Evgeny Gerasimov: we are interested in designing for Saint Petersburg

In this article, we are speaking to the architect on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the bureau “Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners”: about the lineup of his studio, about the diversity of tasks that his company handles, about the specifics of its working processes, about partnership with Sergey Tchoban, and about the soviet and post-soviet architecture.

Interviewed by:
Ivan Kostin
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

26 December 2016

Interview

Archi.ru:
– The name of your company is “Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners”, these partners being Zoe Petrova and Victor Khivrich?

Evgeny Gerasimov:
– Currently, we have two more partners: Karen Smirnov and Tatyana Komaldinova. Yes, Victor Khivrich and Zoe Petrova have been with us from the very start. We go back a long way with Zoe Petrova – we worked together when still in Lenniiproject. We build our relationship just like partners should: there is a senior partner, not in terms of his age but in terms of his share in the company, and the right to vote differs accordingly. I am the one who makes the final decisions.

– How do you make your decisions?

– We have absolute democracy when it comes to discussion and absolute dictatorship when it comes to implementation. Regardless of their position, be that a young architect or an experienced chief architect of the project, when we start working on a project we consider everybody’s ideas. For each project, we create a workgroup, and, together with me, they arrive at a final decision. Once we’ve made a decision, we cannot afford to swing back and forth and turn to the options that we’ve discarded.

zooming — Evgeny Gerasimov. Photo courtesy by "Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners"

– Are there groups of “classics” and “modernists” in your bureau?

– No, there is no such specialization. We proceed from the location, and, of course, from the customer. And, if the customer wants traditional architecture, you either agree to do the project or just opt out of it. Of course, you can choose one style only and then stick to it, and this is worthy of respect, but, the way I see it, such approach is monotonous.

– What would you name as the main achievement of your company?

– First of all, the sheer fact of its existence; we’ve been around since 1991, and that’s quite a while! And, of course, our projects that have been implemented! Whether somebody likes them or not is a different matter. What matters is the fact that there are a large number of implemented projects that we designed, and for which, among other things, we prepared the working documents.

Our company is focused on designing buildings from the original idea down to the last detailed drawing. We do not put ourselves above the “crude” work, furthermore, we are sure that only if you prepare your working documents yourself, you get a chance to have you project built exactly the way you designed it.

– Let’s speak about your background. How did you come into architecture?

– I finished an art school, and, on the one hand, I did not see myself as a pure artist, and, on the other hand, I wanted to have a profession that would still be related to arts and drawing. Back in those days, I was still pretty vague about such things... I was born in Siberia but my childhood, until I was seven, I think, fell on Saint Petersburg. Then we left, due to family circumstances. But when I decided to take up architecture I came to Leningrad again. In 1983 I finished Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, and then I worked at Lenniiproject.

– Who would you name as your teacher?

– I learned from many people. In the college, my professor was Leonid Lavrov. In Lenniiproject, I worked for a long time under the supervision of Yuri Mityurev who was to become later on the chief architect of the city. The head of the studio that I worked at was Oleg Kharchenko who was also the main architect of the city for a long time. And they don’t appoint just anyone as the chief architect of the city. This has to be the right person with a certain frame of mind, and with certain architectural and organizational skills, and I am sure that I’ve been really lucky to work under the guidance of such great people. I saw how these people could draw, think, and work; how they prepared their presentations – because we had no computers back then, and you had to draw by hand – how expertly skillful these people were with the drafting pen, ink, water colors, gouache, and how they could draw perspective drawings simply by hand.

– You founded your company back in 1991. How did it happen?

– In 1990, Mityurev and I left Lenniiproject, and he founded an architectural studio of his own. For half a year, I worked as his deputy director, but a while later we decided to go our separate ways.

– How did your company get along in the nineties?

– It was a very romantic time, in fact. We started in a loft at the Fontanka River that had been formerly occupied by some homeless artists. We disinfested the places of rats ourselves, did all the repairs, and all the electrical work as well. It was there that we got our first computers... We started with drawing boards: water colors, wash drawings… Nobody knew anything about this stuff – how the future would look like, and what things would come along. A whole new class of clients was being formed, new housing typologies were developing, and new construction materials and technologies were introduced. We had to catch all these things on the fly. We had to learn to live and work in a new country.

– How did the idea come about of one of your earliest famous projects - that neoclassical and at the same time postmodernist house on the Kamennoostrovsky Avenue?

– This was the first project that we did for LSR Company. Yes, it was pure postmodernism because at that time we were still hungry for it. When in 1991 freedom was proclaimed, postmodernism was a field that was still unexplored by the soviet architects; we started to eagerly absorb the fruits of postmodernist aesthetics. But then again, we clearly saw the neoclassical nature of that project because it is part of the Kamennoostrovsky Avenue – right across from it, there are these masterpieces by Shchuko and Lancere. We were to complete the even side of the Kamennoostrovsky Avenue. And, as for the style of that building, yes, it is postmodernism of a neoclassical nature with details that are a bit on the rough side.

