Nikita Yavein: "At WAF, our projects were accepted with interest".

The winner of two nominations at WAF-2015 speaks about the right way of showcasing your projects to an international award judging panel, what this international contest is all about and why it is worth taking part in.

Interviewed by:
Julia Tarabarina
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

18 November 2015

Interview

- Nikita, my congratulations! If I am not mistaken, your works became Russia's first projects to be ever shortlisted as the winners of WAF nominations. What are your impressions? How did it all work out for you?

My impressions are great, we got a very warm reception. A lot of things were going on simultaneously there, people would go around with the schedule slips marking just which events they wanted to visit, choosing, say, between a Jencks or Cooke lecture or one of a dozen project presentations. So, ultimately, people got interested in us; our first showcase of Kaliningrad was visited by about ten people, then our Hermitage project drew a little over fifty, and, when we were showcasing our school, the room was already filled to capacity. At our last showcase in the major hall, eight hundred or so people turned up.

It was not me who did our presentations - it was the young architects of our company who contributed to these projects and whose English is excellent. I guess we would have gotten shortlisted even last year had I known English better but I have a great command of French, and, this contest being organized by the British, French is of little use there. The official language of the conference is English, the presenter speaks fast, and you have to react and answer quickly, you must be prepared to do that. A lot of presentations were stopped at the 20-minute limit but, as I say, we were received with interest, and our Kaliningrad showcase went on for 25 minutes or so; we were asked a lot of questions.

zooming — Nikita Yavein and his colleagues from "Studio 44" are being awarded the WAF prize. Photo courtesy by "Studio 44"

And, besides, last year we presented the Sochi Olympics Central Railway Station - it was right about the time of the Ukrainian crisis, and politics got in the way.

- As far as the Kaliningrad master plan is concerned, were you well ahead of your competition in the nomination?

It was clear from the start that we were winning with Kaliningrad, the project made it in flying colors. Our project was accepted at once and our approach was also understood: it is not about recreating the old buildings and it is not about building new ones from scratch either - it is about one merging with the other in a smart way. The judging panel was also impressed by the diversity of the types of urban planning that we proposed within the framework of the master plan. But then again, I am not sure - if it hadn't been for Altstadt, we might have not won the master plan nomination at WAF.

We had some serious competition there: there was this master plan Battersea Power Station in London by Rafael Vinoli - a high-profile project, these guys were pretty sure of their victory because, I mean, come on, let's be real, it is a British contest, it is the British that set its vectors of development, and, of course, they are interested in their countrymen winning. And, when the questions were asked, they did try to catch us off-guard. This method was quite unexpected for us.

- And how is the Kaliningrad master plan getting along now?

The local architects made a sketch there, some sort of a cross between our proposal and the French project done by the company Devillers et Associés that took the second place. As for Altstadt, it retains our main points; in other areas of the city the project is closer to the French master plan with the city broken into little residential quadrants. There was yet another contest for the castle - we seem to be getting some work there. But everything is in a state of suspended animation because of the lack of finance. The municipality of Kaliningrad counted on some sort of federal subsidies as they do not have their own funds to do that: the crisis is doing things to the city's economy that is generally based on export and import.

- Boris Eifmann Academy of Dance also won in the nomination of schools - how was it received at the presentation?

We were not so sure of it as we were of the master plan but the school building project won it by the sum total of its features. Besides, we showcased it just right, with a small video that allowed people to see how everything operated; we approached that project rather seriously. Judging by how everyone woke up and got interested we realized that we could indeed win, and then we were almost sure of it. And this, considering the fact that the nominee list included Brentwood Academy that got a Stirling Prize this year.

- And did you show your Dance Academy to the judging panel?

We spoke about the idea of the vertical yard. Regular schools have a yard for the children to troop out to during the recess. And, in our project, this vertical yard is a space for dancing, recreation, and lots of other things. This is like a soup with a lot of meat in it. That space is very saturated, a lot of objects are suspended in it, the ballet classes, first of all. And children run around there too... We made a movie about it to show that this vertical connection is something that really works, even better than the "traditional" horizontal one.

And, secondly, the ballet halls are ruled by an atmosphere of detachment. These halls are like a theater of shadows; a space that is totally isolated joins the absolutely open vertical cloister. And you go from one space to the other through a portal, like through some sort of gateway. We deliberately tried to highlight this feature of the building at our WAF presentation.

Generally, the overall level of this event is very high - the level of the projects submitted, as well as the level of the major and minor judging panels. Although I would say that in "Culture" nomination the judging board was somewhat strange...

- Was that the judging panel that judged the culture monuments where you showcased your restoration of the Joint Staff that you did for the new wing of the Hermitage?

