Ramp to Heaven

In this issue, we continue the story of the Mikhailovka reconstruction for the Management School of Saint Petersburg University. Nikita Yavein turned the students' cafe/club into a meditation on stability versus agility, and on the boundaries of perception and associative thinking.

Written by:
Julia Tarabarina
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

23 December 2015

Object

We have already shared about the reconstruction project of the dacha of the Great Prince Mikhail Nikolaevich meant to turn it into the Higher Management School of Saint Petersburg University and about the implementation of the main educational building in the estate's livery yard. The main historical buildings of the Great Prince's dacha are located in the eastern part of the territory that was allotted for the management school, closer to Strelnya. In the western part, on the Peterhof side, historically, there was only the small St. Olga Church, built by the architect David Grimm back in the early 1860's in the pseudo-Russian style with cubic uprights, and a few villages. In this location, the architects are planning to place a group of modern buildings including a few students’ dormitories, a gym, and the already mentioned cafe/club. Dominated by different stereo-metric figures and freely strewn across the land site, these volumes, according to Nikita Yavein, look very much like park pavilions. Among the things that come to mind, there are, of course, the glacier pyramids in the Tver estates of Nikolai Lvov - but even the conical earth mound in the park of the eastern half of the Mikhailovskaya Dacha also resonates with this idea. On the other hand, the building of the campus is inevitably larger than any park pavilion, their shapes closer to abstract geometry - this inevitably brings up another association, with a group of spaceships standing at the spaceport of a lawn here. The futuristic and the archaic are intermixed here, just as they are with the reminiscences about the Enlightenment of the XVIII century - and not only Lvov but also Leda - and about the avant-garde, the power of each association depending upon the viewer's personal background and preferences.

The building of the club/cafe is so far the only one that has been completed in the modern half of the campus. Which comes as no surprise - it is the informal "gravity center" of its residential part, the place where the students will meet and hang out - which is something that after them graduating will stay in their memory forever, longer that any exams.

The community center, a "key" of sorts, or even the "hub of the universe" of the student part of the campus, was designed by Nikita Yavein as a pentagon - looking pretty much like the soviet "quality sign", and, consequently, a five-facade stair-step ziggurat. It looks both like a mausoleum and the Tower of Babel, particularly the kind that we see on the picture by Breugel the Senior, and the mountain tomb of Hatshepsut pharaoh. It is also reminiscent of the "latent classics" by David Chipperfield, only in a more refined, almost ethereal version of wooden porticos, and, furthermore, seems to be constantly in a state of slight agitation, or in a process of transformation from something to something else. The play of perspectives - and here each straight line treats the contraction of space on its own unique way blowing the viewer's mind just as the good old relatively theory - is supported by the pentagon shape which also violates the static, and how! - no matter from each angle you will look you will not be quite able to grasp what exactly is going on here. And this is what is actually going on: the tectonic transformation of the controversially agile mausoleum that is the exact opposite of the Moscow's static ziggurat designed by Shchusev. Tatlin's tower suggests itself for being included into the thick stew of the enumerated comparisons as a thing in itself or as the final dominant chord.

zooming — The campus of the Higher Management School of Saint Petersburg State University. Axonometry. Reconstruction zone © Studio 44

In actuality, the resemblance between this building and the mausoleum is purely typological, the kind that is always there between stair-step towers. Here is the paradox, however: the stair-step tower as the symbol of conscious stability, this rational and sturdy "stairway to heaven", a sure-fire thing that you just cannot fell down - this tower is turned here into something spinning round but just as sturdy and reliable. Yes, and this is the fate of the manager, especially one of the higher ranks, that even the ziggurat that he has conquered is somewhat shaky, making him to be on the alert for losing his balance. Rocking such a static form as a ziggurat tower is quite a feat, considering that this form is by definition the paragon of sturdiness and stability. It is hard to say what could rock the foundation of the mausoleum at all but Tatlin's tower is not that simple after all - the dynamic spiral demonstrates the dependability of the motion of the oil rig drill, only drilling upward, leaving the observer with no doubts as for the linearity of the progress, however spiral. Who would have ever thought that if you crossed two such stabilities you would get such agility at the end of the day?

