An Imposing Addition

Grouped together to form an architectural ensemble of the medical center of the 1980's - 2000's, several hospital buildings maintain a contextual connection with the surrounding volumes, at the same time suggesting a much more integral and laconic solution.

Written by:

Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

07 September 2016

Object

Architect:

Firm:

Company: http://www.studio44.ru

The three new buildings, the construction of which was completed by Studio 44 in 2015, made an addition to the ensemble of medical complex, the building of which (in the former place of the Komendantsky airfield, north of the Udelny Park in the Primorsky district of Saint Petersburg) began with the government decree issued in mid-1980's. Originally, the medical center was a cardiological one, and later on it was granted a status of "Federal Center for Heart, Blood, and Endocrinology Research". This 1980's style building that occupies the central part of the territory in question was in the process of construction for more than fifteen years – from 1988 to 2006, with occasional hiatuses caused by lack of financing. Its intricate plan looks like a winged insect, while several of its volumes of different height alternate in a sophisticated fashion and are coated with ceramic granite – obviously, this was done at the close of the construction saga in late 2000's. Later on, in 2010, the north point of the trapeze got a curved volume of a perinatal center, strung on a circular tower.

The three buildings built by Studio 44 are meant for the major medical treatment facility. They stretch along the northeast border of the territory of the medical center that has now a status of a research one and beard the name of Vladimir Almazov. The new complex has only been allotted 3.6 hectares – which is a fifth of the territory that had already been densely packed with buildings by the moment the architects started the design work. Initially, the architects were required to design a building with a whopping height of one hundred meters, high-capacity, with wards enough to house three hundred patients, operating theaters, intensive care units, a diagnostic department, a cryogenic reservoir for umbilical blood, and, furthermore, a cafe for one hundred seats, and a conference hall for six hundred people. The first tender for designing this monster was won by a company that proposed to position the high-rise closer to the center of the territory, adjoining the main old building. Then the project was handed over to Studio 44 that made significant changes to the concept: calculations proved that it was impossible to position the tower at the place that was originally picked because this would violate insolation regulations. So it was shifted towards the eastern corner of the site. In addition, the architects of Studio 44 made an independent unit for the conference hall. Ultimately, what they got was two laconic volumes: an oval-plan hundred-meter-high tower and a round conference hall thirty meters high – on the one hand, they echo the rounded corners of the old building, and, on the other hand, they look integral, simple, and more laconic than their predecessors. An idea of adding a third unit – a black two-story cube that would house a cryogenic reservoir of umbilical blood and a department of high-technology diagnostics - came about later on down the line when the architects learned that, in order to function properly, the high-precision apparatuses would need to be isolated as much as possible from any vibrations or mechanical interference. As a result, along the red line of the Tbilisskaya Street, there appeared a chain of three simple geometric volumes: an oval, a cylinder, and a cube. Their height proportionately decreases: the cylinder's height is a little less than one third of the height of the hospital tower, and the cubic block is, respectively, half of the cylinder's height.

zooming — Treatment and rehabilitation facility "Federal Center for Heart, Blood, and Endocrinology Research named after Vladimir Almazov". Construction, 2015 © Studio 44

The starting point of the vertical zoning of the hospital tower was suggested to the architects by the fire safety regulations. Floors 1 to 12 contain wards for the patients – this is exactly the height of maximum reach of the rescue equipment that is available for a quick response time in this area of the city. Higher up, there are three floors with operating theaters and intensive care units – different evacuation rules apply for the hospital employees and immobile patients, hence, these premises can be placed at a greater height. Due to the fact that it is these specific floors that are most technologically advanced of all – they have lots of sophisticated equipment and antiseptic rooms in them – the thirteenth and the seventeenth floors perform the maintenance functions and include the climate and ventilation systems. This way, the intensive care and operating units are separated from the lower floors by tiers they are marked on the outside by stripes of yellowish ceramic granite. The two top floors – nineteenth and twentieth – are occupied by the administration offices and research laboratories. The roof had a helicopter landing upon it for evacuating and receiving the donor organs.

The second volume of the complex, occupied by a conference hall, consists in fact not of one but two cylinders: the two bottom floors are about eight meters wider than the upper ones, and this way the upper tiers get some sort of a "base" underneath them that includes an entrance lobby, a café, and bypassing corridors for entering the hall and going up on stage. The lower circle is made of glass, while the upper one is coated with yellow ceramic granite – the color is set by the first building of the medical center that is also of a somewhat yellowish color. The fact that the hall has blind façades is conditioned by its very function: should such need arise the hall can be lit by "clear-stories" or "roof-lights" that are curtain-covered during the movie screenings.

