По-русски

A Block behind the Wall of Towers

In this issue, we feature yet another finalist of the contest for the project of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway - a concept by "Atrium" bureau.

06 March 2014
Object
mainImg
Firm:
ATRIUM
Object:
Concept of the residential complex on the Rublevskoe Highway (Atrium)
Russia, Moscow, Anton Nadtochy, Vera Butko, Dmitry Zrazhevsky, Anna Fesenko, Olga Romanova, Natalia Sablina, Ivan Khripkov, Petr Alimov, Dmitry Khudenkikh

2013 — 2013

"PIK" Group
Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway © "Atrium" Bureau. Authors: Anton Nadtochy, Vera Butko, Dmitry Zrazhevsky, Anna Fesenko, Olga Romanova, Natalia Sablina, Peter Alimov, Dmitry Khudenkikh



Archi.ru has already exposed its readers to the results of the contest for the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway organized by "PIK" Group. The project developed by the architects of "Atrium" bureauwas voted by the judging panel to take the third place, standing next only to "Reserve" Studio and Sergey Skuratov Architects. 

The 2.6-hectare land site is situated at the crossing of the Yartsevskaya Street and the Rublevskoe Highway, a five-minute walk away from the “Molodezhnaya” metro station. This is a part of the nation capital's greenest area, and, from the ecological standpoint, arguably one of the best in the city. From the urban planning standpoint, however, one can hardly call this site a convenient one: the housing of the Rublevskoe Highway is rather monotonous and is rarely proportional to the humble pedestrian. This is specifically why one of the main tasks set before the contestants was the "relieving the town-planning tension" in this part of the city, at the expense of placing, at the crest of the Krylatsky Hill, a picturesque architectural centerpiece. 

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway © "Atrium" Bureau.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway © "Atrium" Bureau.

In accordance with the specifications, Vera Butko and Anton Nadtochy split the complex into two major parts. What mattered most in this division was the difference of the scales: the grand and imposing buildings facing the highway and the "humanized" ones for the inside territories. The high-rise part consists of three towers that line up along the Rublevskoe Highway and support its housing front. As one approaches the crossroads, they increase their height to form an imposing step-like silhouette. The tallest, 40-floor, tower "holds" the corner in a powerful exclamation mark. The architects partially borrowed the idea of this composition from the residential complex "Rublevskie Ogni" located on the other side of the Yartsevskaya Street - only in the latter case the towers are "glued" to one another, while "Atrium" carefully articulates the volume of each high-rise and positions them at a shifted angle to their common base, which renders the silhouette of the "propylaeum" still more dramatic. Besides, as the authors themselves explain, the resulting "wall" of towers adequately protects the yard of the complex from the constant noise of the highway, while their "twist" provides for the diversity of their perception while moving in and out of the city. 

Block layout of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway © "Atrium"

Due to the fact that the two towers are positioned at an angle to the highway, two of them, when viewed from the inside yard, form dramatic cantilevers, while the corner one is "leaning" on the residential building that is still in construction along the Yartsevskaya Street, thus forming an imposing multi-height arch that not only functions as the main entrance portal but also lets in more light into the yard space. 

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway © "Atrium" Bureau.

The dynamics of the twist of the towers is enhanced by the facade finish that is pieced together from slabs that are placed at various angles, thanks to which the surface looks but a bit rippled, while, with the change of the viewing angle, the pattern grows more dynamic. This effect is enhanced manifold with the combination of the shades of color: the silver and the snow-white finishes alternate with the golden hue.


Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway © "Atrium" Bureau.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway © "Atrium" Bureau.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway. Southwest facade. © "Atrium" Bureau.

Placing the high-rise volumes along the highway, the architects used the remaining site for the "block" housing of a smaller (and thus more human) magnitude: from four to nine floors. This gave the architects an opportunity to unobtrusively "inscribe" the second half of the residential complex into the tissue of the surrounding neighborhood without violating its continuity with the pinpoints of the towers - a model example of achieving the desirable density in a humane way. Also, to better integrate the new residential complex into its surroundings, the architects placed the surface of its courtyard on a level with the existing terrain; the car par was sunk completely underground, which help meet the construction blueprint regulations. 

