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Point of Assembly

Arch Group has moved to a new office - a classic open space designed in the industrial style with authentic artifacts of the nineteenth century.

30 December 2015
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Having considerable experience in reconstructing various industrial facilities, from separately standing buildings to whole industrial parks, Aleksey Goryainov and Mikhail Krymov "redeveloped" the former factory building into their own office quickly, smoothly, and cost-efficiently. Today, the company's HQ is located on the Presnensky Val, in the former electrical appliances assembly workshop of Moscow Power Tools Factory named after the Revolution of 1905. The factory, by the way, still operates, only some of its buildings being rented out for offices, so, the choice of industrial eclectic style was practically predetermined. The authors of the project were quite ok with it, though: the "loft" style is both practical and modern, and is also reasonably "brutalist" - meaning, it quite corresponds to the image of the workplace of this creative team headed by two young architects. Besides, with such an approach, the remodeling took up the least possible amount of time, which was something that did matter: Arch Group had but two weeks to move from their old office to the new one. 

The company's new office is a classic open-space; the company leaders' office and the meeting room are separated by glass partitions. For Goryainov and Krymov, it was crucial to create a one-chunk space totally devoid of any blind walls: in the company's old offices, the leaders sat separately from the employees - which indeed was inconvenient. And the glass wall, providing enough sonic insulation for conducting meetings or negotiations, visually does not separate the "bosses" from the rest of the company in any way, such arrangement going a long way to demonstrate to the employees that the company leaders are always available.

Arch Group HQ at Byelorusskaya © Arch group
Arch Group HQ at Byelorusskaya © Arch group


Arch Group HQ at Byelorusskaya © Arch group
 

Just the way it should be in a loft, the ceiling was left the way it used to be in its "factory" past,  its bearing structure showing. It was painted pitch black to visually push the limits of the space and hide the girders on the ceiling. Also, thanks to the black color of the ceiling, the architects were able to make an accent on the LED lights hovering freely in the space. The issue of light, it must be said, was addressed with all due seriousness, and without so much as a hint at stinginess - the architects carefully selected the brightness and the colors of the lights because the right lighting is not only necessary for productive work but also defines the overall atmosphere that definitely matters. The point lights on the walls capture bits of the texture of the original brickwork and the concrete walls with traces of framework enhancing their authentic beauty. And, of course, there is plenty of daylight here - it was decided that the large windows would be decorated with concrete slopes, the combination of which with the brick walls is a dramatic design solution in itself.

Arch Group HQ at Byelorusskaya © Arch group


If we are to speak about the details, the most interesting thing in the interior of the office is the bearing columns. Removing the plaster slabs that used to cover them, the architects ran into a real industrial antiquity - the real railway tracks of the XIX manufactured by KRUPP and Brown, Bayley & Dixon Steel. Each of the rails is individual, having its own curvature and time marks. The architects covered the rails with protective lacquer to keep them intact as long as possible. 

The tables, desks, armchairs of a few kinds, and the locker systems were also selected very carefully, the architects basing themselves not only on the economy and ergonomics but also on how much each object contributes to creating a comfortable working environment. "We care about our people - Aleksey Goryainov says - Each workplace is very individual and it is designed to make the person who works here want to come back to it again and again". A few things did require additional adjustment - for example, the architects joined three tables into a long single wine sawing off half of its legs. And the table in the meeting room has an even more interesting story behind it - it appeared thanks to the fact that after the installation of the partitions it turned out that there was one glass panel too many. Of course it would have been a waste just disposing of it - so the piece of glass was mounted on a metal framework, and the architects got an elegant, large, laconic, and virtually no-cost piece of furniture. The office, by the way, has in it yet another object so dear to the hearts of the company leaders: a recess in one of the walls turned out to be the perfect place for a small copy of Igor Shelkovsky's sculpture named "Head" that is the souvenir of Krymov and Goryainov participating in the contest for the monument to the victims of political repressions. "Of course, it's a bit on the ghastly side, given the very subject of that contest - Aleksey Goryainov comments - but it still made a perfect match for this specific interior". 

Arch Group HQ at Byelorusskaya © Arch group


One may be a little surprised to see a beanbag chair in the corner of this strictly working facility - but, heck, the tired employees need to have a place to relax! And a quick warmup would also do them good - for example, a table football - such opportunity is also provided for in the office of Arch Group. There is yet another idea: organizing - literally under the ceiling - a rest area with sleeping mats where a person will be able to grab some shuteye during the rush of work. The architects have already thought out how this idea could be implemented - the kitchen and the bathrooms are designed in the form of multicolored cubes reaching just a little short of the ceiling height. And it is planned that the mats will be laid up on their "roofs". The architects even designed a cute little stairway for the employees to climb up to the mats - now the idea is just waiting to be implemented. 

