"Lenigradka" Embankment

In this issue, we are covering the projects prepared by the winners and the finalists of the contest for the best concept of "Dimamo" Boulevard in Moscow.

Written by:
Polina Sadova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

03 March 2015

Contest Results

The contest lasted from October 2014 to January 2015 as part of the educational program "Leningradka Embankment" launched by MARCH Architectural School. Under the guidance of the contest curator, architect Ilia Mukosey, the students did a research of the Dinamo Boulevard and determined its problem spots. The boulevard was considered in conjunction with its adjacent square, the Dinamo Stadium, and the Petrovsky Park. Then the contestants were to come up with specific solutions for the problems that they discovered. In late January, there took place the defense of the students' projects, seven of which were forwarded on to the consideration of the judging panel. The organizers also conducted an online popular vote.

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Contest winners

The First Place + People's Choice Award
Ksenia Zvereva

zooming — Visualization of a fragment of the boulevard. Concept of "Dinamo" Boulevard. Author: Ksenia Zvereva

The concept is all about the sonic diversity of the territory. Using the mobile application for measuring the noise level, Ksenia determined the places that are most susceptible to the noise pollution. For example, a large level of noise was discovered opposite the "slab" of a large residential building whose facade reflects the sound. According to the conclusions made by the authors of the project, the reason for the noise pollution of the boulevard is "the absence of the medium green belt". The bushes and the small trees might absorb the noise close to the ground. Strengthening this medium green belt became the key idea of the project. However, according to the architect, there is no necessity to get rid of the noise altogether - because it forms the unique "sonic portrait" of this particular territory. Because of that, it is proposed that at some places the city noise should be kept as it is, and sometimes even augmented with extra sources of sound, fountains for example. Thus, the boulevard gets a peculiar "sonic tour route". Developing her idea of sonic variety, Ksenia proposed to organize, under the junction flyover, a yoga center that will be opposed to the noisy and crowded stadium and at the same time will support the sport theme intrinsic to this place.

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The Second Place
Anastasia Rozhkova

The project is aimed at organizing and comfortably using the boulevard in spite of the proximity of a construction site and a noisy highway. Anastasia proposes to create a covered boulevard whose vertical green belt will protect it from the world outside. There is a bar counter that runs directly along the pedestrian path. Across from it, the authors place a blackboard where anybody can leave a note. Here one can organize weekend bazaars and flea markets, the kind that you can see on the boulevards of European cities.

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The Third Place
Daria Gerasimova

Daria Gerasimova's project is based on the idea of accessibility of the boulevard and the square for the handicapped people. In order to make the territory accessible, the authors propose to replace some of the stairways with zigzag ramps. Besides, according to the author, "Dinamo" Stadium lacks the necessary bicycle infrastructure. In its contest project, for Park of Physical Culture and Sport, "Praktika" proposes to create a bicycle ring that would belt both the park and the stadium. Daria thinks that it is necessary to expand the ring as far as the Petrovsky Park, and, when it runs through the square, elevate the bicycle track over the ground level so as to avoid interfering with the flows of pedestrians and the support crowds during the games. In the center of the square, there is a bicycle renting point and a small cafe. The circular ramp will allow for the cyclists to get up the the level of the bicycle track.

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Contest Finalists

Anton Timofeev

The author dedicated his research to the automotive situation on the highways adjacent to the boulevard. His conclusion runs as follows: in the nearest future, a large part of the local population will be forced to opt out of using their cars in favor of public transportation, and the necessity of multi-level road junctions will be no longer there. The flyovers are turned into linear parks, similar to New-York's High Line. Anton suggests to start preparing people for these changes today. The three-phase scenario that the author has come up with is called "Crutch - Trail - Seizure". The idea is about adding a pedestrian and bicycle trail "crutch" to the flyover. With time, they will also be able to "seize" the carriage way. The space under the flyover may be used as expo space for organizing fairs and exhibitions.

