The concept of Russia’s pavilion at the Venice biennale has been announced

At the press conference held today there has been announced the idea of the exposition of Russia’s pavilion at the 11th Venice bienalle. The author of the idea is Gregory Revzin, for the first time he decided to show modern architecture at biennale, actual constructions and projects that will be realized

Written by:
Julia Tarabarina

13 May 2008

Report

Modern architecture – constructions and projects by Russian and foreign architects will be presented in the Russia’s pavilion at the 11th bienalle in Venice. It might seem there is nothing simplier than presenting what is being constructed at the moment in the country. For the 28 year history of the Venice biennale Russia have never done that. As a rule, trying to be in character with the prestigious international exhibition, in Russia’s pavilion there were conceptual expositions – mostly presenting all we had: visionary architecture, probably, most delicate and favorite of the critics. At the last biennale Russia was presented by Alexander Brodsky’s installation, and in 2004 by a student studio Workshop Russia.

This year the curators for the first time decided to break the tradition and show not the past or future, not dreams, not hopes, not recollections, but most possibly – the reality. The author of the idea, Gregory Revzin, one of the two curators of the Russian pavilion of the 11th architectural biennale in Venice, famous Russian architectural critic, told about that at today’s press-conference.

15 Russian and 10 foreign architects take part in the main exposition of the pavilion. Gregory Revzin picked the participators regarding how they popular in media, he invited the architects who are most talked about in press. Each one will be presented by a prototype of one construction or a project. Remarkably, the exposition presents together Russian and foreign architects, famous and not, equaling them all. One of the Gregory Revzin’s aims is to compare the art of “varangians” and “our” architects visually, the curator says he imagined that many times. Gregory Revzin is sure the Russian architects will not lose but probably will be the best.

The curator talked about one of the peculiarities in Russia at the press-conference. The Russian architects have more realized constructions. But in the process of building they change considerably – the project must be approved; they improve and ruin, and change it. To save anything an author has to strive for their project. Russian architects think of this strive as a part of their job, natural part of the profession. Foreigners do not want to strive, build. So foreign projects more often remain as concept, and so they look more impressive.

Gregory Revzin showed a clear example: the two architects, Sergey Skuratov and Erick van Egeraat have designed two different residential skyscrapers based on the common idea of a spiral-like twirl of the building’s volume. Such buildings are expensive, and the both architects had problems with developers. But Sergey Skuratov made changes in the project achieving the effect of a twirl of the carcass through the more simple method. Erick van Egeraat has legal proceedings. The first has almost finished construction of his building, the other one has just recovered. So, the curator resumed the positions changed – before Russian visionary architects used to picture beautiful fantasies, and foreign architects were striving with practice, and today foreigners in Russia got the role of visionary architects who draw nice pictures and Russians (also for former visionary architects) realize their dreams most possibly.

Well, the main exposition is the profile of architectural process, a kind of photofinish of the situation of 2008 through the eyes of a famous Russian critic. Along with prototypes, art of each exposition participant will be more closely illustrated on screens and in electronic catalogue.

This concept, for the first time in history of Russian architectural exhibitions in Venice, is focused on displaying reality, and does not totally tune to the slogan of 11th Biennale, announced by its curator, Aaron Betsky, a famous American architectural critic. The words are: «Out there. Architecture beyond the building». In the Russia’s pavilion they will show buildings, quite lot of buildings, risking not to develop the idea.

Though it is true that as a rule mottos of biennale are not so fine for demonstrating buildings as such, leading thoughts somewhere beyond. Betsky’s idea seems to be a quintessence of this tendency, but before there were Bardette’s “cities”, Foster’s “metamorphoses”, Fuksas’ “ethics”. In short, it was decided not to change the main idea of the pavilion.

Must add Gregory Revzin becomes curator of Russia’s pavilion for the second time. First, in 2000, he worked not holding to the main idea, but against it. Massimiliano Fuksas asked to think over the “ethics instead of aesthetics”, in Russia’s pavilion there was aesthetic stairs to the sky by Mikhail Filippov and aesthetic photographs by Ilya Utkin, he was given a special award for them. This was the only time when Russia’s pavilion was awarded at biennale in Venice. So, looking back, we see that this is not the first time when Gregory Revzin does not develop the idea of biennale.

