"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

The Power of Lines

The building at the very beginning of New Arbat is the result of long deliberations over how to replace the former House of Communication. Contemporary, dynamic, and even somewhat zoomorphic in character, it is structured around a large diagonal grid. The building has become a striking accent both in the perspective of the former Kalinin Avenue and in the panorama of Arbat Square. Yet, unfortunately, the original concept was not fully realized. In 2020, the Moscow ArchCouncil approved a design featuring an exoskeleton – an external load-bearing structure, which eventually turned into a purely decorative element. Still, the power of the supergraphic “holds” the building, giving it the qualities of a new urban landmark with iconic potential. How this concept took shape, what unexpected associations might underlie the grid’s form, and why the exoskeleton was never built – all this is explored in our article.

News

Resort on the Kama River

Wowhaus has developed a project for the reconstruction of Korabelnaya Roshcha (“Mast Grove”), a wellness resort located on the banks of the Kama River.

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Nests in Primorye

The eco-park project “Nests”, designed by Aleksey Polishchuk and the company Power Technologies, received first prize at the Eco-Coast 2025 festival, organized by the Union of Architects of Russia. For a glamping site in Filinskaya Bay, the authors proposed bird-shaped houses, treehouses, and a nest-shaped observation platform, topping it all with an entrance pavilion executed in the shape of an owl.

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The Angle of String Tension

The House of Music, designed by Vladimir Plotkin and the architects of TPO Reserve, resembles a harp, and when seen from above, even a bass clef. But if only it were that simple! The architecture of the complex fuses two distinct expressive languages: the lattice-like, transparent, permeable vocabulary of “classical” modernism and the sculptural, ribbon-like volumes so beloved by today’s neo-modernism. How it all works – where the catharsis lies, which compositional axes underpin the design, where the project resembles Zaryadye Concert Hall and where it does not – read in the article below.

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How Historic Tobolsk Becomes a Portal to the Future

Over the past decade, the architectural company Wowhaus has developed urban strategies for several Russian cities – Vyksa, Tula, and Nizhnekamsk, to name but a few. Against this backdrop, the Tobolsk master plan stands out both for its scale – the territory under transformation covers more than 220 square kilometers – and for its complexity.

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St. Petersburg vs Rome

The center of St. Petersburg is, as we know, sacred – but few people can say with certainty where this “sacred place” actually begins and ends. It’s not about the formal boundaries, “from the Obvodny Canal to the Bolshaya Nevka”, but about the vibe that feels true to the city center. With the Nevskaya Ratusha complex – built to a design that won an international competition – Evgeny Gerasimov and Sergei Tchoban created an “image of the center” within its territory. And not so much the image of St. Petersburg itself, as that of a global metropolis. This is something new, something that hasn’t appeared in the city for a long time. In this article, we study the atmosphere, recall precedents, and even reflect on who and when first called St. Petersburg the “new Rome”. Clearly, the idea is alive for a reason.

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On the Wave

The project of transforming the river port and embankment in the city of Cheboksary, developed by the ATRIUM Architects, involves one of the city’s key areas. The Volga embankment is to be turned into a riverside boulevard – a multifunctional, comfortable, and expressive space for work and leisure activities. The authors propose creating a new link with the city’s main Krasnaya (“Red”) Square, as well as erecting several residential towers inspired by the shape of the traditional national women’s headdress – these towers are likely to become striking accents on the Volga panorama.

Interview

Valery Kanyashin: “We Were Given a Free Hand”

The Headliner residential complex, the main part of which was recently completed just across from Moscow City, is a kind of neighbor to the MIBC that doesn’t “play along” with it. On the contrary, the new complex is entirely built on contrast: like a city of differently scaled buildings that seems to have emerged naturally over the past 20 years – which is a hugely popular trend nowadays! And yet here – perhaps only here – such a project has been realized to its full potential. Yes, high-rises dominate, but all these slender, delicate profiles, all these exciting perspectives! And most importantly – how everything is mixed and composed together... We spoke with the project’s leader Valery Kanyashin.

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The Keystone

Until quite recently, premium residential and office complexes in Moscow were seen as the exclusive privilege of the city center. Today the situation is changing: high-quality architecture is moving beyond the confines of the Third Ring Road and appearing on the outskirts. The STONE Kaluzhskaya business center is one such example. Projects like this help decentralize the megalopolis, making life and work prestigious in any part of the city.