There is yet another drastic difference between the building in question and the classic ziggurat: all the real towers (Tatlin's one is not quite real) were built for the chosen few - the kings, the priests, the politburo, after all. And here we get to deal with a cafe building that is "lightweight" by default - or at least not so pompous and designed for everybody, well, maybe not quite for everybody, it is designed for the future big decision makers, but now they are as yet students, and not the politburo at any rate. This is why one wants to understand this dynamics as democratization of the form, transformation from a temple to a club, this being a significant and essential kind of transformation.

So, this far we've got the building of a pentagon plan - a wide pyramid splashed on the ground, the spacious terraces of its usable roof ascending in a very smooth spiral towards its top landing. For this reason, the parts of the roof (them being also the floors of the terraces) are tilted a little, while the central symmetry of the "quality sign" shifts off-center, and the pentagon of the inner hall is no longer symmetrical. For this same reason, the elongated lines of the roof, instead of a straight line that could have been easily logically explained, form on the outside some kind of reverse perspective causing the observer to think about the image of a pyramid but not just any pyramid but shivering from the cold sea wind blowing from the Finnish gulf. This kind of "hidden dynamics" is one of the favorite techniques of today's architecture - but not always and not everybody is capable of making it so obvious working with a basic humble and seemingly trivial form.

The spiral theme is supported by the entrances - not at all the centered portals but outstanding wind porches; they, again, remind an entrance to some iceberg pyramid in some estate designed by Nokolai Lvov. The tambours are not only asymmetrically placed, always to the right of the center but their axes are also turned like propeller blades, their volumes looking different: one is black glass, another is snow-white, yet another is wooden, and the fourth one is stone white with an odd inclusion of rock face finish.

The façades support that same optical effect of upsetting the balance: the glass surfaces and the offsets of the wooden grilles of colonnades alternate in a staggered order. The austere strokes of the verticals enhance the dance of the cornice lines, simultaneously "tying down" and harnessing the hint at the wild dynamics.

The spacious and well-lit halls of the bottom tier include not one but several cafés: a teachers’ restaurant, a smorgasbord, a cafeteria and a cheap canteen. They are separated by paths that lead from the entrances to the stairways leading to the second floor - together the whole thing looks like a semblance of a "multiplex". The kitchen - the "hearth" - is placed in the very middle but it also spills over to one of the sectors of the pentagram.

The top floor is occupied by a multifunctional hall lit and aired through wide openings that can be, however, closed by metallic shutters whenever necessary. One can get to the upper level from the street, as well as by following the main spiral route set by the tambours of the entrances, ascending the open staircases mounted up against the walls of the inner volume. The diagram that the architects drew clearly shows the human flow from each of the entrances stream towards the nearest staircase, after which, already on the level of the second floor, short little stairways continue the ascendancy fracturing the persistent logic of the spiral ramp until finally one of them takes the person through a grilled volume out on the roof. Pushed up against the wall, the stairways display a clearly viewable profile of their steps and look like a definite and deliberate element of "modern archaism", the conditional "Tower of Babel" - here one can do a fair share of meditating on us as humans eternally climbing uphill, the theme bring pretty obvious and covering virtually every aspect of our existence. The blades of the stairways in their classic and essential meaning are symbolically opposed by the elevator running down a tube covered by a triangular pattern of joining seams. For all intents and purposes, stairways are a pretty ancient invention - they help you climb to heights but they also require a lot of effort from you in order to do that; the lift, however, does not, and, in a curious sense, stairways and elevators are almost antonyms. The triangular pattern of the elevator echoes the pattern of the dome of the congress center playing here, just as the latter does outside, the role of the "high technology" part of the building.

There is plenty of light inside: the outer walls are transparent; the inside ones are white; the floor is beige; there are also broad stripes of light-colored wood and thin stripes of dark metal on the ceilings plus the greenish glass fill-ins of the railings. The bearing columns - round and white - are placed at fairly large intervals; they are echoed by arrays of round lights of reflected light.

Meanwhile, the dominance of the white color was not something that was planned by the architects, and here we find yet another associative parallel, although almost lost in the course of the construction in favor of saving up the resources. "This is the Temple of the Rock" - Nikita Yavein shares - We planned - by contrast with the rather calm facades - to decorate the interior with colorful ceramics so as to achieve the effect that somebody who enters the building finds themselves in a sort of a treasure trove... The white color was not originally meant to dominate the interior". Indeed, presently the column of the elevator is the only texturizing accent, while the walls of the inside volume of the tower were initially supposed to be covered by a thin carpet of multicolored stripes making them look warm and attractive but at the same time pixelated, fractured into bytes of graphic information - or into surfaces with strokes of different direction - but not with such sculpturally obvious ones as now.