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Andrew Fomichev

According to the research done by Andrew Fomichev, the place that suffers the most from the adverse effects of the highway is the square between the pavilions of the "Dinamo" metro station as well as the part of the boulevard not covered by the flyover. The author also paid attention to the bus stops and retail kiosks scattered chaotically along the Leningrad Avenue. As the key idea, Andrew proposed to implement, on the sidewalk running along the Leningrad Avenue, a modular "transformer" structure. This structure consists, among other things, of "green modules" (bushes in tubs), bus stop modules, cafe modules, and others. The structure can be adjusted and fine-tuned to fit the current specific tasks. By relocating the mobile benches and tubs, for example, one could use the territory as a festival venue, a promenade, or even a skating rink in the wintertime.

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Oleg Sazonov

The author of the project notes the important role of this territory as a link between two parks (Petrovsky and Dinamo). However, the square is not properly organized, and, according to the recent opinion poll, is not really popular with the local people. Oleg proposed to raise the popularity of this place by attracting to it the lovers of extreme sports. The composition is built around a half-pipe that performs, aside from its immediate sport function, a number of other ones (it houses the stadium's booking office, a stage for open-air festivals, a cafe, and a retail store). Ultimately, we see a picturesque enfilade of spaces with diverse functions, securely protected from the noise of the highway. Using this "structure", one can easily get from one park to the other. Yet another solution proposed by the author is creating a terminal for the above-ground transportation that will include the stops of all kinds of transport that runs through this area.

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Daria Zaitseva

This concept was inspired by the diverse architecture of this area. Here one can encounter all the architectural styles of the XX century as well as the Putevoy Palace built in 1780 upon the project of Mathew Kazakov. Daria proposed to create a collective image of the architecture of this area in the form of a "phantom" tower that might be built at the crossing of the Leningrad Avenue and the Third Transport Ring. According to Daria, if placed at the crossings of the Third Transport Ring with Moscow's thirteen main radial highways, such towers could become the basis for the city's new navigation system. Technically, the tower is a metal spike about four hundred feet tall, issuing steam, upon which images are projected. The judging panel gave a special mention to the model of the tower that Daria prepared. It consists of a steam generator and a pocket projector that projects the image of the tower onto a steam column.

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The judging panel of the contest

S.P. Shamanov, Deputy General Director of UK Dinamo
T.P. Dedinskaya, Deputy Head of Administrative Board of "Airport" District for trading and service issues.
Sergey Tchoban, architect, the managing partner of SPEECH architectural bureau
Oscar Mamleev, professor of Moscow Institute of Architecture, MARCH architectural school, and the International Academy of Architecture, Architectural Association School of Architecture (London, UK)
A.A. Voskresensky, editor-in-chief of "Commersant. Dom" Magazine
Y.G. Saprykin, journalist, former editor-in-chief of "Afisha" Magazine
Julius Borisov, co-founder of the architectural bureau UNK project
S.A. Nikitin, urbanist historian, leader of "Moscultprog" Group and the founder of the international project "Velonoch" ("Night of a Bicycle")
M.L. Zvyagintseva, artist and curator of public art projects, member of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia, and Union of Artists of Moscow

03 March 2015

Headlines now

Object

Layers and Levels of Flight

This project goes way back – Reserve Union won this architectural competition at the end of 2011, and the building was completed in 2018, so it’s practically “archival”. However, despite being relatively unknown, the building can hardly be considered “dated” and remains a prime example of architectural expression, particularly in the headquarters genre. And it’s especially fitting for an aviation company office. In some ways, it resembles the Aeroflot headquarters at Sheremetyevo but with its own unique identity, following the signature style of Vladimir Plotkin. In this article, we take an in-depth look at the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) headquarters in the Moscow agglomeration town of Zhukovsky, supplemented by recent photographs from Alexey Naroditsky – a shoot that became only recently possible due to the fact that improvements were finally made in the surrounding area.

