Sergey Tsytsin: "We must try and learn to hear the music of our spaces"

A conversation with a Saint Petersburg architect Sergey Tsytsin: about town-planning rules and regulations, working with a historical context, and about the difference between bureaucratic hurdles and system support.

Interviewed by:
Irina Bembel
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

19 February 2016

Interview

Archi.ru
- How did you come into architecture?

Sergey Tsytsin:
- Well, that was simple, really: my father, Victor Nikolaevich Tsytsin, was an architect - he first graduated from an art school, and then he graduated from the Academy of Arts. Me and my brother (the artist, Nikita Victorovich Tsytsin), were in the habit of drawing ever since our childhood, so the choice of our professor came naturally. After school, I enrolled at the Academy of Arts where I studied at the studio of Igor Fomin. He was an aristocrat when it came to architecture, and learning from him and his great personality was important to me. My other teacher was Alexander Vladimirovich Zhuk, with whom I established a true connection. In addition, the very walls of the Academy, together with its unique spirit did as much to educate us as our teachers themselves. What was also very important was the free communication between the students of different courses, we learned from each other.

- Speaking of those days, were you already developing any of your priorities, or professional values in architecture?

- Maybe I am not your average type but during my college days I simply imbibed everything that I heard from my teachers. At the same time, I would often ask questions, and sometimes I would catch my teachers off-guard - they would confess that they had never given a thought to the things that I was interested in.

- How did your career develop after you graduated?

- I started asking around and ultimately I made an informed choice in favor of Lengrazhdanproject. First of all, I've always liked everything that was related to town planning, territory development, functional zones, and the natural/artificial environment ration. In addition, by that time I already developed a certain attitude related to de-urbanization. I was lucky: by the time I entered the Academy, they ran a contest for the best architectural proposal for the settlement of Imochenitsy that is situated next to Vasily Polenov estate. I won this contest and later on this project was named the best in the USSR - it won the contest "project of the year", first on the city, and then on the republican, and then on the national level. I was did what one might call integrated architectural design: I developed the volumes and the plan of the settlement with an administrative and shopping centers, a kindergarten, a school, and engineering facilities. Parallel to that, I studied the architectural tradition of the Russian north, the compositions of those remote villages... Unfortunately, back in those days, the Agriculture and Industry Complex was only interested in standardized mass construction, and, in spite of the ministers' orders, this experimental settlement was never actually built. Only parts of it were implemented still later, during the perestroika, on the wave of reforms. I worked on Lengrazhdanproject for six years and completed a lot of planning and voluminous solutions.

Later on, I worked at the studio of Veniamin Fabritsky where for three years one of my coworkers was Sergey Tchoban. Now, when we meet, we always remember those days with warmth.

Still later on, the perestroika started, and I was invited to the Saint Petersburg Architecture and Construction Institute, where I taught at the Student Construction Bureau. Among the people who also worked there was Mark Khidekel, the son of the famous avant-garde artist, and Oleg Romanov, today's president of Architects Union of Saint Petersburg. Still a little later on, there came the time of private architectural companies appearing here and there, and in 1988 I started an architectural studio of my own.

- Can you name the milestones in your company's career?

- Probably, our most active period falls on the 2000's when there was a surge of development activity. Our first major success came in 1999 when we built "Corona" complex in Moscow. If compared to the Saint Petersburg practice of those days, it was the most complex set of problems that we were to solve - the underground parking garage, and lots of other different functions new by the standards of those days.

By degrees, are team grew both in its size and professionally. In 2002, "Tsytsin Architects" launched a joint company in Moscow - "MonArchAMC"; in 2008 - "Tsytsin and Biktashev Architects"; in 2009 - "TsB2" (Tsytsin and the Balskys). Handling large-scale projects, I at one point realized that architects and designers alone are just not enough. For this reason, we have human resources of our own for each branch of work that we do. Today, our company has about a hundred employees.

- Your catalogue names the top priorities of your company as effectiveness, poise, and harmony as a projection of the Vitruvius triad on the realities of today. What does the classic category of beauty mean to you? Does it have an absolute or relative nature? And is there is a place for it in today's world?

- Of course, there is a deep connection between "Tsytsin triad" (smiles) and Vitruvius triad. "Beauty will save the world", as Dostoevsky once said. Hegel (following in the footsteps of Plato) claimed that "beauty in art is the emanation of the Absolute or Truth through an object". Of course, in our era of postmodernism and total pluralism with its all-pervading relevance, the absolute categories are hard to find. Nonetheless, beauty - whether coming from God or man-made - is still a manifestation of the timeless divine world.

- What are your main creative principles?