– In 2002, you got acquainted with your steady coauthor Sergey Tchoban. How did that acquaintance look to you at the time?

– I went to Berlin in order to examine its architecture that is iconic of postmodernism: Rob Krier, Mario Botta, and others, and the modern architecture of Berlin in general. Hitherto, I had never been to Berlin before. Oleg Kharchenko gave me Sergey Tchoban’s telephone number, and said that he thought it would be interesting for us to meet each other and maybe we would both benefit from it in some way. I had seen some works by Sergey, and he had seen some of mine but we had not met each other in person. So I called, Sergey invited me to his bureau, we had a short conversation, and agreed to have dinner together. We decided that we would give it a try working together, and in winter 2002 we worked on our joint project that we did for LSR – “House by the Sea”.

– How did you come up with the solution for this building?

– Sergey and I work along the same lines. Each of us comes up with different versions, then we pick the most promising and ultimately it all comes down to one final version. Then we test our idea on the project models: they show both plan and volume, and I would even call these working project models the “sacred” basis of the design process, because it is at that period that a lot of things start to take shape. At a recent exhibition, we deliberately paid a lot of attention to it.

In the final version of “House by the Sea” we visually extended the axis of the Grebnoi Channel – “pulled it inside” and continued it. Out of all the apartments, you can see water, and trees on the other side. We used the principle of a city villa: each stairway provides access to three apartments that do not have mutual junctions, each of the apartments being oriented on three sides. We deliberately designed it in a reserved style: stone, metal profiles, and staggered windows...

– What other works from the mid 2000’s would you specifically mention?

– Above all, the Saint-Petersburg Jewish community center YESOD, for which we got every possible award, and the house named Stella Maris. I don’t really feel comfortable within the confines of one style: I want to reinvent myself in the neoclassical, traditional, and modernist architecture. Both these two projects are definitely modernist. But we’ve done more projects than I care to remember. “Novaya Zvezda” on the Pesochnaya Embankment is also based on the combination of stone and glass...

– Which customers do you prefer to work with – private or state-run companies?

– We rarely work with state-run companies.

– And what about the projects of the Olympic committee, and the buildings of the government of the Russian Federation?

– These were all contest projects. Regretfully, we lost all these competitions. There was only one state-run order in our history - the project of the Ushakovskaya road junction. “Sudebny Kvartal” (“Court of Law Quarter”) is but the second case in our 25-year history. We prefer to refrain from working with federal budgets.

– How do you explain this?

– The state is a rather faceless customer, and the people who are in charge of the project from their side rarely have the feeling of personal responsibility; they, come right down to it, are rather indifferent to architect in general. And we have a hard time working with a customer who is not personally interested in great architecture. So, we’d rather go for an end customer who is interested in getting a beautiful building because it will ultimately sell well.

– You won the competition “Gray Belt of Saint Petersburg”. How is this project developing now?

– We treated this competition from the very start as a show one, and, for that matter, the Committee for City Planning and Architecture did not make much of a secret of it either: they said it themselves that this competition was not of a great practical value. Basically, its idea came down to showing a beautiful picture that this city could be in the perfect world, to painting a dream: a house of your dreams, a block of your dreams, a “gray belt” of your dreams... We submitted our proposal, our idea, and then, well, let the city decide what it likes and what it doesn’t, and how to implement these things into reality.

– What projects is your company doing now?

– Currently, we are working on a few housing projects for the company “Legend”: “Legend on the Komendantsky” and “Legend on the Dalnevostochny”. The project of “Sudebny Kvartal” got the appropriate approvals recently. A few housing projects are being built for LSR. On the Krestovsky Island, the buildings named “Russian House” and “Verona” will soon be completed. We are also designing a complex of buildings on the Petrovsky Island. A few construction projects are underway in Moscow: the ZIL is being completed, and the housing project named “Tsarev Sad” (“Tsar’s Garden”) is being built across from the Kremlin on the Sophiyskaya Embankment. We are also designing a new tower on the Leningrad Avenue. The construction of a large housing project called "Europe City" is being finished on the Medikov Avenue – it will be a huge project with interesting ceramic façades.

– How do you see yourselves on the Russian architectural scene in the recent years?

– We have no comment about that. We appreciate that our company is probably one of the best in Saint Petersburg. Arguably, our company is one of the best in Russia as well because we get invited to high-profile competitions here, and in Moscow. “One of the best” – we are quite cool with this position. We do not make a point of becoming the only top company. We are interested in designing for Moscow – we did three projects there. We are interested in designing for Saint Petersburg. In the regions, the customers are not ready to pay adequate prices, so the tasks are less interesting.

Year after year, we work with a small circle of customers: we’ve been working for decades with LSR, LenspetsSMU. We work with Setl City, RBI, “Legend”, and other companies with whom we’ve done one or two projects. I think that an established circle of steady customers is a great thing for an architect to develop.