I think that our Hermitage project was the strongest project in its nomination; it could even stand up to fighting for the Grand Prix but, first of all, it is not quite a "festival-type" project - it is too complex, too integrated, and too sophisticated for a festival. And, second of all, we had a bit of bad luck with the judging panel - there were almost no architects on it. True, there was the editor-in-chief of "Architectural Review" but somebody else was on sick leave, and somebody else came to sit in for them. Either they did not quite understand us or maybe we were unable to get our point across. In the nomination of cultural institutions there was very little competition, I would even say. The winning project - Soma City "home for everyone" took the first place thanks to its social value, compassion for the homeless, and not because of its architectural merits.

- Do you agree with the judging panel's decision to award the Grand Prix to the residential complex "Interlace" in Singapore? Did you like this project?

In the "Construction" section, it was an obvious leader for a number of reasons. The project is interesting, it's got space about it; I would even say - it "reloads" your perception of space. What matters is that it is about going back to the roots, to the "horizontal skyscrapers", some constructivist basics - they are to be traced especially clearly there. And this project is a very curious one in general; for example, all these angular joints do not give any front views at all. And, at the same time, this is not a "wood stack" either - you maybe remember, there was such a project with blocks in a rectangular grid? In a word, I don't have any questions to the Grand Prix; this is a high-profile constructivist thing that got an award it truly deserves.

Besides, Interlace is a Singapore building, and WAF was conducted in Singapore this year. Next year, they will move back to Europe, to Berlin. Then they will go someplace else, probably, to somewhere in America. So, predicting the panel's decision wasn't much of a stretch, given the quality of the complex and the political considerations. You do realize that there is a lot of politics in any of such prizes. But, still, today, WAF is the world's most important competition of such kind - not ruled by realtors and developers, and not the kind where all the results are known in advance. In Europe, there is yet another similar contest - Mies van der Rohe Award - it is based on the WAF mechanism, there are slight differences, but generally it's about the same: nominees, constructions, projects, and things... But only countries from the European Union are admitted, so, for us this award is inaccessible. This year, by the way, at WAF there were laureates of Mies, and Stirling - the lineup was very strong.

- And what about BIG's Vancouver House that named "Best Project of the Future"?

- Well, I suppose BIG got the super-prize not because of its architecture - this project is rather controversial - but thanks to the professionalism of its presentation. Our master plan of Kaliningrad, it must be said, was also one of the candidates for the Grand Prix in the "projects" category; we were coming second or maybe third... As for the ideas that were there in this project, we perhaps were even stronger but our presentation fell short - it should have had more vivid imagery to it. We took our old images, and you need to prepare things specifically for WAF. As for BIG, they won at the expense of their consummate mastery of presentation of their material, in this area they are second to nobody, and they turn their every presentation into a theatrical performance.

- How did their mastery specifically manifest itself?

Every element of their project was presented as a solution to some certain global issue. The whole thing is accompanied by the appropriate video sequence. Just before going to Singapore, I went to see "Hamlet" - well, BIG's artists stand up to the world-class professional level. BIG's whole presentation concept is based on such theatrical acts; in fact, they think about how the project will be presented while still in the design stage.

So, as far as the presentation skills are concerned, we are in a different league so far, even though we are getting closer.

- What was the most interesting thing for you at WAF? The presentations, the communication, or the exhibition itself?

The exhibition was a curious thing. It's like a giant open magazine, posters with projects hang all around like bedclothes drying on a line, and people walk among them. Also, the very environment was interesting because there are always like a dozen presentations going on. You simply choose the events that are interesting to you and run from hall to hall.

- For how long have you been taking part in international competitions?

As for WAF, it was our second time there. We didn't win anything last year but I vowed to myself that we would make it this time around. And this year, all the three projects that we submitted got shortlisted, two of them being nominated. I even did more than I committed myself to do.

- Based on your own experience, how would you define the criteria of such victory? We have already spoken about the theater-like presentation; what else do you need to do?

You need to take some very serious ideas that are at the same time current with what is big in the world's architecture right now, and tie them in with the world's processes and books. And you must elaborate on them not with words but with meaningful images. But your ideas must be unconventional and unexpected; you must surprise people with something so that they would get distracted and pay attention to what you're doing. By definition, this whole thing is guaranteed against any kind of provincialism.

- What does participating in such international contests give you?

There are no customers there, there are critics. It is not about getting customers and making money anyway. I do not get that many customers specifically thanks to my awards and prizes, although they may still be instrumental in entering the international markets - this is, for example how I started working in Astana.

It is about the professional growth, of course! And the opportunity to compare what you're doing to what your colleagues and recognized professionals are doing. All the 200–250 projects showcased at WAF were really decent, which is what I like about this contest. In our domestic contests, I often make bets as to who will win and I never lose - all you need to know is the lineup of the judging panel. And here it feels great just not to know in advance who will win.