On the outside, the jagged band of the terraces falls into three tiers and ends on the upper landing; all these surfaces are designed as usable. It is curious to see what the pyramid of the club looks like when the students sit down on the roof terraces - the whole thing leaves an impression of a "populated hill", not a dead and cold mausoleum.

The volume is used to capacity; it is spacious, open to all sides, every of its corners being effectively used. It is broad and balanced but at the same time thin and agile; its shape - which is inevitable for a stair-step pyramid - is, on the one hand, laden with associations, and, on the other hand, feels quite at ease in the company of the sparse northern birch trees on the shore of the Finnish Gulf. Gracefully reconciled in the architecture of the cafe/club, the sums of controversies look as if they were meant to set an example for the future managers. In any case, the sloping floor of the terraces will teach them to always be on their guard and be ready to act in some pretty unpredictable situations - which is something that a manager's work is all about, particularly in view of the times that we seem to be in for.

23 December 2015

Headlines now

The Mirror of Your Soul

We continue to publish projects from the competition for the design of the Russian Pavilion at EXPO in Osaka 2025. We are reminding you that the results of the competition have not been announced, and hardly will ever be. The pavilion designed by ASADOV Architects combines a forest log cabin, the image of a hyper transition, and sculptures made of glowing threads – it focuses primarily on the scenography of the exhibition, which the pavilion builds sequentially like a string of impressions, dedicating it to the paradoxes of the Russian soul.

Part of the Ideal

In 2025, another World Expo will take place in Osaka, Japan, in which Russia will not participate. However, a competition for the Russian pavilion was indeed held, with six projects participating. The results were never announced as Russia’s participation was canceled; the competition has no winners. Nevertheless, Expo pavilion projects are typically designed for a bold and interesting architectural statement, so we’ve gathered all the six projects and will be publishing articles about them in random order. The first one is the project by Vladimir Plotkin and Reserve Union, which is distinguished by the clarity of its stereometric shape, the boldness of its structure, and the multiplicity of possible interpretations.

Object

The Fortress by the River

ASADOV Architects have developed a concept for a new residential district in the center of Kemerovo. To combat the harsh climate and monotonous everyday life, the architects proposed a block type of development with dominant towers, good insolation, facades detailed at eye level, and event programming.

Object

In the Rhombus Grid

Construction has begun on the building of the OMK (United Metallurgical Company) Corporate University in Nizhny Novgorod’s town of Vyksa, designed by Ostozhenka Architects. The most interesting aspect of the project is how the architects immersed it in the context: “extracting” a diagonal motif from the planning grid of Vyksa, they aligned the building, the square, and the park to match it. A truly masterful work with urban planning context on several different levels of perception has long since become the signature technique of Ostozhenka.

Object

Generational Connection

Another modern estate, designed by Roman Leonidov, is located in the Moscow region and brings together three generations of one family under one roof. To fit on a narrow plot without depriving anyone of personal space, the architects opted for a zigzag plan. The main volume in the house structure is accentuated by mezzanines with a reverse-sloped roof and ceilings featuring exposed beams.

Object

Three Dimensions of the City

We began to delve into the project by Sergey Skuratov, the residential complex “Depo” in Minsk, located at Victory Square, and it fascinated us completely. The project has at least several dimensions to it: historical – at some point, the developer decided to discontinue further collaboration with Sergey Skuratov Architects, but the concept was approved, and its implementation continues, mostly in accordance with the proposed ideas. The spatial and urban planning dimension – the architects both argue with the city and play along with it, deciphering nuances, and finding axes. And, finally, the tactile dimension – the constructed buildings also have their own intriguing features. Thus, this article also has two parts: it dwells on what has been built and what was conceived

Object

New “Flight”

Architects from “Mezonproject” have developed a project for the reconstruction of the regional youth center “Polyot”(“Flight”) in the city of Oryol. The summer youth center, built back in the late 1970s, will now become year-round and acquire many additional functions.

