Living Next to Lyceum

This housing project, boasting a water channel, a landscaped park of its own, and the proximity to the renovated “Imperial Steam Engine Shed”, is one of the three finalists of the competition organized by the client.

Written by:
Alla Pavlikova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

02 November 2016

Object

Architect:

Firm:

Arkhstroydesign ASD http://www.archaos.ru

In the city of Pushkin (Saint-Petersburg area), near the Tsarskoye Selo museum, a new housing project was supposed to be built. A closed competition for the best proposal was organized with twelve architectural companies participating in it, the whole thing happening within a really short timeframe of a month and a half. The concept developed by Arkhstroydesign headed by Aleksey Ivanov was among the three finalists.

zooming — Residential area in Pushkin. Birds-eye view. Project, 2016 © Arkhstroydesign ASD

The land site of an irregular elongated shape that looks like a lady’s shoe turned upside down is situated next to the Aleksandrovsky Park with the Ekaterininsky Palace and the Tsarskoye Selo complex. At the south end, the site borders on the Kuzminskoe Highway. A little distance away from its northern border, the Kuzminka River flows. The territory, upon which the new housing project will be built, still has on it the surviving buildings of the old railway station. Still in the late XIX century, this place got the first Imperial Pavilion that hosted the trains arriving to the Tsarskoye Selo. After the fire, in 1911, the place where the burned-down pavilion once stood got a new building designed by Vladimir Pokrovsky. By degrees, it got surrounded by the maintenance facilities that were used for repairing and servicing the imperial locomotives. During the soviet time, the railway station was renamed to become the “Uritsky Pavilion”, and since 1930 it housed the Pushkin Railway Repair and Engineering Works.

In accordance with the competition brief, most of the surviving factory buildings are to be torn down. Some of them will be renovated to fit the new function. In Aleksey Ivanov’s project, the existing buildings that occupy the entire south end of the site are included into the housing complex being adapted to function as administrative or office centers, while the grand “Imperial Steam Engine Shed” becomes the local community center.

Most of the territory is occupied by the residential blocks that form semi-closed-type little green yards turned in the direction of the central park that crosses the entire land site from north to south. The residential environment is completely vehicle-free, the automobile road tracing the perimeter of the site. The author of the project Aleksey Ivanov likens this ring road to the earth ramp that used to serve as the protector for medieval cities. The parking places also got a peripheral location. This way, the inside environment of the complex gets a maximum of safety and convenience. Aleksey Ivanov admits that the fashionable but used-all-too-often idea of residential blocks still proved to be the best choice for this project and its historical surroundings. “All the master plans developed at different times for Tsarskoye Selo were based on the gridiron plan, sometimes referred to as “Hippodamus grid pattern”, thus keeping up the historical structure – Aleksey Ivanov explains – we took the same path but what makes us different is the fact that we entered the environment at a slightly different angle, which was dictated by the borders of the plot, and the street pattern. The difference was no more than 18 degrees which exactly coincides with the Saint Petersburg grid. So, what we ultimately got was something like the capital merging with the provinces”.

Special attention was paid to the orientation of the project and its interaction with the surrounding context. For one, the main “park” axis of the residential area coincides with the direction of the Moscow - Saint Petersburg highway and opens up to the Alexandrovsky Park and the Imperial Railway Station on its one end, and to the Kuzminka riverbed on the other, where later on a recreational area can be organized.

The neat rows of the residential houses, whose height lowers towards the center from six to four floors, are cut in two by a water channel. The channel with landscaped banks, arched pedestrian bridges, strings of streetlights, and elegant benches, very much in the spirit of Saint Petersburg, begins at the walls of the renovated “Steam Engine Shed” and ends almost at the north border of the site. Such solution was proposed by the authors as an alternative to the regular pedestrian promenade. Currently, the territory where the designed channel will run is occupied by dead-end and long-since-abandoned railway lines. According to the plan, these lines will be taken apart, the soil will be re-cultivated, and the channel, that follows their straight line of direction will become the landscape monument to the history of this place. For the same purpose, the architects plan to restore a section of railway line, put it up above the water, and place upon it a repair track machine that was assembled at the Pushkin Railway Repair and Engineering Works during the soviet times.