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Light and Shadow

In this article, we delve into the architectural design of the “Chaika” house by DNK ag architects, which was recently completed in 2023 as part of the collection of signature designs at ZILArt. As is well-known, all the buildings in this complex follow a design code, yet each one is distinct. This particular building stands out not only for its whiteness and minimalism but also for the refined use of a limited number of techniques that, together, create what can confidently be called synergy.

View

Casus Novae

A master plan was developed for a large residential area with a name of “DNS City”, but now that its implementation began, the plan has been arbitrarily reformatted and replaced with something that, while similar on the surface, is actually quite different. This is not the first time such a thing happens, but it’s always frustrating. With permission from the author, we are sharing Maria Elkina’s post.

Report

Treasure Hunting

The GAFA bureau, in collaboration with Tegola and Arkhitail, organized an expedition to the island of Kilpola in Karelia as part of Moskomarkhitektura’s “Open City” festival. There, amidst moss and rocks, the students sought answers to questions like: what is the sacred, where does it dwell, and what sustains it? Assisting the participants in this quest were landscape engineer Evgeny Levin, artist Nicholas Roerich, a moose, and the lack of cellular connection. Here’s how the story unfolded.

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Depths of the Earth, Streams of Water

In the Malaya Okhta district, the Akzent building, designed by Stepan Liphart, was constructed. It follows a classic tripartite structure, yet it’s what you might call “hand-drawn”: each façade is unique in its form and details, some of which aren’t immediately noticeable. In this article, we explore the context and, together with the architect, delve into how the form was developed.

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Fir Tree Dynamics

The “Airports of Region” holding is planning to build an airport in Karachay-Cherkessia, aiming to make the Arkhyz and Dombay resorts more accessible to travelers. The project that won in an invitation-only competition, submitted by Sergey Nikeshkin’s KPLN, blends natural imagery inspired by the shape of a conifer seed, open-air waiting spaces, majestic large trees, and a green roof elevated on needle-like columns. The result is both nature-inspired and WOW.

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A Brick Shell

In the process of designing a clubhouse situated among pine trees in a prestigious suburban area near Moscow, the architectural firm “A.Len” did the façade design part. The combination of different types of brick and masonry correlates with the volumetric and plastique solutions, further enhanced by the inclusion of wood-painted fragments and metal “glazing”.

Report

Word Forms

ATRIUM architects love ambitious challenges, and for the firm’s thirtieth anniversary, they boldly play a game of words with an exhibition that dives deep into a self-created vocabulary. They immerse their projects – especially art installations – into this glossary, as if plunging into a current of their own. You feel as if you’re flowing through the veins of pure art, immersed in a universe of vertical cities, educational spaces – of which the architects are true masters – and the cultural codes of various locations. But what truly captivates is the bold statement that Vera Butko and Anton Nadtochy make, both through their work and this exhibition: architecture, above all, is art – the art of working with form and space.

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Flexibility and Acuteness of Modernity

Luxurious, fluid, large “kokoshniks” and spiral barrel columns, as if made from colorful chewing gum: there seem to be no other mansion like this in Moscow, designed in the “Neo-Russian-Modern” style. And the “Teremok” on Malaya Kaluzhskaya, previously somewhat obscure, has “come alive with new colors” and gained visibility after its restoration for the office of the “architectural ecosystem” as the architects love to call themselves. It’s evident that Julius Borisov and the architects at UNK put their hearts into finding this new office and bringing it up to date. Let’s delve into the paradoxes of this mansion’s history and its plasticity. Spoiler: two versions of modernity meet here, both balancing on the razor’s edge of “what’s current”.

Interview

Yuri Vissarionov: “A modular house does not belong to the land”

It belongs to space, or to the air... It turns out that 3D printing is more effective when combined with a modular approach: the house is built in a workshop and then adapted to the site, including on uneven terrain. Yuri Vissarionov shares his latest experience in designing tourist complexes, both in central Russia and in the south. These include houseboats, homes printed from lightweight concrete using a 3D printer, and, of course, frame houses.