He does not consider this as a principal. At the conference someone said the idea to show “true architecture” had appeared before Betsky announced it. National pavilions of other countries responded the motto differently. Trying to go somewhere beyond, Germany made tender for the most ecological project, American pavilion will probably present some student projects. Exposition of the Russia’s pavilion decided not to fully stick to the main idea, but make it differently. Gregory Revzin invited Nikolay Polissky, a famous landscape architect-artist, an anchoret of Nikola-Lenivets, a village in Kaluzhsk, the author of army of snowmen, ziggurat made of hay, imperial border of wood supports and so on.

He greatly explains his way of thoughts – he explained it as one critic to another. The author of the motto, Aaron Betsky, has also the book named “Architecture beyond the building”. The book says that each territory is the space that wants to be built over. So, reasons Revzin, Russia is the huge and mostly vacant space that wants to be developed. Nikolay Polissky in his giant landscape fancies shows desire of Russian land to be built over – his objects are not architecture, but images and buds that look like towers, walls, houses. But they all beyond a building, no one can say that Polissky constructs buildings. Here Polissky is an artist-medium, who lives back in the country and catches that desire of the vacant territory to be built over. In Russia there is much of such territory, so, the Russian vacancy – as largest in the world – is the answer for Betsky reasonings of architecture beyond a building.

This part of the exhibition – from one side is conceptual, from the other it is artistic – will be in the lower storey and will be an art and theory basis of the exposition. Upper, on the second storey, there will be a “buildover” – result of vacancy’s whish to be filled. There comes out the building boom. Architecture comes out of that building boom. We show it.

The concept is neat, it begins with Betsky’s theory, applies them to Russia, finds there a proper medium, brings all that to reality he wants to show. The concept explains everything logically, if one reads and thinks carefully. There is one undeveloped issue left – will anyone ever think carefully. Well, this directly depends on creativity of the exhibition. Yet design of the exposition is secret, Pavel Khoroshilov, the second curator of the pavilion said so.

Below there is a list of participants of the exposition in Russia’s pavilion:

Alexander Asadov
Architectural studio of A. Asadov
Multi-use complex in the place of Cheremushkinsky market
A. R. Asadov, K. Saprichyan, E. Vdovin (chief project architect), A. A. Asadov, O. Grigoreva, A. Dmitriev, A. Polischuk, A. Astashov, A. Shtanuk (A. Asadov’s studio), U. Ravkin (Tvorchesky centre [artistic centre] of U. Ravkina); engineers: T. Novoselova (chief project engineer) (AO "Promstroiproekt"), P. Rafelson , G. Karklo (A. Asadov’s studio)

Alexey Bavykin
Studio of the architect Bavykin
Office complex on Mozhaiskoe highway
A. Bavykin, M. Marek, D. Chistov, D. Gumenuk in participation of N. Bavykina; chief constructor: K. Kabanov; chief project engineer: L. Sluckovskaya; fire safety: S. Tomin

Mikhail Belov
Residential building in Filippovsky pereulok in Moscow
Detailed design: OAO “Stroiproekt”
Facing work: “BGS” company
Making and fixing elements of décor: “Gorod bogov” company

Andrey Bokov
Mosproekt-4
Ice palace in Moscow
A. Bokov, D. Bush, S. Chuklov, V. Valuiskih, L. Romanova, Z. Burchuladze, O. Gak, A. Zolotova, A. Timohov
constructors: M. Livshin, P. Eremeev, M. Kelman, E. Bekmuhamedov, O. Starikov
architect-technologist: A. Shabaidash

Yury Grigoryan
Project by Meganom
Multi-use centre on Cvetnoy boulevard
U. Grigoryan, A. Pavlova, T. Shabaev, U. Kuznecov