The authors not only took care about the unobtrusive integration of the complex into its surroundings, though, but also about the future of the entire neighborhood. Still at the stage of working with the preliminary sketches it became clear that the density of the streets here (just like in any other part of Moscow, for that matter) is clearly inadequate - and the architects proposed to add two new roads, routing them around the land site: one driveway runs between the existing houses parallel to the Rublevskoe Highway, the other duplicates the Yartsevskaya Street. According to the authors, these new roads could become the new transport framework for the subsequent saturation of the surrounding sites - in other words, for filling the voids with low-rise buildings, which would also help to "humanize" the environment. 

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway. Northwest facade. © "Atrium" Bureau.

The residential houses stand along the perimeter of the land site forming a spacious yet cozy yard with sports and playgrounds, flowerbeds, and a green lawn, while the decrease of the number of floors towards the south border of the complex provides for the maximum insolation. The architects dress up these buildings in simpler "clothes" but give them a characteristic "faceted" shape. The dancing rhythm of the windows enhanced by the color, the cantilever protrusions, and the glazed ground floors - all of this quite corresponds to what we are used to seeing in "Atrium" works. And, in the center of the yard, the bright-yellow house fills the space with plastics and emotion, at the same time creating a transition to the human scale and forming the inside zoning of the yard. 

The hierarchy of the apartments in the designed complex is built in accordance with the overall compositional solution, providing for the needs of all the categories of potential buyers. For example, in the three high-rises, the architects proposed to place the high-profile apartments commanding the magnificent city views. The building that "props up" the 40-floor tower is meant for the economy-class apartment meant for renting out, the kind that Moscow is in such desperate need of. The low-rise houses with the windows overlooking the courtyard will be perfect for the families with kids, while the apartments of the corridor type at the base of the towers will be perfect for the young people to love in. The lower floors of the complex will serve the public functions which will help solve the problem of the absence of such objects within a walking distance, at the same time boosting the pedestrian activity along the Rublevskoe Highway where the public functions occupy even two first floors. 

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway. Southeast facade. © "Atrium" Bureau.

The idea of creating, in a separately taken neighborhood, a human-proportionate environment, protected from the noise and the grime of the Rublevskoe Highway with a wall of three towers, was noted by the judging panel as a doubtless success of "Atrium". It is in this idea that Vera Butko and Anton Nadtochy saw the solution to the complicated town-planning situation of this place that, in their opinion, deserved to be drastically improved. 

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway. Northwest facade. © "Atrium" Bureau.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway © "Atrium" Bureau.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway. Master plan and landscaping © "Atrium" Bureau.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway. Typical floor. © "Atrium" Bureau.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway. Underground parking garage. © "Atrium" Bureau.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway. © "Atrium" Bureau.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway. © "Atrium" Bureau.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway. © "Atrium" Bureau.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway. © "Atrium" Bureau.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway. © "Atrium" Bureau.

Concept of the residential complex at the Rublevskoe Highway. © "Atrium" Bureau.


Firm:
ATRIUM
Object:
Concept of the residential complex on the Rublevskoe Highway (Atrium)
Russia, Moscow, Anton Nadtochy, Vera Butko, Dmitry Zrazhevsky, Anna Fesenko, Olga Romanova, Natalia Sablina, Ivan Khripkov, Petr Alimov, Dmitry Khudenkikh