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Moscow’s First

“The quality of education largely depends on the quality of the educational environment”. This principle of the last decade has been realized by Sergey Skuratov in the project for the First Moscow Gymnasium on Rostovskaya Embankment in the Khamovniki district. The building seamlessly integrates into the complex urban landscape, responding both to the pedestrian flow of the city and the quiet alleyways. It skillfully takes advantage of the height differences and aligns with modern trends in educational space design. Let’s take a closer look.

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Looking at the Water

The site of Villa Sonata stretches from the road to the water’s edge, offering its own shoreline, pier, and a picturesque river panorama. To reveal these sweeping views, Roman Leonidov “cut” the façade diagonally parallel to the river, thus getting two main axes for the house and, consequently, “two heads”. The internal core – two double-height spaces, a living room and a conservatory, with a “bridge” above them – makes the house both “transparent” and filled with light.

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The White Wing

Well, it’s not exactly white. It’s more of a beige, white-stone structure that plays with the color of limestone – smoother surfaces are lighter, while rougher ones are darker. This wing unites various elements: it absorbs and interprets the surrounding themes. It responds to everything, yet maintains a cohesive expression – a challenging task! – while also incorporating recognizable features of its own, such as the dynamic cuts at the bottom, top, and middle.

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Urban Dunes

The XSA Ramps team designed and built a three-part sports hub for a park in Rostov-on-Don, welcoming people of all ages and fitness levels. The skate plaza, pump track, and playground are all meticulously crafted with details that attract a diverse range of visitors. The technical execution of the shapes and slopes transforms this space into a kind of sculptural composition.

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Proportional Growth

The project for the fourth phase of the ÁLIA residential area has been announced. The buildings are situated on an elongated plot – almost a “ray” that shoots out from the center of the area towards the river. Their layout reflects both a response to Moscow’s architectural preferences over the past 15 years, shifting “from blocks to towers”, and an interpretation of the neighboring business park designed by SOM. Additionally, the best apartments here are not located at the very top but closer to the middle, forming a glowing “waistline”.

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The “Staircase” Building

In designing the “Details” residential complex in New Moscow, Rais Baishev spiced up the now-popular Moscow theme of a “courtyard” building with an idea drawn from the surrealist drawings by Maurits Escher. He envisioned the stepped silhouettes and descending slopes as a metaphysical mega-staircase, creating a key void within the courtyard that gave the project an internal “spine”. This concept is felt both in the building’s silhouette and on its façades.

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Projection of the Quarter

No one doubted that the building that Vladimir Plotkin designed as part of the “Garden Quarters” would be the most modernist of all. And it turned out just that way: while adhering to the common design code, the building successfully combines brick and white stone, rhythmically responding to the neighboring building designed by Ostozhenka, yet tactfully and persistently making a few statements of its own. This includes the projection of the ideal urban development composition “14–9–6”, which can be found right next door, mathematical calculations, including those for various types of terraces (and perhaps the only reminder of the Soviet past of the Kauchuk rubber factory!), and the white “cross-stitch” pattern of the façade grid.

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Domus Aurea

In this issue, we examine the “Tessinsky-1” house, designed by Sergey Skuratov and completed in 2023. Located in the middle of the Serebryanicheskaya Embankment district, at the intersection of its main streets, this house assumes a sort of “nodal” role: it not only responds to everything around it and preserves many memories of the former EMA factory within itself, but it weaves all this into a newly directed pattern, reconciling bright “gold” and dark-colored brick, largely with the help of the new, modern-yet-archaic Columba brick, which, come to think about it, is the most precious element here.

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The Chimney of Nikola-Lenivets

In this issue, we are examining the “Obelisk House” designed by KATARSIS and built for the Arkhstoyanie 2023 festival. However, it was only finished later on, and this is why we are examining it now. It seems to us that after the “Obelisk House” appeared in Nikola-Lenivets, a dialogue and a few inner connections appeared between the temporary structures built here. These houses no longer look like “accidental neighbors”, more of which below.