Sergey Kiselev
Multi-use centre Miraks-plaza in Moscow
S. Kiselev, A. Nikiforov, A. Breslavcev, A. Busalov, G. Holopov, E. Klueva engineers: I. Shvarcman, K. Spiridonov

Boris Levyant
ABD architects
Multi-use high-rise building in Novosibirsk
B. Levyant, B. Stuchebrukov, L. Mikishev, A. Feoktistova, O. Rutkovsky, D.Spivak, I. Levyant, A.Gorovoy, M.Gulieva, M.Stepura, A.Volyncev (3D)

Nikolay Lyzlov
Architectural studio of Lyzlov
Residential building «Gorod Yaht» in Moscow
N. Lyzlov, M. Kaplenkova, E. Kaprova, N. Lipilina, A. Podemwikov in participation of A. Krohin, O. Avramets, A. Yankova

Vladimir Plotkin
TPO «Rezerv»
Retail complex “Chetyre sezona” [four seasons]
V. Plotkin, I. Deeva, Borodushkin, Kazakov, Romanova, Logvinova

Aleksander Skokan
AB «Ostozhenka»
«Posolsky dom» in Borisoglebsky pereulok in Moscow architects: A. Skokan, A. Gnezdilov, E. Kopytova, M. Elizarova, M. Matveenko, O. Soboleva, constructor: M. Mitukov

Sergey Skuratoy
Sergey Skuratov architects
Sky-scrapers on Mosfilmovskaya in Moscow
S. Skuratov, S. Nekrasov - chief project architect, I.Il’in, P. Karpovsky

Sergey Tkachenko
OOO «Arka»
Residential building on Mashkova street in Moscow
Architects: S. Tkachenko, O. Dubrovsky, S. Anufriev, V. Belsky, S. Belyanina, I. Voznesensky, E. Kapalina, A. Kononenko, M. Leikin, G. Nikolashina, V. Chulkova
Chief engineer: E. Spivak
constructors: V. Gnedin, E. Skachkova, A. Litvinova, N. Kosmina

Mihail Filippov
Mikhail Filippov’s studio
Residential building in Kazachy pereulok in Moscow
M. Filippov, M. Leonov, T. Filippova, A. Filippov, O. Mranova, E. Mihailova

Mihail Hazanov
Kurortproekt
Multi-use centre of the Government of Moscow oblast
architects: M. Hazanov, D. Razmahnin, T. Serebrennikova, E. Mil, V. Mihajlov, N. Schedrova, L. Borisova, A. Zinchuk, A. Krohin, E. Petushkova, D. Elfimov, D. Nasyrova, A. Kosheleva, V. Vedenyapin, K. Kuzmenko, D. Degtyarev, E. Akulova, M. Kalashnikova, R. Grigorevsky, O. Gulneva, A. Filimonov, V. Klassen, A. Odud, R. Belov, D. Spivak, V. Klassen, M. Chistyakov

Nikita Yavein
Studio 44
Development concept by Ladozhsky vokzal in St.Petersburg
N. Yavein, N. Arhipova, U. Ashmeteva, V. Zenkevich (chief project architect)

***

Norman Foster, UK
Foster and Partners
“Russia” tower in the City

Dominique Perrault, France
DPA
Dominique Perrault Architecture
Project of the new building of Mariinsky theatre in St. Petersburg

Peter Schweger, Sergey Tchoban, Germany
SCHWEGER ASSOZIIERTE Gesamtplanung GmbH
NPS Tchoban Voss
“Federacia” tower in the City, Moscow

Erick van Egeraat, Holland
Erick van Egeraat associated architects
National library in Kazan

Zaha Hadid, UK
Zaha Hadid Architects
Private residential building, near Moscow

Thomas Leeser, USA
Leeser Architecture
Museum of mammoth in Yakutia

David Adjaye, London
Adjaye/Associates
Business-school in Skolkovo

Ricardo Bofill, Spain
Taller de Arquitectura
The 75th block. Welton park

Jean Nouvel, France
SOM, USA

13 May 2008

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

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.

Report

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.