In spite of the maximum austerity of its planning, the office space looks rather intriguing. The punctured lines of the ceiling lights that visually stretch the volume get reflected in the glass partitions and the dull glass of the gray floor, the "column" rails adding rhythm to the space, the monochrome tone of the black-and-white palette broken by the warm shade of the brick walls, and suddenly - by the life-affirming blue of the side wall that, together with the white low stack of shelves, forms the entrance group (the architects often use this technique: designing the interior, they leave the paint job just short of reaching the ceiling). "Maybe our next office will be designed in a different, more expressive, key - Aleksey Goryainov speculates - But today it seems to us that we chose a very right direction to go; the office turned out to be very cozy and really conductive to creative work". 
Arch Group HQ at Byelorusskaya © Arch group
Arch Group HQ at Byelorusskaya © Arch group
Arch Group HQ at Byelorusskaya © Arch group


30 December 2015

Headlines now
Daring Brilliance
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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.
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.
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”.
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.
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.
The Heart Lies Within
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Magnetic Forces
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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.
Grigory Revzin: “It Was a Bold Statement Made on the Sly. Something Won”
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Exposed Concrete
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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.
Chalet on the Rock
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Living in the Architecture of One’s Own Making
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A City Block Isoline
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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.
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!
The Volga Regatta
GloraX plans to develop a residential complex spanning 14 hectares along the Volga River in Nizhny Novgorod. The winning design in a closed-door competition, created by GORA Architects, features housing typologies ranging from townhouses to terraced high-rise slabs, a balance of functions, diverse ways of engaging with the water, and even a dedicated island (no less!) for the city residents.
Life Plans
The master plan for the residential district “Prityazheniye” (“Gravity”) in Naberezhnye Chelny was developed by the architectural company A.Len, taking into account the specific urban planning context and partially implemented solutions of the first phase. However, the master plan prioritized its own values: a green framework, a system of focal points, a hierarchy of spaces, and pedestrian priority. After this, the question of what residents will do in their neighborhood simply doesn’t arise.
A New Track
We took a thorough look at D_Station, a railcar repair depot dating back to 1906, recently reconstructed while preserving its century-old industrial structure, upon the project by Sergey Trukhanov and T+T Architects. Though work on the interiors – set to house restaurants and public spaces – is still underway, the building’s exterior already offers plenty to see. Visitors can explore the blend of old and new brickwork, appreciate the architect’s unique interpretation of ruin aesthetics, and enjoy the newly built pedestrian route that connects the Citydel Business Center’s arches to Kazakova Street.
Four Different Surveys
The “Explore the City” competition, organized this year by the Genplan Institute of Moscow, stands out as a pretty unconventional one for the architectural field but aligns perfectly well with the character of urban planning work. The winning project analyzed contemporary residential complexes, combining urban planning insights with a realtor’s perspective to propose a hybrid approach. Other entries explored public centers, motivations for car ownership, and housing vacancy rates. A fifth participant withdrew. Here’s a closer look at the four completed works.
Scheduled Evolution
ASADOV Architects unveiled the EvyCenter pavilion, a microcultural hub for fostering personal growth, organizing workshops, and doing gymnastics. Additionally, this pavilion serves as a prototype for a scalable country house, drawing inspiration from the “Loskutok” project, and constructed from CLT panels in a factory. This marks the beginning of a developer project initiated by the architectural firm (sic!), which is seeking partners to expand both small Evy settlements and even larger Evy cities, which are, according to Andrey Asadov, aimed at fostering the “evolutionary” development of the people who will inhabit them.
The Golden Crown
The concept for a dental clinic in Yekaterinburg, developed by CNTR Studio, revolves around the idea of a “mouth full of gold”: pristine white porcelain stoneware walls are complemented by matte brass details. To avoid an overly literal interpretation, the architects focused on the building’s proportions, skillfully navigating between sunlight requirements and fire safety regulations.
Flexibility and Integration
Not long ago, we covered the project for the fourth phase of the ÁLIA residential complex, designed by APEX. Now, we’ve been shown different fence concepts they developed to enclose the complex’s private courtyards, incorporating a variety of public functions. We believe that the sheer fact that the complex’s architects were involved in such a detail as fencing speaks volumes.
A Step Forward
The HIDE residential complex represents a major milestone for ADM architects and their leaders Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova in their quest for a fresh high-rise aesthetic – one that is flexible and layered, capable of bringing vibrancy to mass and silhouette while shaping form. Over recent years, this approach has become ADM’s “signature style”, with the golden HIDE tower playing a pivotal role in its evolution. Here, we delve into the project’s story, explore the details of the complex’s design, and uncover its core essence.