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Plane of Refraction

The project of the second stage of the complex "Zapadnye Vorota" ("Western Gate"), located north of the Mozhaisk Highway, develops the theme of the modern European architecture that has already been successfully implemented in the first stage of this large-scale project.

10 March 2015
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The ABD architects had a first "go" at this territory, situated in the immediate vicinity of the Mozhaisk junction, between 2003 and 2009, designing and building here the business park "Zapadnye Vorota / Western Gate". At that stage already, it was evident that, on the opposite side of this powerful transport structure, there must appear another similar object: it would have been a shame if the gate had but one "shutter". Flanking the entrance to the town from Highway M1 "Byelorussia" was do be done by two symmetric and identical (stylistically and in spirit) complexes. 

However, so it happened that the architects were only able to get back to designing and building the second stage of the "gate" in 2014. By that moment, the future construction site - the segment between the Moscow Ring Road and the Barvikha Street - turned into a squatter city park by the name of "Dog's Lawn". In December 2011 the "wild" ski track running through the park even got an official number of 134 and included a ski stadium. However, against the background of the recently completed junction that already "intruded" on the "Dog's Lawn", when choosing between saving the park and the necessity to finish the construction of the entrance ensemble, the city opted for the latter. And now, the construction of the second - northern - part of the complex is about to begin: a composition of three buildings standing along the border of the land site and a small restaurant block hidden deeper inside. Thus, when the construction is finished, the entrance to the nation's capital will take on a complete view: on the one side, the glass striped buildings looking like green rocks from some fantasy novel, on the other side, still more picturesque group with a fancy deflection of its walls. 

The project of the second stage of the "Western Gate" has been in the making by the studio of Boris Levyant for more than ten years already. Initially, it was planned that on the elongated triangle of the land site, squeezed between one of the exits from the yet-unfinished junction and a residential neighborhood, a large shopping mall would be built that would cater for the people of the adjacent residential areas and the drivers-by. The city council, however, was against building large shopping centers along the Moscow Ring Road, and the plot was given to the construction of a new office center. Today, this decision seems to make even more sense because the idea is gaining popularity of moving most of the offices from Moscow's historical center to the west and southwest parts of the city - the developing territories of "New Moscow" administrative district. Concurrently to this, a lot of housing projects are being built in Odintsovo and other close-to-Moscow areas. 

Office and business center "Wwstern Gate 2" © ABD architects
The location of the office and business center "Wwstern Gate 2" in respect to the Mozhaisk Highway. North of the highway - the first stage, south of the highway - second stage © ABD architects


The new office and business center is a four-volume composition. Each of the three standing up front is no more that eight stories high. The fourth is still lower. On the plan, they all have the shape of almost perfect rectangles but, placed along the smooth curve of the road, they follow its trajectory. Still before the reconstruction of the road junction, it was planned that the starting point of the compositional line would be the tower of the hotel that would stand closest to the highway. Later, however, there appeared yet another exit to the highway, one that ran directly across the construction site - and in the first stage of the business park "Western Gate" the architects had to give up the idea of marking the boundary with a high-rise centerpiece but, on the other hand, this project will be implemented in the second stage. Still, though, even without a tower, the balanced silhouette makes the complex look quite complete. Furthermore, the absence of the hotel building sets off the compositional symmetry of the north and south "shutters" of the gate. 

The most dramatic element of the complex is the inflection of the facade surfaces turned to the highway - it is not really abrupt but it still catches the eyes of the drivers even if the car is moving at a high speed. The inflection takes place in different directions touching both the main facades dissected by the large squares of the windows and the window piers, and the side walls of the buildings perfectly viewable from the junction. The seemingly simple solution proved to be difficult to implement from the technical standpoint. For calculating the construction, ABD architects turned to the German company Werner Sobek that already had expertise of such projects. This was an interesting experience of cooperation: the German designers and engineers plus the Russian architects, facade designers and lighting consultants. 