The volume of the hall rests on supports hidden inside the glass part, and this way the space underneath them is completely vacant – which increased the size of the café. One can get from the first floor up to the hall by two open-air staircases or by elevators. The roof of the entrance group that serves at the same time as a lintel between the middle and the third blocks is usable: it has green plants on it, it is accessible from the café, and one can through it to the third unit - but only in the warm seasons.

The third black cubic block obviously stands out against the background of all the buildings of the center, old and new alike. This way, there is an interesting game going on among the three buildings, a game of geometric forms of different matter and texture: the "black box" stands next to a stepping cylinder, part of it being glittering glass, and part being yellowish rock. This theme is picked up by the hundred meter tower of the hospital which is also two-layer and transparent, its surface being of a more complex nature: the double shell of the balconies of the hospital ward floors neighbor on the grilles of the maintenance floors and the ethereal glass of the operating rooms that lets in as much ambient light as possible.

The choice in favor of the high-rise tower of the first unit also appears as the optimum: from a compositional standpoint, the tower livens up the generally flat cityscape and sets the vertical this place has always been in need of. The three new blocks did fit in nicely with the already-dense ensemble of the complex. On the one hand, they are quite self-sufficient, modern, laconic, and clear-cut. On the other hand, they do not conflict at all with the old buildings of the center. Rather, what they do is they take the themes that these old buildings started and bring them to an imposing geometric absolute, almost megalithic, as is often the case with Nikita Yavein projects.

Architect:

Firm:

Company: http://www.studio44.ru

07 September 2016

Written by:

Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

Headlines now

Object

Champions’ Cup

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

Object

History never ends

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

Object

A Deep, Crystal Shine

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

Overview

A Roadside Picnic of Urban Planning Theorists

Marina Egorova, head of Empate Architectural Bureau, brought together urban planning theorists – the successors of Alexey Gutnov and Vyacheslav Glazychev – to revive the substance and depth of professional discourse. At the first meeting, much ground was covered: the participants revisited the theoretical foundations, aligned their values, examined a cutting-edge case of the Kazan agglomeration, and concluded with the unfathomable intricacies of Russian land demarcation. Below, we present key takeaways from all the presentations.

Object

Perspective View

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

Object

Malevich and Bathhouses, Nature and High-Tech

The Malevich Bathhouse complex is scheduled to open in the fall of 2025 on the Rublyovo-Uspenskoye Highway. The project, designed by DBA-GROUP under the leadership of Vladislav Andreev, is an example of an unconventional approach to the image of a spa in general and of a bathhouse in particular. Deliberately avoiding any kind of allusion, the architects opted for streamlined forms with characteristic rounded corners, a combination of wood with bent glass, and restrained contemporary shapes – both inside and out. Let’s take a closer look at the project.

Object

Rather, a Tablecloth and a Glass!

After many years, the long-abandoned Horse Guards Department building in St. Petersburg has finally received the attention it deserves: according to a design by Studio 44, the first restoration and adaptation works are scheduled to begin this year. Both the intended function and the general scope of works imply minimal alteration to the complex, which has preserved traces of its three-century history. All solutions are reversible and aimed, above all, at opening the monument to the city and immersing it in a lively social scene – hence the choice of a cultural center scenario with a strong gastronomic component.

Object

Materialization of Airflows

The Nikolai Kamov International Airport in Tomsk opened at the end of August last year. We have already written about the project – now we are taking a look at the completed building. Its functionality is reinforced by symbolic undertones: the architects at ASADOV sought to reflect local identity in the architecture as fully as possible.

Object

The City as a Narrative

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

A Garden of Hope for Freedom

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

Object

A Laconic Image of Time

The Time Square residential complex, built on the northern edge of St. Petersburg, appears more concise and efficient than its neighbor and predecessor, the New Time complex. Nevertheless, the architect’s hand is clearly felt: themes of “black and white”, “inside and outside”, and most notably, the “lamellar” quality of the facades that seems to visibly “eat away” at the buildings’ mass – everything is played out like a well-written score. One is reminded of both classical modernism and the so-called “post-constructivism”.