Object

The Yauza Towers

In Moscow, there aren’t that many buildings or projects designed by Nikita Yavein and Studio 44. In this article, we present to you the concept of a large multifunctional complex on the Yauza River, located between two parks, featuring a promenade, a crossroads of two pedestrian streets, a highly developed public space, and an original architectural solution. This solution combines a sophisticated, asymmetric façade grid, reminiscent of a game of fifteen puzzle, and bold protrusions of the upper parts of the buildings, completely masking the technical floors and sculpting the complex’s silhouette.

Object

Architecture and Leisure Park

For the suburban hotel complex, which envisages various formats of leisure, the architectural company T+T Architects proposed several types of accommodation, ranging from the classic “standard” in a common building to a “cave in the hill” and a “house in a tree”. An additional challenge consisted in integrating a few classic-style residences already existing on this territory into the “architectural forest park”.

Overview

The U-House

The Jois complex combines height with terraces, bringing the most expensive apartments from penthouses down to the bottom floors. The powerful iconic image of the U-shaped building is the result of the creative search for a new standard of living in high-rise buildings by the architects of “Genpro”.

Object

Black and White

In this article, we specifically discuss the interiors of the ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh. Interior design is a crucial component of the overall concept in this case, and precision and meticulous execution were highly important for the architects. Julia Tryaskina, head of UNK interiors, shares some of the developments.

send.project

The “Snake” Mountain

The competition project for the seaside resort complex “Serpentine” combines several typologies: apartments of different classes, villas, and hotel rooms. For each of these typologies, the KPLN architects employ one of the images that are drawn from the natural environment – a serpentine road, a mountain stream, and rolling waves.

send.project

Opal from Anna Mons’ Ring

The project of a small business center located near Tupolev Plaza and Radio Street proclaims the necessity of modern architecture in a specific area of Moscow commonly known as “Nemetskaya Sloboda” or “German settlement”. It substantiates its thesis with the thoroughness of details, a multitude of proposed and rejected form variants, and even a detailed description of the surrounding area. The project is interesting indeed, and it is even more interesting to see what will come of it.

Object

Feed ’Em All

A “House of Russian Cuisine” was designed and built by KROST Group at VDNKh for the “Rossiya” exhibition in record-breaking time. The pavilion is masterfully constructed in terms of the standards of modern public catering industry multiplied by the bustling cultural program of the exhibition, and it interprets the stylistically diverse character of VDNKh just as successfully. At the same time, much of its interior design can be traced back to the prototypes of the 1960s – so much so that even scenes from iconic Soviet movies of those years persistently come to mind.

Object

The Ensemble at the Mosque

OSA prepared a master plan for a district in the southern part of Derbent. The main task of the master plan is to initiate the formation of a modern comfortable environment in this city. The organization of residential areas is subordinated to the city’s spiritual center: depending on the location relative to the cathedral mosque, the houses are distinguished by façade and plastique solutions. The program also includes a “hospitality center”, administrative buildings, an educational cluster, and even an air bridge.

send.project

Pargolovo Protestantism

A Protestant church is being built in St. Petersburg by the project of SLOI architects. One of the main features of the building is a wooden roof with 25-meter spans, which, among other things, forms the interior of the prayer hall. Also, there are other interesting details – we are telling you more about them.

Object

The Shape of the Inconceivable

The ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh brings to mind a famous maxim of all architects and critics: “You’ve come up with it? Now build it!” You rarely see such a selfless immersion in implementation of the project, and the formidable structural and engineering tasks set by UNK architects to themselves are presented here as an integral and important part of the architectural idea. The challenge matches the obliging status of the place – after all, it is an “exhibition of achievements”, and the pavilion is dedicated to the nuclear energy industry. Let’s take a closer look: from the outside, from the inside, and from the underside too.

send.project

Rays of the Desert

A school for 1750 students is going to be built in Dubai, designed by IND Architects. The architects took into account the local specifics, and proposed a radial layout and spaces, in which the children will be comfortable throughout the day.

Object

The Dairy Theme

The concept of an office of a cheese-making company, designed for the enclosed area of a dairy factory, at least partially refers to industrial architecture. Perhaps that is why this concept is very simple, which seems the appropriate thing to do here. The building is enlivened by literally a couple of “master strokes”: the turning of the corner accentuates the entrance, and the shade of glass responds to the theme of “milk rivers” from Russian fairy tales.

send.project

The Road to the Temple

Under a grant from the Small Towns Competition, the main street and temple area of the village of Nikolo-Berezovka near Neftekamsk has been improved. A consortium of APRELarchitects and Novaya Zemlya is turning the village into an open-air museum and integrating ruined buildings into public life.