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Perpetuum Mobile

The interior of the headquarters of Natsproektstroy, created by the IND studio team, vividly and effectively reflects the client’s field of activity – it is one of Russia’s largest infrastructure companies, responsible for logistics and transport communications of every kind you can possibly think of.

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Water and Light

Church art is full of symbolism, and part of it is truly canonical, while another part is shaped by tradition and is perceived by some as obligatory. Because of this kind of “false conservatism”, contemporary church architecture develops slowly compared to other genres, and rarely looks contemporary. Nevertheless, there are enthusiasts in this field out there: the cemetery church of Archangel Michael in Apatity, designed by Dmitry Ostroumov and Prokhram bureau, combines tradition and experiment. This is not an experiment for its own sake, however – rather, the considered work of a contemporary architect with the symbolism of space, volume, and, above all, light.

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Champions’ Cup

At first glance, the Bell skyscraper on 1st Yamskogo Polya Street, 12, appears strict and laconic – though by no means modest. Its economical stereometry is built on a form close to an oval, one of UNK architects’ favorite themes. The streamlined surface of the main volume, clad in metal louvers, is sliced twice with glass incisions that graphically reveal the essence of the original shape: both its simplicity and its complexity. At the same time, dozens of highly complex engineering puzzles have been solved here.

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Semi-Digital Environment

In the town of Innopolis, a satellite of Kazan, the first 4-star hotel designed by MAD Architects has opened. The interiors of the hotel combine elegance with irony, and technology with comfort, evoking the atmosphere of a computer game or maybe a sci-fi movie about the near future.

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History never ends

The old railway station in Kapan, a city in southern Armenia, has been given new life by the Paris-based design firm Normal Studio. Today, it serves as a TUMO center.

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A Deep, Crystal Shine

A new luxury residential development by ADM architects is set to rise in the Patriarch’s Ponds district, not far from Novopushkinsky Square. It will replace three buildings erected in the early 1990s. The project authors, Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova, have placed their bets on the variety among the three volumes, modern design solutions, and attention to detail: one of the buildings will feature smoothly curved balconies with a ceramic sheen on their undersides, while another will be accented by glass “sculpture” columns.

Interview

Grigory Revzin: “What we should do with the architecture of the seventies”

Soviet modernism came in two flavors: the good, author-driven kind, and the bad, standardized kind. The good kind was “on the periphery”, while the bad kind was in the center – geographically, in terms of attention, scale, and everything else. Can we demolish it? “That would be destroying public consensus out of thin air”. So what should we do? Preserve it, but creatively: “Bring architecture into places where it hasn’t yet appeared”. Treat these buildings not as monuments, but as urban landscape. Read our interview with Grigory Revzin on the pressing topic of saving modernism – where he proposes a controversial, yet really intriguing, way of preserving 1970s buildings.

Overview

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.

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Perspective View

CNTR Architects has designed a business center for a new district in Yekaterinburg, aiming to reduce the need for commuting and make the residential environment more diverse. The architectural solutions are equally focused on creating spatial flexibility, comfortable working conditions, and a memorable image that could allow the building to become a spatial landmark of the district.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The City as a Narrative

Sergey Skuratov’s approach to large urban plots could best be described as a “total design code”. The architect pays equal attention to the overall composition and the smallest of details, striving to ensure that every aspect is thoroughly thought out and subordinated to the original vision. It’s a Renaissance-like approach, really – a titanic effort demanding remarkable willpower and perseverance. The results are likewise grand – architecture that makes a statement. This article looks at the revived concept for the central section of the Seventh Heaven residential district in Kazan, a composition so thoroughly considered that even the “gradient of visual emphasis” (sic!) across the facades has been carefully worked out. It also touches on the narrative idea behind the project – and even the architect’s own doubts about it.

A Garden of Hope for Freedom

In October, at the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery in Suzdal, the Prison Yard Garden opened on the site that had served as a prison from the 18th century until the Khrushchev Thaw. The architectural concept was developed by NOῨD Short Film, and the landscape design by the MOX landscape bureau. In fact, there are two gardens here – very different ones. We try to understand whether they evoke the right emotions in visitors, while also showing the beauty of June’s ruderal plants in bloom.

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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”.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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New Aeroflot Office: Lightness, Play, Comfort

Even if you have no plans to fly with Aeroflot anytime soon, their new office at 2A 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street is still worth a visit for its interior design alone.

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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.

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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”.