Parks of Deluxe Class

Architect Aleksey Ivanov speaks about the all-but-obsolete format of deluxe villa communities, one of the essential attributes of which was a large-scale landscaped territory.

16 April 2014

View

Architect:

Firm:

Arkhstroydesign ASD

Object:

Rubin Estate village
Russia, Moscow

2010

"Count Ponds" Settlement © Arkhstroydesign ASD

"Arkhstroydesign" Studio built in the Moscow Region a fairly large number of villa communities and suburban settlements but we take special pride in the projects that we were able to fully implement - not only building a dozen or two houses but creating for the people a comfortable environment to live in, one that is capable of making a statement with its bright and memorable image. Back in the 2000's, such projects were mainly implemented in the deluxe segment. And I think that in many respects the today's fashion of the public spaces is rooted precisely in these expensive settlements - because their investors were the first to realize that comfortable and visually attractive territory around the house was a factor that for the future tenants was almost more important, than the house itself. The well-organized parks, reservoirs with the landscaped embankments, the decorated promenades, and the open-air recreation spaces - all of this initially appeared outside the city, and it is still interesting for me to watch these territories live and develop, deservedly becoming the compositional, and, if you want, ideological centers of these settlements.

"Belgian Village" Settlement © Arkhstroydesign ASD

“Belgian Village”, 12 km along the Kaluga highway, 2005 - 2007, 29 hectares

We did not have to build "Belgian Village" from scratch. By the time our company got this particular commission, the master plan of the settlement was already developed and approved. Actually, one of our main tasks was giving a "human touch" to the "wire-like" dissection of the master plan. Our customer asked us to pay special attention to the "bald spots" near the reservoir located in the middle of the future settlement - there were, indeed, some strange spots of wasteland, and not one or two, but a whole bunch of them. And, since the stylistic theme of the settlement had been set before we came (the very name of "Belgian Village" speaks for itself), we decided that it would make perfect sense to pick it up and develop it to the fullest in landscaping this territory. The vastness of the territory allowed for making a whole park there; the presence of a few wasteland spots necessitated for making this park a multi-part one - so, we decided that this must be a system of interconnected territories, each of which would have a "national" twist of its own. The way I see it, it was a rather unconventional move: usually, it is the villas that are built in the various national styles - while we went ahead and transferred this generally commercial technique to the housing-free territories. And it seems to me that we ultimately did the right thing.

"Belgian Village" Settlement © Arkhstroydesign ASD

In fact, what we do is we make, in the middle of the settlement, a huge park that we later divide into the theme segments, each of which can be treated as a piece of the jigsaw puzzle, collectively called "Europe". One will find here the English landscape garden, and the "regular" French one, the children's playground, built with Germen accuracy and based on the stories of the Grimm brothers, the picturesque tulip meadow (hail from Netherlands), and a small cozy pub - which is the "visiting card" of Belgium as such. Plus - we properly organized the beach and built a boat-renting station. As for the small infrastructure objects, we stylized them in the "European" spirit - the windmill, the hunter's cabin, and so on.

"Belgian Village" Settlement © Arkhstroydesign ASD

And, of course, the entrance group - it got a more dramatic solution, a-la Disneyland. We thought this would be appropriate because this is the "outside" facade of the settlement. As for the houses as such - although they do continue the "European" style, they do so in a more reserved manner, simply because there are so many of them, and we did not want to endlessly multiply the all-too-recognizable decoration. So, what we did was limit ourselves to the play of the gables that speaks for itself, and to using the Belgian brick of hand molding. By the way, the settlement “Belgian Village” was twice acknowledged as the best settlement of the Moscow area in the deluxe category, and in 2013 it received the reward of International Property Awards in London.

"Belgian Village" Settlement © Arkhstroydesign ASD

"Count Ponds" Settlement © Arkhstroydesign ASD

“Count Ponds”, 21 km along the Kiev highway, 2006-2008, 52 Hectares

We did the project of this settlement from the very start after we won the tender for its architectural concept and master plan. The concept that we proposed was based on the idea of creating an interesting landscape and a public space that would be capable of becoming the centerpiece of the whole settlement. As for the name "Count Ponds", it actually goes back to a small creek that was there in the middle of the land site from the very start - it was this creek that suggested to us the idea of creating here a fully-fledged reservoir with landscaped embankments. The lake with an area of 1.6 hectares got a slightly bent but still strictly geometrically justified shape - together with the esplanade of the park, it forms a peculiar cross, very much like the frame of reference of the entire settlement. And upon this green and blue cross we strung our land sites. Those that are larger are situated along the outer perimeter and they got a direct access to the woodland, while those that are smaller adjoin the park's esplanade - which sort of makes up for the absence of access to the said woodland.

"Count Ponds" Settlement © Arkhstroydesign ASD

And although the planning of the public area is based on a rigid structure, from the inside, we tried to fill it in with a sophisticated and diverse pattern. What we did was create some sort of a jigsaw puzzle from the the parks of various "styles". One will find here the Russian garden with apple and prune trees, a French park, and a rock-garden as well. The resulting boulevard is in fact a green stripe 50 meters wide and a whopping kilometer long. Would be such "improper" use of space conceivable today? I don't think so. The "Count Ponds" were lucky, however, and the life of this settlement is concentrated around this multilevel green area, to which we "plugged in" all the social functions.