Object

Towers Leaning Towards the Sun

The three towers of the residential complex “Novodanilovskaya 8” are new and the tallest neighbors of the Danilovsky Manufactory, “Fort”, and “Plaza”, complementing a whole cluster of modern buildings designed by renowned masters. At the same time, the towers are unique for this setting – they are residential, they are the tallest ones here, and they are located on a challenging site. In this article, we explore how architects Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova tackled this far-from-trivial task.

Object

In the spirit of ROSTA posters

The new Rostselmash tractor factory, conceptualized by ASADOV Architects, is currently being completed in Rostov-on-Don. References to the Soviet architecture of the 1920’s and 1960’s resonate with the mission and strategic importance of the enterprise, and are also in line with the client’s wish: to pay homage to Rostov’s constructivism.

send.project

The Northern Thebaid

The central part of Ferapontovo village, adjacent to the famous monastery with frescoes by Dionisy, has been improved according to the project by APRELarchitects. Now the place offers basic services for tourists, as well as a place for the villagers’ leisure.

send.project

Brilliant Production

The architects from London-based MOST Architecture have designed the space for the high-tech production of Charge Cars, a high-performance production facility for high-speed electric cars that are assembled in the shell of legendary Ford Mustangs. The founders of both the company and the car assembly startup are Russians who were educated in their home country.

Object

Three-Part Task: St. Petersburg’s Mytny Dvor

The so-called “Mytny Dvor” area lying just behind Moscow Railway Station – the market rows with a complex history – will be transformed into a premium residential complex by Studio 44. The project consists of three parts: the restoration of historical buildings, the reconstruction of the lost part of the historical contour, and new houses. All of them are harmonized with each other and with the city; axes and “beams of light” were found, cozy corners and scenic viewpoints were carefully thought out. We had a chat with the authors of the historical buildings’ restoration project, and we are telling you about all the different tasks that have been solved here.

Object

The Color of the City, or Reflections on the Slope of an Urban Settlement

In 2022, Ostozhenka Architects won a competition, and in 2023, they developed and received all the necessary approvals for a master plan for the development of Chernigovskaya Street for the developer GloraX. The project takes into account a 10-year history of previous developments; it was done in collaboration with architects from Nizhny Novgorod, and it continues to evolve now. We carefully examined it, talked to everyone, and learned a lot of interesting things.

Object

A Single-Industry Town

Kola MMC and Nornickel are building a residential neighborhood in Monchegorsk for their future employees. It is based on a project by an international team that won the 2021 competition. The project offers a number of solutions meant to combat the main “demons” of any northern city: wind, grayness and boredom.

Object

A New Age Portico

At the beginning of the year, Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport opened Terminal C. The large-scale and transparent entrance hall with luminous columns inside successfully combines laconism with a bright and photogenic WOW-effect. The terminal is both the new façade of the whole complex and the starting point of the planned reconstruction, upon completion of which Tolmachevo will become the largest regional airport in Russia. In this article, we are examining the building in the context of modernist prototypes of both Novosibirsk and Leningrad: like puzzle pieces, they come together to form their individual history, not devoid of curious nuances and details.

Object

A New Starting Point

We’ve been wanting to examine the RuArts Foundation space, designed by ATRIUM for quite a long time, and we finally got round to it. This building looks appropriate and impressive; it amazingly combines tradition – represented in our case by galleries – and innovation. In this article, we delve into details and study the building’s historical background as well.

Object

Molding Perspectives

Stepan Liphart introduces “schematic Art Deco” on the outskirts of Kazan – his houses are executed in green color, with a glassy “iced” finish on the facades. The main merits of the project lie in his meticulous arrangement of viewing angles – the architect is striving to create in a challenging environment the embryo of a city not only in terms of pedestrian accessibility but also in a sculptural sense. He works with silhouettes, proposing intriguing triangular terraces. The entire project is structured like a crystal, following two grids, orthogonal and diagonal. In this article, we are examining what worked, and what eventually didn’t.