2013 — 2013

"PIK" Group

06 March 2014

Headlines now
​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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
​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.
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.
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.
Champions’ Cup
At first glance, the Bell skyscraper on 1st Yamskogo Polya Street, 12, appears strict and laconic – though by no means modest. Its economical stereometry is built on a form close to an oval, one of UNK architects’ favorite themes. The streamlined surface of the main volume, clad in metal louvers, is sliced twice with glass incisions that graphically reveal the essence of the original shape: both its simplicity and its complexity. At the same time, dozens of highly complex engineering puzzles have been solved here.
Semi-Digital Environment
In the town of Innopolis, a satellite of Kazan, the first 4-star hotel designed by MAD Architects has opened. The interiors of the hotel combine elegance with irony, and technology with comfort, evoking the atmosphere of a computer game or maybe a sci-fi movie about the near future.
History never ends
The old railway station in Kapan, a city in southern Armenia, has been given new life by the Paris-based design firm Normal Studio. Today, it serves as a TUMO center.
A Deep, Crystal Shine
A new luxury residential development by ADM architects is set to rise in the Patriarch’s Ponds district, not far from Novopushkinsky Square. It will replace three buildings erected in the early 1990s. The project authors, Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova, have placed their bets on the variety among the three volumes, modern design solutions, and attention to detail: one of the buildings will feature smoothly curved balconies with a ceramic sheen on their undersides, while another will be accented by glass “sculpture” columns.
Grigory Revzin: “What we should do with the architecture of the seventies”
Soviet modernism came in two flavors: the good, author-driven kind, and the bad, standardized kind. The good kind was “on the periphery”, while the bad kind was in the center – geographically, in terms of attention, scale, and everything else. Can we demolish it? “That would be destroying public consensus out of thin air”. So what should we do? Preserve it, but creatively: “Bring architecture into places where it hasn’t yet appeared”. Treat these buildings not as monuments, but as urban landscape. Read our interview with Grigory Revzin on the pressing topic of saving modernism – where he proposes a controversial, yet really intriguing, way of preserving 1970s buildings.
A Roadside Picnic of Urban Planning Theorists
Marina Egorova, head of Empate Architectural Bureau, brought together urban planning theorists – the successors of Alexey Gutnov and Vyacheslav Glazychev – to revive the substance and depth of professional discourse. At the first meeting, much ground was covered: the participants revisited the theoretical foundations, aligned their values, examined a cutting-edge case of the Kazan agglomeration, and concluded with the unfathomable intricacies of Russian land demarcation. Below, we present key takeaways from all the presentations.
Perspective View
CNTR Architects has designed a business center for a new district in Yekaterinburg, aiming to reduce the need for commuting and make the residential environment more diverse. The architectural solutions are equally focused on creating spatial flexibility, comfortable working conditions, and a memorable image that could allow the building to become a spatial landmark of the district.
Malevich and Bathhouses, Nature and High-Tech
The Malevich Bathhouse complex is scheduled to open in the fall of 2025 on the Rublyovo-Uspenskoye Highway. The project, designed by DBA-GROUP under the leadership of Vladislav Andreev, is an example of an unconventional approach to the image of a spa in general and of a bathhouse in particular. Deliberately avoiding any kind of allusion, the architects opted for streamlined forms with characteristic rounded corners, a combination of wood with bent glass, and restrained contemporary shapes – both inside and out. Let’s take a closer look at the project.
Rather, a Tablecloth and a Glass!
After many years, the long-abandoned Horse Guards Department building in St. Petersburg has finally received the attention it deserves: according to a design by Studio 44, the first restoration and adaptation works are scheduled to begin this year. Both the intended function and the general scope of works imply minimal alteration to the complex, which has preserved traces of its three-century history. All solutions are reversible and aimed, above all, at opening the monument to the city and immersing it in a lively social scene – hence the choice of a cultural center scenario with a strong gastronomic component.
​Materialization of Airflows
The Nikolai Kamov International Airport in Tomsk opened at the end of August last year. We have already written about the project – now we are taking a look at the completed building. Its functionality is reinforced by symbolic undertones: the architects at ASADOV sought to reflect local identity in the architecture as fully as possible.