The concrete bed of the channel is surrounded on both sides with a green park that is divided into several thematic elements: the children’s zone with playgrounds, the sports zone, the exotic, and the regular park. The pedestrian waterfronts lead to the central semicircular square located closer to the north of the site in its wider part. On the square that is enclosed in the semicircle of trees and shrubs, there are fair tents, a children’s center, and recreation areas. Still further on in the northwest, beyond the border of the residential construction zone, there is an area for the school and a kindergarten. These two have a restricted-access territory and a sports complex of their own. The school functions as a buffer zone of sorts between the residential houses and the adjacent warehouse territory. At the same time, these school sports and playgrounds face the river and the forest providing the students with a great view.

The main public territory is organized on the side of the Kuzminskoye Highway next to the walls of the “Steam Engine Shed”. In addition to the renovated historical buildings, it is planned that the broad Cathedral Square will include a small chapel in the pseudo-Russian style, characteristic of the early XX century. Behind it, there is a plot where residential lofts will be built. This fragment of contemporary construction responds to the existing industrial context and enters into a dialogue with it. However, employing its scale and form, instead of the traditional brown brick, the designers proposed to use a more neutral gray-green brick, hand-formed.

Quite a different matter is the residential blocks inside of the land site. They are nothing like the place’s industrial past. At the same time, the modern motifs get along quite well with the so-called historicism. The competition brief required that the new housing area stylistically correspond to the historical architecture of Saint Petersburg which generally did not contradict the block master plan developed by Aleksey Ivanov. However, “historicism” only manifests itself here along the perimeter of the land site. Here, on the street façades of the houses one can see the characteristic classical segmentation, horizontal cornices, pitched roofs, and the three-color palette. The dry historical façades are offset by the modern ones on the yard side – with large window apertures, floor-to-ceiling glazing, deep stanzas, long balcony railings, and the shifted pillars and lintels of the top floors. Each of the blocks has an individual design with little yet quite noticeable accents.

This combination of seemingly incompatible styles forms a diverse environment based on type-design practice. According to the author, the rationality of the approach, the construction schedule (four stages are proposed), and the type-design are the benefits that make this project quite implementable. Nevertheless, Aleksey Ivanov confesses that he is not really counting on implementation. The project has died down. As is often the case, things didn't go any further than the competition stage.

Architect:

Firm:

Arkhstroydesign ASD http://www.archaos.ru

02 November 2016

Headlines now

Object

Home Base

Working on the new building for Letovo Junior School – opened to students in autumn 2025 in the MSU Valley – the architects of UNK, following the client’s vision, subordinated both façades and interiors to the theme of “home”. Multiple variations of pitched roofs, a city skyline traced across glass balustrades, wooden textures, and a whole series of micro-spaces for retreat within public areas are all at the disposal of primary and middle school students. We take a closer look at the new school building – and at how it interprets current trends in educational environments.

Object

Doubles Match

The architecture of the Tennis Palace built in Luzhniki Olympic Complex, designed by Arena Design Institute, was shaped by three factors: the proximity of the brutalist Druzhba Arena, the closeness of the Moskva River and the metro bridge overpass, as well as the specifics of the function – tennis courts require large spans, abundant light, yet at the same time protection from direct sunlight. The architects divided the building into several blocks, playing on contrast, which is further emphasized by the façades developed in collaboration with TPO Reserve and Vladimir Plotkin.

Object

Microdynamics of Macroprocesses

Given the proximity of the multifunctional complex SOLOS to Sokolniki Park and to a major transport hub, Kleinewelt Architekten embedded in the design of the two high-rise towers a sense of dynamism more characteristic of natural phenomena than of man-made objects. Without the authors’ diagrams, this logic is not easy to decipher, although the eye immediately detects a pattern and tries to grasp it. It seems to us that one tower contains the impulse of a bud about to open, while the other evokes the movement of a lithospheric plate. Let us try to unravel it together.