18 November 2015

Headlines now

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

Pro Forma

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

Object

The Arch and the Triangle

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

Object

Health Factory

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

Object

The Blooming Mechanics of a Glass Forest

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

Object

Grace and Unity

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

Object

Daring Brilliance

In this article, we are exploring “New Vision”, the first school built in the past 25 years in Moscow’s Khamovniki. The building has three main features: it is designed in accordance with the universal principles of modern education, fostering learning through interaction and more; second, the façades combine structural molded glass and metallic glazed ceramics – expensive and technologically advanced materials. Third, this is the school of Garden Quarters, the latest addition to Moscow’s iconic Khamovniki district. Both a costly and, in its way, audacious acquisition, it carries a youthful boldness in its statement. Let’s explore how the school is designed and where the contrasts lie.

Object

A Twist of the Core

A clever and concise sculptural solution – rotating each floor by N degrees – has created an ensemble of “dancing” towers: similar yet different, simple yet complex. The designers meticulously refined a single structural node and spent considerable effort on the column construction – after that, “everything else was easy”. The architects also rotated the core walls on each floor to maximize the efficiency of the office spaces.

Object

The Sculpting of Spring Forest Matter

We’ve been observing this building for a couple of years now: seemingly simple, perhaps even unassuming, it fits in remarkably well with the micro-district context shaped by the Moscow MCD road junctions. This building sticks in the memory of everyone who drives along the highway, even occasionally. In our opinion, Sergey Nikeshkin, by blending popular architectural techniques and approaches of the 2010s, managed to turn a seemingly simple structure into a statement “on the theme of a house as such”. Let’s figure out how this happened.

Object

Water and Wind Whet the Stone

The Arisha Terraces residential complex, designed by Asadov Architects, will be built in a district of Dubai dedicated to film and television production. To create shaded spaces and an intriguing silhouette, the architects opted for a funnel-shaped composition and nature-inspired forms of erosion and weathering. The roofs, podium, and underground spaces extend leisure opportunities within the boundaries of a man-made “oasis”.

Object

Elevation 5642

The Genplan Institute of Moscow has developed a comprehensive development project for three ski resorts in the Caucasus, which have been designated as special economic zones of the tourism and recreation type. The first of these zones is Elbrus. The project includes the construction of new ski runs, cable cars, and hotels, as well as the modernization of stations and improvements to the Azau tourist meadow. To expand the audience and enhance year-round appeal, a network of eco-trails is also being developed. In this article, we provide a detailed breakdown of each stage.

Object

The IT Town

Taking the example of the first completed phase of the “U” district, we examine how the new neighborhood in Innopolis will be organized. T+T Architects and HADAA formed a well-balanced and ingenious master plan with different types of housing, a green artery, a system of squares, and a park in the town’s central part.

Object

The Heart Lies Within

The second-phase building of the Evgeny Primakov School already won multiple awards while still in the design stage. Now that it’s completed, some unfinished nuances remain – most notably, the exposed ceiling structures, which ideally should have been concealed. However, given the priority placed on the building’s volumetric composition, this does not seem critical. What matters more is the “Wow!” effect created by the space itself.

Object

Magnetic Forces

“Krylatskaya 33” is the first large-scale residential complex to appear amidst the 1980s “micro-districts” that harmoniously coexist with the forests, the river, the slopes, and the sports infrastructure. Despite its imposing scale, the architects of Ostozhenka managed to turn the complex into something that can be best described as a “graceful dominant”. First, they designed the complex with consideration for the style and height of the surrounding micro-districts. Second, by introducing a pause in its tallest section, they created compositional tension – right along the urban planning axis of the area.

Object

Orion’s Belt

The Stone Khodynka 2 office complex, designed by Kleinewelt Architekten for the company Stone, is built with an ergonomic layout following “healthy building” principles: natural light, ventilation, and all the necessary features for an efficient office environment. On the outside, it resembles – like many contemporary buildings – an iPhone: sleek, glowing, glass-and-metal, edges elegantly rounded. Yet, it responds sensitively to the Khodynka context, where the main theme is the contrast between vertical and horizontal lines. The key intrigue lies in the design of the “stylobate” as a suspended passage, leaving the space beneath it open for free pedestrian movement.

Interview

Grigory Revzin: “It Was a Bold Statement Made on the Sly. Something Won”

In this article, we discuss the debates surrounding the circus competition and the demolition of the CMEA building with the most renowned architectural critic of our time. A paradox emerges in the process: while nostalgia for the Brezhnev era seems to be in vogue in Russia, a landmark building – the “axis” of the Warsaw Pact – has been sentenced to demolition. Isn’t that strange? We also find out that wow-architecture has made a comeback as a post-COVID trend. However, to make a truly powerful statement, professionals still remain indispensable.

Object

Exposed Concrete

One of the stages of improving a small square in the town of Lermontov was the construction of a skatepark. Entrusting this part of the project to the XSA team, the city gained a 250-meter trick track whose features resemble those of land art objects – unparalleled in Russia in both scale and design. Here’s a look at how the experimental snake run in the foothills of the Caucasus was built.