Ultimately, an impression is created that the buildings are made from a very plastic material, if they can be "crushed" so easily. Or that they found themselves on the edge of two environments - which created this optical effect of light refraction. And, combined with such shape, the play of light is indeed impressive: in spite of the fact that the inflection angle is comparatively small, under the rays of the sun, the flat surface instantly comes alive and takes on a three-dimensional quality. And on the inside, within the space of one floor, together with the fact that its plan is brought to the rational and efficient rectangular shape, the jaggedness of the outside walls is not felt virtually in any way. And - the quality of the offices is improved at the expense of increasing the height of the floor up to 4.05 meters and floor-to-ceiling windows. 

Office and business center "Wwstern Gate 2" © ABD architects


As distinct from the buildings of the first stage, the new complex does not have floor-to-ceiling windows; here, the tall narrow windows alternate with grill window piers, providing a dynamic "division" of the floors over the facade. The thus-set rhythm is supported by the diode lights one module high integrated into the facade system. The dimmed soft lighting allows for changing the color of the building in a quite unobtrusive way, from red to light green. 

In the course of the work, the architects came up with a few versions of color solutions, including rather bright ones. However, as Boris Levyant shared, at the end of the day they opted for the more reserved and mellow materials: "The final color set was approved as a result of considering the project at the architectural council, and I am happy with this choice because bright colors tend to fade away quickly. In this case, we were able to achieve the richness of color by using the nighttime lights". 

Office and business center "Wwstern Gate 2" © ABD architects


The upper maintenance floors of all the three buildings are shifted in respect to their main volumes and are almost completely executed in glass - this makes then but barely visible from the highway. What is visible is only the flat roofs overhanging above them. Upon one of the blocks, a helicopter landing is provided with an elevator going up to the roof - "arrival & departure". Aside from the engineering and technical premises, hidden in the central part of these volumes behind the metal bars, the design also provides for a few VIP rooms designed as glazed terraces commanding panoramic views. 

All the buildings are visually "lifted" off the ground - which makes them look all the more surreal and weightless. This levitation effect is achieved at the expense of deeply "sunken in" and completely glazed bottom floors thanks to which the building looks as if it were hanging in the air. Under these overhanging volumes, walking galleries are organized. The organized territory with the green lawns, minimalist street lights and the winding pedestrian trails makes one forget about the noisy highway running nearby. The trees that used to separate this land plot from the highway were practically destroyed as a result of the expansion of the junction, laying bare the houses that were there. Now it is the complex itself that must become the noise screen for the neighboring residential houses. Luckily, there are enough trees in between them - ultimately, a small part of the park was left intact there, inside of which the three-story restaurant block is hidden. Designed in the common style of the whole ensemble, this fourth building of the complex is mainly designed for the local people and it will also function as a link between the business center and the residential area. 

The construction of the complex is due to start this year. One must also bear in mind that the first stage of "Western Gate" is used full-scale by the owners and the tenants. And this is a great result for an office center standing right next to the Moscow Ring Road. By this, ABD architects, whose projects have for years been showing one of the highest levels of ROI, proves the ultimate compatibility of the idea of localizing the residential and the working areas outside of the nation's capital historical center helping to get rid from the bulky offices and its inevitable traffic jams. And as for the flashy image and the efficiency of "Western Gate", they allow for us to hope for the repetition of its predecessor's success. 

Yet another important feature of Moscow's "Western Gate", one that Boris Levant has been developing for over a decade on the Mozhaisk Highway: its architectural and design solution turned out to be also quite "western" - the green park, the low-rise buildings, the balanced yet flexible shapes, the open composition, the visual lightness and purity. Such gate marks the city entrance not like some "Straits of Hercules"; they are totally free of any pompous grandeur of your typical centerpiece - this is a quite "European", in a whole number of ways, solution, technology-efficient and up-to-date. Possibly, it is just as well for the project that, due to circumstances, the architects had to forego the idea of building a tower here.
Office and business center "Wwstern Gate 2" © ABD architects
Office and business center "Wwstern Gate 2" © ABD architects