Report

The Space of Post-Cubism

Sergei Tchoban and Alexandra Sheiner, of Studio CHART, created for the exhibition of “post-cubist” sculpture by Beatrice Sandomirskaya – a talented and even “mainstream” artist, yet almost unknown even to art historians – a space akin to her sculptural language: solidly built, confidently stereometric, and subtly expressive. It curves, emphasizing the mass of the sculpture, envelops the viewer, and guides them from one perspective to another, from a generic “shrine” to a “Madonna”.

Object

The Value of Open Space

For the site near the Barrikadnaya Metro Station, Sergey Skuratov developed five projects between 2020 and 2025. Two of them were ones that won the client’s invitation-only competitions. The fifth was recently selected by the Mayor of Moscow for implementation. The project is vivid and sculptural, expressive, eye-catching, and engaging – very much in line with the spirit of our time. And yet, this project is mid-rise rather than tall. In its northwestern part, near the metro and Druzhinnikovskaya Street, it shapes a comfortable urban environment. On the opposite side, it opens up, allowing sunlight into the courtyard and creating a spatial pause within the dense city fabric. How it is organized, what geometric principles underlie it, and why it takes this form – all this is explored in our article.

Coming From the Cold

The ArchBukhta Festival remains one of the few events in Russia where participants go through the entire process of creating an architectural object – from concept to construction. And they do so on the shores of Lake Baikal, in dedication to it. This year, GAFA took part and shared its experience: a local legend, a team-specific design code, friendship, as well as ice skating and endurance in freezing temperatures all contributed to gaining something more than just an award.

Object

Symphony of Water and Brick

The Alter residential complex, designed by Stepan Liphart and built on a bend of the Okhta River, is an example of a “drawn house”: the number of original architectural details is virtually immeasurable. As a result, ribs, projections, and recesses create a picturesque silhouette even without a significant variation in height. Both composition and material respond to the proximity of the river and to the red-brick factory building dating back to the early 20th century. The project was also significantly shaped by recommendations from the city’s chief architect. More details in our article.

Object

Wave and Vertical

The premium residential complex designed by GAFA for a site in the Khoroshevsky District responds to multiple constraints – the arc of a planned roadway, the water protection zone of the Khodynka River, and insolation requirements – through inventive massing. The composition is built on the interplay of two spatial layers: an elongated perimeter block and three towers concealed behind it generate the silhouette and key viewpoints, while also adding semantic depth reinforced by the façade solutions. Another defining feature is a large private courtyard, complemented by a citywide linear park.

Object

Office on Trubnaya

We continue publishing projects by Valery Kanyashin. A building once described, a quarter century ago, as an example of “quiet modernism” has remained just that in some people’s memory. According to Anatoly Belov, its main quality is its unobtrusiveness. The architects from Ostozhenka say the leading role here is played by context and landscape – the change in elevation. Yet is it really so inconspicuous?

Object

The First International

With this publication, we begin a series of texts dedicated to works by the late Valery Kanyashin, one of the founders of Ostozhenka Architects. As it happens, the projects he was involved in largely illustrate our understanding of the firm and its history. The first project in this series is the International Moscow Bank on Prechistenskaya Embankment.

in memoriam

In Memory of Valery Kanyashin

On Friday, February 27, architect Valery Kanyashin passed away – co-founder of Ostozhenka Architects and the author of many significant buildings in Moscow. We publish a text by Anatoly Belov in memory of Valery Kanyashin.

Report

Hypertext in Space

As part of the exhibition “What We Have We (Do Not) Keep”, Sergey Tchoban, the Museum of Architecture, and the CHART studio experiment with an eco-conscious approach to exhibition design, with thematic cross-references and even with publicistic reflections on the necessity of preserving modernism, the roots of contemporary architecture, and the birth of ideas. All of this makes the exhibition, with its light and transparent design, look quite innovative. The elements – both “material” and conceptual – are familiar, yet their combination is far from conventional.