The City as a Narrative
Sergey Skuratov’s approach to large urban plots could best be described as a “total design code”. The architect pays equal attention to the overall composition and the smallest of details, striving to ensure that every aspect is thoroughly thought out and subordinated to the original vision. It’s a Renaissance-like approach, really – a titanic effort demanding remarkable willpower and perseverance. The results are likewise grand – architecture that makes a statement. This article looks at the revived concept for the central section of the Seventh Heaven residential district in Kazan, a composition so thoroughly considered that even the “gradient of visual emphasis” (sic!) across the facades has been carefully worked out. It also touches on the narrative idea behind the project – and even the architect’s own doubts about it.
A Garden of Hope for Freedom
In October, at the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery in Suzdal, the Prison Yard Garden opened on the site that had served as a prison from the 18th century until the Khrushchev Thaw. The architectural concept was developed by NOῨD Short Film, and the landscape design by the MOX landscape bureau. In fact, there are two gardens here – very different ones. We try to understand whether they evoke the right emotions in visitors, while also showing the beauty of June’s ruderal plants in bloom.
A Laconic Image of Time
The Time Square residential complex, built on the northern edge of St. Petersburg, appears more concise and efficient than its neighbor and predecessor, the New Time complex. Nevertheless, the architect’s hand is clearly felt: themes of “black and white”, “inside and outside”, and most notably, the “lamellar” quality of the facades that seems to visibly “eat away” at the buildings’ mass – everything is played out like a well-written score. One is reminded of both classical modernism and the so-called “post-constructivism”.
The Flower of the Lake
The prototype for the building of the Kamal Theater in Kazan is an ice flower: a rare and fragile natural phenomenon of Lake Kaban “froze” in the large, soaring outlines of the glass screens enclosing the main volume, shaping its silhouette and shielding the stained-glass windows from the sun. The project, led by the Wowhaus consortium and including global architecture “star” Kengo Kuma, won the 2021/2022 competition and was realized close to the original concept in a short – very short – period of time. The theater opened in early 2025. It was Kengo Kuma who proposed the image of an ice flower and the contraposition of cold on the outside and warmth on the inside. Between 2022 and 2024, Wowhaus did everything possible to bring this vision to life, practically living on-site. Now we are taking a closer look at this landmark building and its captivating story.
Peaceful Integration on Mira Avenue
The MIRA residential complex (the word mir means “peace” in Russian), perched above the steep banks of the Yauza River and Mira Avenue, lives up to its name not only technically, but also visually and conceptually. Sleek, high-rise, and glass-clad, it responds both to Zholtovsky’s classicism and to the modernism of the nearby “House on Stilts”. Drawing on features from its neighbors, it reconciles them within a shared architectural language rooted in contemporary façade design. Let’s take a closer look at how this is done.
An Interior for a New Format of Education
The design of the new building for Tyumen State University (TyumSU) was initially developed before the pandemic but later revised to meet new educational requirements. The university has adopted a “2+2+2” system, which eliminates traditional divisions into groups and academic streams in favor of individualized study programs. These changes were implemented swiftly – right at the start of construction. Now that the building is complete, we are taking a closer look.
Penthouses and Kokoshniks
A new residential complex designed by ASADOV Architects for the Krasnaya Roza business district responds to its proximity to 17th-century landmarks – the chambers of the Hamovny Dvor and St. Nicholas Church – as well as to the need to preserve valuable façades of a historic rental house built in the Russian Revival style. The architects proposed a set of buildings of varying heights, whose façades reference ecclesiastical architecture. But we were also able to detect other associations.
Centipede Town
The new school campus designed by ATRIUM Architects, located on the shores of a protected lake in the Imeretian Lowland Ornithological Reserve, represents an important and ambitious undertaking for the team: this is not just a school, but a Presidential Lyceum for the comprehensive development of gifted children – 2,500 students from age 3 through high school. At the same time, it is also envisioned as a new civic hub for the entire Sirius territory. In this article, we unpack the structure and architecture of this “lyceum town”.