow Bank on Prechistenskaya Embankment.

in memoriam

In Memory of Valery Kanyashin

On Friday, February 27, architect Valery Kanyashin passed away – co-founder of Ostozhenka Architects and the author of many significant buildings in Moscow. We publish a text by Anatoly Belov in memory of Valery Kanyashin.

Report

Hypertext in Space

As part of the exhibition “What We Have We (Do Not) Keep”, Sergey Tchoban, the Museum of Architecture, and the CHART studio experiment with an eco-conscious approach to exhibition design, with thematic cross-references and even with publicistic reflections on the necessity of preserving modernism, the roots of contemporary architecture, and the birth of ideas. All of this makes the exhibition, with its light and transparent design, look quite innovative. The elements – both “material” and conceptual – are familiar, yet their combination is far from conventional.

Object

The Outline of “Foundation”

In their competition proposal for the Fili transport hub, the consortium led by Alexey Ilyin proposed an “inhabited arch” – a form that is simple yet complex. The architects emphasize that even at the competition stage, the project’s feasibility was fully calculated, taking into account the minimal nighttime closures of Bagration Avenue. How was this achieved? With what functions? Let us take a closer look. In our view, the building would have suited the heroes of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels perfectly.

Object

The Flying Horizontal

“A house in the spirit of Wright”, as architect Roman Leonidov describes it, pointing to his source of inspiration, was built on a challenging wedge-shaped site. To achieve a sense of intimacy and secure good views from the windows, the entire volume had to be shifted toward the far boundary, turning the house “back” to the neighboring mansions. The main façade demonstrates time-tested techniques often employed by the company: articulated horizontals, a weightless roofline, and a triad of materials – light plaster, dark slate, and warm wood.

Object

Needles of Horizon Contemplation

The “House of Horizons”, designed by Kleinewelt Architekten in Krylatskoye, is carefully thought out at the stereometric level – from the logic of how the volumes interlock (and, conversely, how gaps are articulated between them) to the triangular balconies that give the building its striking, slightly bristling silhouette.

News

The Red Thread

A linear park project prepared by Alexey Ilyin studio for the improvement of a riverbank in one of the residential districts seeks to reconnect people with nature. Two levels of the embankment invite visitors to contemplate the landscape while at the same time protecting the riverbank from excessive human impact. The “aerial street” links functional zones and the opposite banks, creating new points of attraction along the way: balconies, bridges, and even a “grotto”.

Object

Spindle and Thread

The concept of the Waver residential complex in Yekaterinburg draws inspiration from the past of the Parkovy district. In order to preserve the memory of the late-19th-century flax spinning mill once located here, the architectural company KPLN turns to the theme of textiles and weaving. The project’s main expressive device is a system of ribbons made of perforated weathering steel – a material that, in such volumes, has arguably not yet been used in Russian residential projects.

Object

Woven Into Sokolniki

Over the past few years, high-rise residential construction in former industrial zones has become the main theme of Moscow architecture. Towers are springing up here and there – but the question is what kind of towers they are. The residential complex CODE Sokolniki, designed by Ostozhenka Architects, is a project where every detail has been taken care of. The authors are attentive to the history of the site, the continuity of the urban fabric, the skyline, and visual corridors. They also proposed a motif with the lyrical name “scarf”. We take a closer look at the volumetric composition and the large-scale décor “woven”, in this case, out of terraces and balconies.

Interview

Stepan Liphart and Yuri Gerth: “Our Program Is Aesthetic”

The studio of Stepan Liphart, an architect known for his distinctive signature style and one-off projects, now has a partner. Yuri Khitrov, a specialist with a broad range of competencies, will take on the part of the work that distracts one from creativity but drives the business forward. One of the aims of this partnership is to improve the urban environment through dialogue with clients and officials. We spoke with both sides about their ambitions, the firm’s development strategy, shared values, and the need for pragmatism. And why the studio is called “Liphart & Gerth” only became clear at the very end of the interview.

Object

The Copper Mirror

The varied-toned sheen of “unsealed” copper, painterly streaks and fingerprints, exposed concrete, and the unusual proportions – when you study the ZILART Museum building by Sergei Tchoban and SPEECH architects, there is plenty to talk about. However, it seems to us that the most interesting thing is how the museum’s composition responds to the realities of the district itself. The residential district has been realized as an open-air exhibition of façade statements by contemporary architects – but without public access to the inner courtyards of the blocks. This building – that is, the museum – is exactly the opposite: on the outside, it is deliberately restrained, while inside it shines spectacularly, creating its own sunbeams in any weather.

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.

Interview

MB-PROJECT: “Every new project is a challenge”

In this issue, we speak with Dmitry and Oleg Shurygin, founders of the company MV-PROJECT, which has extensive experience in designing theater and entertainment buildings as well as working with cultural heritage sites.

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.

Interview

Sergey Tchoban: “My ideal model for shaping a museum space is the Uffizi Gallery. In the...

Yesterday, the ZILART Museum opened on the ZILART grounds with three exhibitions curated by well-known curators. We speak with Sergey Tchoban about the concept and its realization.

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!