Object

The Outline of “Foundation”

In their competition proposal for the Fili transport hub, the consortium led by Alexey Ilyin proposed an “inhabited arch” – a form that is simple yet complex. The architects emphasize that even at the competition stage, the project’s feasibility was fully calculated, taking into account the minimal nighttime closures of Bagration Avenue. How was this achieved? With what functions? Let us take a closer look. In our view, the building would have suited the heroes of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels perfectly.

Object

The Flying Horizontal

“A house in the spirit of Wright”, as architect Roman Leonidov describes it, pointing to his source of inspiration, was built on a challenging wedge-shaped site. To achieve a sense of intimacy and secure good views from the windows, the entire volume had to be shifted toward the far boundary, turning the house “back” to the neighboring mansions. The main façade demonstrates time-tested techniques often employed by the company: articulated horizontals, a weightless roofline, and a triad of materials – light plaster, dark slate, and warm wood.

Object

Needles of Horizon Contemplation

The “House of Horizons”, designed by Kleinewelt Architekten in Krylatskoye, is carefully thought out at the stereometric level – from the logic of how the volumes interlock (and, conversely, how gaps are articulated between them) to the triangular balconies that give the building its striking, slightly bristling silhouette.

News

The Red Thread

A linear park project prepared by Alexey Ilyin studio for the improvement of a riverbank in one of the residential districts seeks to reconnect people with nature. Two levels of the embankment invite visitors to contemplate the landscape while at the same time protecting the riverbank from excessive human impact. The “aerial street” links functional zones and the opposite banks, creating new points of attraction along the way: balconies, bridges, and even a “grotto”.

Object

Spindle and Thread

The concept of the Waver residential complex in Yekaterinburg draws inspiration from the past of the Parkovy district. In order to preserve the memory of the late-19th-century flax spinning mill once located here, the architectural company KPLN turns to the theme of textiles and weaving. The project’s main expressive device is a system of ribbons made of perforated weathering steel – a material that, in such volumes, has arguably not yet been used in Russian residential projects.

Overview

From Ski Resorts to Year-Round Recreation Clusters

In mid-December, several architectural firms gathered to discuss a “seasonal” topic: the prospects for the development of domestic ski tourism. Where is modern infrastructure already in place, where do only remnants of the Soviet legacy remain, and where is there still nothing – but projects are underway and soon to be completed? This article explores these questions.

Object

Woven Into Sokolniki

Over the past few years, high-rise residential construction in former industrial zones has become the main theme of Moscow architecture. Towers are springing up here and there – but the question is what kind of towers they are. The residential complex CODE Sokolniki, designed by Ostozhenka Architects, is a project where every detail has been taken care of. The authors are attentive to the history of the site, the continuity of the urban fabric, the skyline, and visual corridors. They also proposed a motif with the lyrical name “scarf”. We take a closer look at the volumetric composition and the large-scale décor “woven”, in this case, out of terraces and balconies.

Interview

Stepan Liphart and Yuri Gerth: “Our Program Is Aesthetic”

The studio of Stepan Liphart, an architect known for his distinctive signature style and one-off projects, now has a partner. Yuri Khitrov, a specialist with a broad range of competencies, will take on the part of the work that distracts one from creativity but drives the business forward. One of the aims of this partnership is to improve the urban environment through dialogue with clients and officials. We spoke with both sides about their ambitions, the firm’s development strategy, shared values, and the need for pragmatism. And why the studio is called “Liphart & Gerth” only became clear at the very end of the interview.

Object

The Copper Mirror

The varied-toned sheen of “unsealed” copper, painterly streaks and fingerprints, exposed concrete, and the unusual proportions – when you study the ZILART Museum building by Sergei Tchoban and SPEECH architects, there is plenty to talk about. However, it seems to us that the most interesting thing is how the museum’s composition responds to the realities of the district itself. The residential district has been realized as an open-air exhibition of façade statements by contemporary architects – but without public access to the inner courtyards of the blocks. This building – that is, the museum – is exactly the opposite: on the outside, it is deliberately restrained, while inside it shines spectacularly, creating its own sunbeams in any weather.

View

“Strangers” in the City

We asked Alexander Skokan for a comment on the results of 2025 – and he sent us a whole article, moreover one devoted to the discussion we recently began on the “appropriateness of high-rises” – or, more broadly speaking, “contrasting insertions into the urban fabric”. The result is a text that is essentially a question: why here? Why like this?