Object

The Flower of the Lake

The prototype for the building of the Kamal Theater in Kazan is an ice flower: a rare and fragile natural phenomenon of Lake Kaban “froze” in the large, soaring outlines of the glass screens enclosing the main volume, shaping its silhouette and shielding the stained-glass windows from the sun. The project, led by the Wowhaus consortium and including global architecture “star” Kengo Kuma, won the 2021/2022 competition and was realized close to the original concept in a short – very short – period of time. The theater opened in early 2025. It was Kengo Kuma who proposed the image of an ice flower and the contraposition of cold on the outside and warmth on the inside. Between 2022 and 2024, Wowhaus did everything possible to bring this vision to life, practically living on-site. Now we are taking a closer look at this landmark building and its captivating story.

Object

Peaceful Integration on Mira Avenue

The MIRA residential complex (the word mir means “peace” in Russian), perched above the steep banks of the Yauza River and Mira Avenue, lives up to its name not only technically, but also visually and conceptually. Sleek, high-rise, and glass-clad, it responds both to Zholtovsky’s classicism and to the modernism of the nearby “House on Stilts”. Drawing on features from its neighbors, it reconciles them within a shared architectural language rooted in contemporary façade design. Let’s take a closer look at how this is done.

Object

An Interior for a New Format of Education

The design of the new building for Tyumen State University (TyumSU) was initially developed before the pandemic but later revised to meet new educational requirements. The university has adopted a “2+2+2” system, which eliminates traditional divisions into groups and academic streams in favor of individualized study programs. These changes were implemented swiftly – right at the start of construction. Now that the building is complete, we are taking a closer look.

Object

New Aeroflot Office: Lightness, Play, Comfort

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

Object

Penthouses and Kokoshniks

A new residential complex designed by ASADOV Architects for the Krasnaya Roza business district responds to its proximity to 17th-century landmarks – the chambers of the Hamovny Dvor and St. Nicholas Church – as well as to the need to preserve valuable façades of a historic rental house built in the Russian Revival style. The architects proposed a set of buildings of varying heights, whose façades reference ecclesiastical architecture. But we were also able to detect other associations.

Object

Centipede Town

The new school campus designed by ATRIUM Architects, located on the shores of a protected lake in the Imeretian Lowland Ornithological Reserve, represents an important and ambitious undertaking for the team: this is not just a school, but a Presidential Lyceum for the comprehensive development of gifted children – 2,500 students from age 3 through high school. At the same time, it is also envisioned as a new civic hub for the entire Sirius territory. In this article, we unpack the structure and architecture of this “lyceum town”.

Object

Warm Black and White

The second phase of “Quarter 31”, designed by KPLN and built in the Moscow suburb town of Pushkino, reveals a multifaceted character. At first glance, the complex appears to be defined by geometry and a monochrome palette. But a closer look reveals a number of “irregular” details: a gradient of glazing and flared window frames, a hierarchy of façades, volumetric brickwork, and even architectural references to natural phenomena. We explore all the rules – and exceptions – that we were able to discover here.

Object

Skylights and Staircase

Photos from March show the nearly completed headquarters of FSK Group on Shenogina Street. The building’s exterior is calm and minimalist; the interior is engaging and multi-layered. The conical skylights of the executive office, cast in raw concrete, and the sweeping spiral staircase leading to it, are particularly striking. In fact, there’s more than one spiral staircase here, and the first two floors effectively form a small shopping center. More below.

Object

The Whale of Future Identity

Or is it a veil? Or a snow-covered plain? Vera Butko, Anton Nadtochy, and the architects of ATRIUM faced a complex and momentous task: to propose a design for the “Russia” National Center. It had to be contemporary, yet firmly rooted in cultural codes. Unique, and yet subtly reminiscent of many things at once. It must be said – the task found the right authors. Let’s explore in detail the image they envisioned.

Object

Greater Altai: A Systemic Development Plan

The master plan for tourism development in Greater Altai encompasses three regions: Kuzbass, the Altai Republic, and Altai Krai. It is one of twelve projects developed as part of the large-scale state program bearing the simple name of “Tourism Development”. The project’s slogan reads: “Greater Altai – a place of strength, health, and spirit in the very heart of Siberia”. What are the proposed growth points, and how will the plan help increase the flow of both domestic and international tourists? Read on to find out.

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.