- First of all, this is contextual thinking. Your building must be in the right kind of relationship with both man-made and natural environment. We must try and learn to hear this music of our spaces: the rhythms, the styles, the scale relationship between the buildings and their independent elements. If you fail to exactly meet these parameters, your project is not worth building. Your stylistic situation may vary from one location to another: say, in a city's historical center modern architecture can also be quite appropriate, just as a historical stylization.

As an example, I can mention our project that was built on the Maly Avenue of Saint Petersburg's Vasilyevsky Island - this is quite a contemporary building but it fits in with its context thanks to its size, the stucco technique, and a few other elements. I think that imitating historical styles with the techniques of today and modern materials is really the wrong thing to do. It is perfectly ok to base your work on contrast - everything depends on the specific situation.

What really matters to me is the continuity of the space, the connection between the interior and the exterior (I am a member of the Artists Union of Russia), with the surrounding landscape. This includes your volumes, façades, parks, lighting, and whatnot. Your design must be integrated, pervading all the levels of the space that you work with, and, still more importantly, possessing both current and eternal meanings. It plays a role that's both symbolic and informational. This is why our task is a double or even triple one: on the one side, we must try and understand our customer as best we can and meet his specific requirements, and, on the other side, we must broadcast in our work some eternal laws of beauty, at the same time reflecting our time in it.

- What are the main challenges that you as an architect get to deal with?

- Well, there are lots of them, and each one of them must be addressed together with its related issues.

- One of the main issues in our profession is the fact that we as architects have virtually no rights. This is a huge loss not only for the people that will live in houses that we build but for our investors as well. When an investor starts dictating his terms he does not understand that ultimately it is he who is missing out, and what kind of quality of living environment we could have provided otherwise. And it's not even always a matter of price, even though, well, most of the time it is. However, if you do your math right you will see clearly that extra investment will increase the attractiveness of your future project so much that you will be sure to get a great return on investment.

Second of all, while in the early perestroika we had too much freedom, then now it's a kickback - there's too much bureaucratic hurdles on all levels. Meaning - there's nothing wrong with rules and regulations, they must be there but they must not be a "barrier" but a "crutch" or even a "springboard" for both architect and investor. Now this system is building insurmountable barriers, while the process of design itself turns into a racecourse (or labyrinth) with obstacles and traps.

Yet another issue is the high interest rates in this country. And when the interest rates are this high, the investor cannot have a goal other than building something real quick and then get off this merry-go-round just as quick. As a rule, he is not interested either in quality environment or in effective operation thereof.

- This fall you became a member of "Ekos" - a new town-planning section of the Architects Union of Saint Petersburg, the body that develops the proposals on improving the quality of the town-planning policy. What does this work mean to you?

- During the early perestroika, we all had the illusion that "the invisible hand of the market" would effectively regulate the town-planning processes. Time has proved, however, that this was a huge and dangerous mistake. In reality, the manifestation of the free will must go together with strategic planning and organizing your priorities. And it is the job of the government to create the conditions under which the developers can invest, build, and thus make a positive difference to our life. In other words, the developers' interests must be channeled to meet the overall interest of the city. Unfortunately, today the federal and local authorities lost, to a large degree, the powers of regulating the developers' actions. Changing this situation would be an extremely difficult thing to do - all the more so because the direction was set all wrong. We are trying to make what contribution we can into the cause of making a positive difference to this situation.

- What would you wish for yourself?

- Stable work, understanding customers, and a well-coordinated team. A project is definitely something that depends on team work, so, a great team with hand-picked and carefully grown members is critical for your successful work.

19 February 2016

Interviewed by:

Irina Bembel
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

Headlines now

Object

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.

News

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.

Object

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.

Object

Gold in the Sands

A new office for a transcontinental company specializing in resource extraction and processing has opened in Dubai. Designed by T+T Architects, masters of creating spaces that are contemporary, diverse, flexible, and original, this project exemplifies their expertise. On the executive floor, a massive brass-clad partition dominates, while layered textures of compressed earth create a contextually resonant backdrop.

Object

Layers and Levels of Flight

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

Object

Light and Shadow

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

View

Casus Novae

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

Report

Treasure Hunting

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

Object

Depths of the Earth, Streams of Water

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

Object

Fir Tree Dynamics

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

Object

A Brick Shell

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

Report

Word Forms

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

Object

Flexibility and Acuteness of Modernity

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

Interview

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

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

Object

Moscow’s First

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

Object

Looking at the Water

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

Object

The White Wing

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

Object

Urban Dunes

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

Object

Proportional Growth

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

Object

The “Staircase” Building

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

Object

Projection of the Quarter

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

Object

Domus Aurea

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

send.project

The Chimney of Nikola-Lenivets

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

Periscope by the Bay

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

Contest Results

From Arcs to Dolmens

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

Object

Hide and Seek

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

The Big Twelve

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

Object

Above the Golden Horn

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

Report

Nuanced Alternative

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

Object

Blinds for Ice

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