26 December 2016

Interviewed by:

Ivan Kostin
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

Headlines now

Object

A Paper Clip above the River

In this article, we talk with Vitaly Lutz from the Genplan Institute of Moscow about the design and unique features of the pedestrian bridge that now links the two banks of the Yauza River in the new cluster of Bauman Moscow State Technical University (MSTU). The bridge’s form and functionality – particularly the inclusion of an amphitheater suspended over the river – were conceived during the planning phase of the territory’s development. Typically, this approach is not standard practice, but the architects advocate for it, referring to this intermediate project phase as the “pre-AGR” stage (AGR stands for Architectural and Urban Planning Approval). Such a practice, they argue, helps define key parameters of future projects and bridge the gap between urban planning and architectural design.

Review

Living in the Architecture of One’s Own Making

Do architects design houses for themselves? You bet! In this article, we are examining a new book by TATLIN publishing house. This book – unprecedented for Russia – features 52 private homes designed and built by contemporary architects for themselves. It includes houses that are famous, even iconic, as well as lesser-known ones; large and small, stylish and eccentric. To some extent, the book reflects the history of Russian architecture over the past 30 years.

Object

A City Block Isoline

Another competition project for a residential complex on the banks of the Volga in Nizhny Novgorod has been prepared by Studio 44. A team of architects led by Ivan Kozhin concluded that using a regular block layout in such a location would be inappropriate and developed a “custom design” approach: a chain of parceled multi-section buildings stretching along the entire embankment. Let’s explore the features and advantages of this unconventional method.

Report

Competition: The Price of Creativity?

Any day now, we’re expecting the results of a competition held by the “Samolet” development group for a plot in Kommunarka. In the meantime, we share the impressions of Editor-in-Chief Julia Tarabarina, who managed to conduct a public talk. Though technically focused on the interaction between developers and architects, the public talk turned into a discussion about the pros and cons of architectural competitions.

Object

Terraced Design

The “River Park” residential complex has confidently and securely shaped the Nagatinsky Backwater shoreline. Featuring a public embankment, elevated courtyards connected by pedestrian bridges, and brick façades, the development invites exploration of its nuanced response to the surrounding context, as well as hints of the architects’ megalithic design thinking.

A Kremlin’s Core and Meteorite Fragments

We continue our coverage of the competition projects for the residential district that the development company GloraX plans to build along the embankment of the Rowing Channel in Nizhny Novgorod. ASADOV Architects approached the concept through a deep dive into local identity, using storytelling to pinpoint a central idea for the design: the master plan and composition are imagined as if a meteorite had struck a “proto-Kremlin”. Sounds weird? Find more details below!

Contest Results

The Volga Regatta

GloraX plans to develop a residential complex spanning 14 hectares along the Volga River in Nizhny Novgorod. The winning design in a closed-door competition, created by GORA Architects, features housing typologies ranging from townhouses to terraced high-rise slabs, a balance of functions, diverse ways of engaging with the water, and even a dedicated island (no less!) for the city residents.

Object

Life Plans

The master plan for the residential district “Prityazheniye” (“Gravity”) in Naberezhnye Chelny was developed by the architectural company A.Len, taking into account the specific urban planning context and partially implemented solutions of the first phase. However, the master plan prioritized its own values: a green framework, a system of focal points, a hierarchy of spaces, and pedestrian priority. After this, the question of what residents will do in their neighborhood simply doesn’t arise.

Object

A New Track

We took a thorough look at D_Station, a railcar repair depot dating back to 1906, recently reconstructed while preserving its century-old industrial structure, upon the project by Sergey Trukhanov and T+T Architects. Though work on the interiors – set to house restaurants and public spaces – is still underway, the building’s exterior already offers plenty to see. Visitors can explore the blend of old and new brickwork, appreciate the architect’s unique interpretation of ruin aesthetics, and enjoy the newly built pedestrian route that connects the Citydel Business Center’s arches to Kazakova Street.

Report

Four Different Surveys

The “Explore the City” competition, organized this year by the Genplan Institute of Moscow, stands out as a pretty unconventional one for the architectural field but aligns perfectly well with the character of urban planning work. The winning project analyzed contemporary residential complexes, combining urban planning insights with a realtor’s perspective to propose a hybrid approach. Other entries explored public centers, motivations for car ownership, and housing vacancy rates. A fifth participant withdrew. Here’s a closer look at the four completed works.

Report

Scheduled Evolution

ASADOV Architects unveiled the EvyCenter pavilion, a microcultural hub for fostering personal growth, organizing workshops, and doing gymnastics. Additionally, this pavilion serves as a prototype for a scalable country house, drawing inspiration from the “Loskutok” project, and constructed from CLT panels in a factory. This marks the beginning of a developer project initiated by the architectural firm (sic!), which is seeking partners to expand both small Evy settlements and even larger Evy cities, which are, according to Andrey Asadov, aimed at fostering the “evolutionary” development of the people who will inhabit them.

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”.