Object

One Step Closer To the Dream

The challenges of getting all the mandatory approvals, an insufficient budget, and construction site difficulties did not prevent ASADOV Bureau from achieving its main goal in the realization of the school project in the town of Troitsk – taking another step away from outdated notions of educational spaces toward creating a fundamentally new academic environment.

Object

Chalet on the Rock

An Accor hotel in Arkhyz, designed by A.Len, will be situated at the gateway to the resort’s main tourist hubs. The architects reinterpreted the widely popular chalet style while adding an unexpected twist – an unfinished structure preserved on the site. The design team transformed this remnant into an exciting space featuring an open-air pool and a restaurant with panoramic views of the region’s highest mountain ridges.

Interview

Sergey Skuratov: “By and large, the project has been realized in line with the original ideas”

In this issue, we talk to the chief architect of Garden Quarters, looking back at the history and key moments of a project that took 18 years to develop and has now finally been completed. What interests us most are the transformations that the project underwent during construction, and the way the “necessary void” of public space was formed, which turned this remarkable complex into a fragment of a whole new type of urban fabric – not just at the horizontal “street” level but in its vertical structure as well.

Object

A Unique Representative

The recently concluded year 2024 can be considered the year of completion for the “Garden Quarters” residential complex in Moscow’s Khamovniki. This project is well-known and, in many ways, iconic. Rarely does one manage to preserve such a number of original ideas, achieving in the end a kind of urban planning Gesamtkunstwerk. Here is a subjective view from an architecture journalist, with an interview with Sergey Skuratov soon to follow.

Object

Field of Life

The new project by the architectural company PNKB (an acronym for “Design, Research, and Advisory Bureau”), led by Sergey Gnedovsky and Anton Lyubimkin, for the Kulikovo Field Museum is dedicated to the field as a concept in its own right. The field has long been a focus of the museum’s thorough and successful research. Accordingly, the exterior of the new museum building is gentler than that of its predecessor, which was also designed by PNKB and dedicated specifically to the historic battle. Inside, however, the building confidently guides the visitor from a luminous atrium along a spiral path to the field – interpreted here as a field of life.

Object

A Paper Clip above the River

In this article, we talk with Vitaly Lutz from the Genplan Institute of Moscow about the design and unique features of the pedestrian bridge that now links the two banks of the Yauza River in the new cluster of Bauman Moscow State Technical University (MSTU). The bridge’s form and functionality – particularly the inclusion of an amphitheater suspended over the river – were conceived during the planning phase of the territory’s development. Typically, this approach is not standard practice, but the architects advocate for it, referring to this intermediate project phase as the “pre-AGR” stage (AGR stands for Architectural and Urban Planning Approval). Such a practice, they argue, helps define key parameters of future projects and bridge the gap between urban planning and architectural design.

Review

Living in the Architecture of One’s Own Making

Do architects design houses for themselves? You bet! In this article, we are examining a new book by TATLIN publishing house. This book – unprecedented for Russia – features 52 private homes designed and built by contemporary architects for themselves. It includes houses that are famous, even iconic, as well as lesser-known ones; large and small, stylish and eccentric. To some extent, the book reflects the history of Russian architecture over the past 30 years.

Object

A City Block Isoline

Another competition project for a residential complex on the banks of the Volga in Nizhny Novgorod has been prepared by Studio 44. A team of architects led by Ivan Kozhin concluded that using a regular block layout in such a location would be inappropriate and developed a “custom design” approach: a chain of parceled multi-section buildings stretching along the entire embankment. Let’s explore the features and advantages of this unconventional method.

Report

Competition: The Price of Creativity?

Any day now, we’re expecting the results of a competition held by the “Samolet” development group for a plot in Kommunarka. In the meantime, we share the impressions of Editor-in-Chief Julia Tarabarina, who managed to conduct a public talk. Though technically focused on the interaction between developers and architects, the public talk turned into a discussion about the pros and cons of architectural competitions.

Object

Terraced Design

The “River Park” residential complex has confidently and securely shaped the Nagatinsky Backwater shoreline. Featuring a public embankment, elevated courtyards connected by pedestrian bridges, and brick façades, the development invites exploration of its nuanced response to the surrounding context, as well as hints of the architects’ megalithic design thinking.

A Kremlin’s Core and Meteorite Fragments

We continue our coverage of the competition projects for the residential district that the development company GloraX plans to build along the embankment of the Rowing Channel in Nizhny Novgorod. ASADOV Architects approached the concept through a deep dive into local identity, using storytelling to pinpoint a central idea for the design: the master plan and composition are imagined as if a meteorite had struck a “proto-Kremlin”. Sounds weird? Find more details below!