Periscope by the Bay

The jury awarded the second place in the competition for a public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the companies GORA (“Mountain”) and M4. In the consortium’s proposal, the building resembles a sperm whale with a calf swimming next to it or a periscope, whose lenses capture the most spectacular views from the surrounding landscape.

Contest Results

From Arcs to Dolmens

While working on the competition project for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, ASADOV Architects prioritized the value of the natural and urban environment, aiming to preserve the balance of the location while minimizing the resemblance of the volume that they designed to a “traditional building”. The task was challenging, and the architects created three versions, one of which having been developed after the competition, where their main proposal took third place. However, the point of interest here is not the competition result but the continuity of creative thinking.

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Hide and Seek

The ID Moskovskiy house, designed by Stepan Liphart in St. Petersburg, in the courtyards near Moskovskiy Avenue beyond the Obvodny Canal and recently completed, is notable for several reasons. Firstly, it has been realized with considerable accuracy, which is particularly significant as this is the first building where the architect was responsible not only for the facades but also for the layouts, allowing for better integration between the two. On the other hand, this building is interesting as an example of the “germination” of new architecture in the city: it draws on the best examples from the neighborhood and becomes an improved and developed sum of ideas found by the architect in the surrounding context.

The Big Twelve

Yesterday, the winners of the Moscow Mayor’s Architecture Award were announced and honored. Let’s take a look at what was awarded and, in some cases, even critique this esteemed award. After all, there is always room for improvement, right?

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Above the Golden Horn

The residential complex “Philosophy” designed by T+T architects in Vladivostok, is one of the new projects in the “Golubinaya Pad” area, changing its development philosophy (pun intended) from single houses to a comprehensive approach. The buildings are organized along public streets, varying in height and format, with one house even executed in gallery typology, featuring a cantilever leaning on an art object.

Report

Nuanced Alternative

How can you rhyme a square and space? Easily! But to do so, you need to rhyme everything you can possibly think of: weave everything together, like in a tensegrity structure, and find your own optics too. The new exhibition at GES-2 does just that, offering its visitor a new perspective on the history of art spanning 150 years, infused with the hope for endless multiplicity of worlds and art histories. Read on to see how this is achieved and how the exhibition design by Evgeny Ace contributes to it.

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Blinds for Ice

An ice arena has been constructed in Domodedovo based on a project by Yuri Vissarionov Architects. To prevent the long façade, a technical requirement for winter sports facilities, from appearing monotonous, the architects proposed the use of suspended structures with multidirectional slats. This design protects the ice from direct sunlight while giving the wall texture and detail.

Contest Results

Frozen Magma

A competition for the creation of a public and cultural center was held in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Three architectural companies made it to the final, and we consider it important to share about the work of each. Let’s start with the winner – the consortium led by Wowhaus.

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Campus within a Day

In this article, we talk about what the participants of Genplan Institute of Moscow’s hackathon were doing at the MosComArchitecture booth at the “ArchMoscow” exhibition. We also discuss who won the prize and why, and what can be done with the territory of a small university on the outskirts of Moscow.

Overview

Vertical Civilization

Genpro considered the development of the vertical city concept and made it the theme of their pavilion at the “ArchMoscow” exhibition.

Interview

Marina Yegorova: “We think in terms of hectares, not square meters”

The career path of architect Marina Yegorova is quite impressive: MARHI, SPEECH, MosComArchitectura, the Genplan Institute of Moscow, and then her own architectural company. Its name Empate, which refers to the words “to draw” in Portuguese and “to empathize” in English, should not be misleading with its softness, as the firm freely works on different scales, including Integrated Territorial Development projects. We talked with Marina about various topics: urban planning experience, female leadership style, and even the love of architects for yachting.