10 March 2015

Headlines now
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
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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
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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”.
Warm Black and White
The second phase of “Quarter 31”, designed by KPLN and built in the Moscow suburb town of Pushkino, reveals a multifaceted character. At first glance, the complex appears to be defined by geometry and a monochrome palette. But a closer look reveals a number of “irregular” details: a gradient of glazing and flared window frames, a hierarchy of façades, volumetric brickwork, and even architectural references to natural phenomena. We explore all the rules – and exceptions – that we were able to discover here.
​Skylights and Staircase
Photos from March show the nearly completed headquarters of FSK Group on Shenogina Street. The building’s exterior is calm and minimalist; the interior is engaging and multi-layered. The conical skylights of the executive office, cast in raw concrete, and the sweeping spiral staircase leading to it, are particularly striking. In fact, there’s more than one spiral staircase here, and the first two floors effectively form a small shopping center. More below.
The Whale of Future Identity
Or is it a veil? Or a snow-covered plain? Vera Butko, Anton Nadtochy, and the architects of ATRIUM faced a complex and momentous task: to propose a design for the “Russia” National Center. It had to be contemporary, yet firmly rooted in cultural codes. Unique, and yet subtly reminiscent of many things at once. It must be said – the task found the right authors. Let’s explore in detail the image they envisioned.
Greater Altai: A Systemic Development Plan
The master plan for tourism development in Greater Altai encompasses three regions: Kuzbass, the Altai Republic, and Altai Krai. It is one of twelve projects developed as part of the large-scale state program bearing the simple name of “Tourism Development”. The project’s slogan reads: “Greater Altai – a place of strength, health, and spirit in the very heart of Siberia”. What are the proposed growth points, and how will the plan help increase the flow of both domestic and international tourists? Read on to find out.
The Colorful City
While working on a large-scale project in Moscow’s Kuntsevo district – one that has yet to be given a name – Kleinewelt Architekten proposed not only a diverse array of tower silhouettes in “Empire-style” hues and a thoughtful mix of building heights, creating a six-story “neo-urbanist” city with a block-based layout at ground level, but also rooted their design in historical and contextual reasoning. The project includes the reconstruction of several Stalin-era residential buildings that remain from the postwar town of Kuntsevo, as well as the reconstruction of a 1953 railway station that was demolished in 2017.
In Orbit of Moscow City
The Orbital business center is both simple and complex. Simple in its minimalist form and optimal office layout solution: a central core, a light-filled façade, plenty of glass; and from the unusual side – a technical floor cleverly placed at the building’s side ends. Complex – well, if only because it resembles a celestial body hovering on metallic legs near Magistralnaya Street. Why this specific shape, what it consists of, and what makes this “boutique” office building (purchased immediately after its completion) so unique – all of this and more is covered in our story.
The Altai Ornament
The architectural company Empate has developed the concept for an eco-settlement located on a remote site in Altai. The master plan, which resembles a traditional ornament or even a utopian city, forms a clear system of public and private spaces. The architects also designed six types of houses for the settlement, drawing inspiration from the region’s culture, folklore, and vernacular building practices.
Pro Forma
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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.
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.
The Blooming Mechanics of a Glass Forest
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Grace and Unity
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Daring Brilliance
In this article, we are exploring “New Vision”, the first school built in the past 25 years in Moscow’s Khamovniki. The building has three main features: it is designed in accordance with the universal principles of modern education, fostering learning through interaction and more; second, the façades combine structural molded glass and metallic glazed ceramics – expensive and technologically advanced materials. Third, this is the school of Garden Quarters, the latest addition to Moscow’s iconic Khamovniki district. Both a costly and, in its way, audacious acquisition, it carries a youthful boldness in its statement. Let’s explore how the school is designed and where the contrasts lie.
A Twist of the Core
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The Sculpting of Spring Forest Matter
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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”.