"Count Ponds" Settlement © Arkhstroydesign ASD

Reconstruction of "Rubin Estate" Settlement © Arkhstroydesign ASD

Rubin Estate, 15 km down the Rublevo-Uspenskoe highway, 2011, 6.5 Hectares

This settlement, located 15 kilometers away from Moscow Ring Road down the Rublevo-Uspenskoe Highway, got into the hands of "Arkhstroydesign" almost completed. It had complete roads in it, and the houses were already built up to their roofs. The reconstruction work was already covered by Archi.ru, and now I want to share in greater detail about the organization of the public territories of this settlement. The thing is that originally it was not supposed to have any public territories whatsoever: in fact, the whole settlement was "dissected" into private estates, so even the most basic landscaping was initially out of the question. But, despite the fact that the crisis was already in full swing, we were able to convince the customer that a certain general sense from the point of view of urban planning space settlement is vital: I must admit that in recent years, not all developers are listening to this argument, but in the case of Rubin Estate we persevered and proved the necessity of the park.

Reconstruction of "Rubin Estate" Settlement © Arkhstroydesign ASD

On the plan, the territory of the settlement presents an elongated rectangle, whose central part is framed by the smooth curve of the road on either side of which the estates are situated. We, first of all, corrected the plans of the estates, after giving to them a deliberately different form, which, in the first place, introduced into the panoramas of the settlement some additional variety, and, in the second place, made it possible to free, in the base of the loop, some room sufficient for creating the artificial lake. This small reservoir was put into a casket of walking paths and picturesque bridges. And, even though the lake is located not exactly in the center of the settlement but closer to its further border, i.e. on the broad side of the "triangle", it definitely became the "visiting card" of the settlement, and, more importantly, gave its people an opportunity to go for walks in the fresh air without leaving its confines.

This charming mini- park (which we, by the way, made together with of the workshop of topographical design “Arteza”) became in our practice the last experience of the creation of integral public spaces within the confines of out-of-town settlements. At least, for now. Will there ever be a return to such a luxury? For me this question remains open. I think, if expensive settlements still will be built, they will be built in a totally different way. And their public spaces will be different too. And the "villa communities" are still to remain in the past.

Leaflet

Architect:

Firm:

Arkhstroydesign ASD

Object:

Rubin Estate village
Russia, Moscow

2010

16 April 2014

Headlines now

Object

Pro Forma

Photos have emerged of the newly completed whisky distillery in Chernyakhovsk, designed by TOTEMENT / PAPER – a continuation of their earlier work on the nearby Cognac Museum. From what is, in essence, a merely technical and utilitarian volume and space, the architects have created a fully-fledged theatre of impressions. Let’s take a closer look. We highly recommend a visit to what may look like a factory, but is in fact an experiment in theatricalizing the process of strong spirit production – and not only that, but also of “pure art”, capable of evolving anywhere.

Object

The Arch and the Triangle

The new Stone Mnevniki business center by Kleinewelt Architekten – designed for the same client as their projects in Khodynka – bears certain similarities to those earlier developments, but not entirely. In Mnevniki, there are more angular elements, and the architects themselves describe the project as being built on contrast. Indeed, while the first phase contains subtle references to classical architecture – light touches like arches, both upright and inverted, evoking the spirit of the 1980s – the second phase draws more distantly on the modernism of the 1970s. What unites them is a boldly expressive public space design, a kaleidoscope of rays and triangles.

Object

Health Factory

While working on a wellness and tourist complex on the banks of the Yenisei River, the architects at Vissarionov Studio set out to create healing spaces that would amplify the benefits of nature and medical treatments for both body and soul. The spatial solutions are designed to encourage interaction between the guests and the landscape, as well as each other.

Object

The Blooming Mechanics of a Glass Forest

The Savvinskaya 27 apartment complex built by Level Group, currently nearing completion on an elongated riverfront site next to the Novodevichy Convent, boasts a form that’s daring even by modern Moscow standards. Visually, it resembles the collaborative creation of a glassblower and a sculptor: a kind of glass-and-concrete jungle, rhythmically structured yet growing energetically and vividly. Bringing such an idea to life was by no means an easy task. In this article, we discuss the concept by ODA and the methods used by APEX architects to implement it, along with a look at the building’s main units and detailing.

Object

Grace and Unity

Villa “Grace”, designed by Roman Leonidov’s studio and built in the Moscow suburbs, strikes a balance between elegant minimalism and the expansive gestures of the Russian soul. The main house is conceived as a sequence of four self-contained volumes – each could exist independently, yet it chooses to be part of a whole. Unity is achieved through color and a system of shared spaces, while the rich plasticity of the forms – refined throughout the construction process – compensates for the near-total absence of decorative elements.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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”.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Interview

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Interview

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Review

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.

Object

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.

Report

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.

Object

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!

Contest Results

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.