Interview

Dmitry Ostroumov: “To use the language of alchemy, we are involved in the process of “transmutation...

What we ended up having was an extremely unusual conversation with Dmitry Ostroumov. Why? At the very least, because he is not just an architect specializing in the construction of Orthodox churches. And not just – which is an extreme rarity – a proponent of developing contemporary stylistics within this still highly conservative field. Dmitry Ostroumov is a Master of Theology. So in addition to the history and specifics of the company, we speak about the very concept of the temple, about canon and tradition, about the living and the eternal, and even about the Russian Logos.

Interview

MB-PROJECT: “Every new project is a challenge”

In this issue, we speak with Dmitry and Oleg Shurygin, founders of the company MV-PROJECT, which has extensive experience in designing theater and entertainment buildings as well as working with cultural heritage sites.

Object

A Glazed Figurine

In searching for an image for a residential building near the Novodevichy Convent, GAFA architects turned to their own perception of the place: it evoked associations with antiquity, plein-air painting, and vintage artifacts. The two towers will be entirely clad in volumetric glazed ceramic – at present, there are no other buildings like this in Russia. The complex will also stand out thanks to its metabolic bay-window cells, streamlined surfaces, a ceremonial “hotel-style” driveway, and a lobby overlooking a lush garden.

Report

A Knight’s Move via the Cour d’Honneur

Intercolumnium Architects presented to the City Planning Council a residential complex project that is set to replace the Aquatoria business center on Vyborgskaya Embankment. Experts praised the overall quality of the work, but expressed reservations about the three cour d’honneurs and suggested softening the contrast between the facades facing the embankment and the Kantemirovsky Bridge.

Object

Mountains, Groves, and Ancestral Towers

The year-round mountain resort Armkhi situated in Russia’s Republic of Ingushetia is positioned as a destination for calm family recreation and has well-established traditions shaped by its hundred-year history and the culture of the region. The development program prepared by the Genplan Institute of Moscow preserves the resort’s identity while expanding its offerings and introducing new types of tourist leisure. In the near future, the resort will feature a balneological center, a thermal complex, an interactive museum, an extreme park, and, of course, new ski slopes.

Object

A Small Country

Mezonproekt is developing a long-term master plan for the MEPhI campus in Obninsk. Over the next ten years, an enclave territory of about 100 hectares, located in a forest on the northern edge of the city, is set to transform into a modern center for the development of the nuclear energy sector. The plan envisions attracting international students and specialists, as well as comprehensive territorial development: both through the contemporary realization of “frozen” plans from the 1980s and through the introduction of new trends – public spaces, an aquapark, a food court, a school, and even a nuclear medicine center. Public and sports facilities are intended to be accessible to city residents as well, and the campus is to be physically and functionally connected to Obninsk.

Object

Pearl Divers

GAFA has designed an apartment complex for Derbent intended to switch people from a work mode to a resort mindset – and to give the surrounding area a much-needed jolt. The building offers two distinct faces: restrained and laconic on the city side, and a lushly ornate façade facing the sea. At the heart of the complex, a hidden pearl lies – an open-air pool with an arch, offering views of a starry sky, and providing direct access to the beach.

Object

A Satellite Island

The Genplan Institute of Moscow has prepared a master plan for the development of the Sarpinsky and Golodny island system, located within the administrative boundaries of Volgograd and considered among the largest river islands in Russia. By 2045, the plan envisions the implementation of 15 large-scale investment projects, including sports and educational clusters, a congress center with a “Volgonarium”, a film production cluster, and twenty-one theme parks. We explain which engineering, environmental, and transportation challenges must be addressed to turn this vision into reality. The master plan solutions have already been approved and incorporated into the city’s general development plan.

​Living Next to Lyceum

This housing project, boasting a water channel, a landscaped park of its own, and the proximity to the renovated “Imperial Steam Engine Shed”, is one of the three finalists of the competition organized by the client.

Living Next to Lyceum