Metropolitan Image

A.Len has designed in Voronezh a residential complex named “Russia. Five Capitals” – creating a comfortable environment in spite of a rather high building density.

Written by:
Natalya Muradova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

10 July 2017

Object

Architect:

Firm:

A-Len http://www.a-len.ru/

The residential complex “Russia. Five Capitals” was designed by Sergey Oreshkin for Voronezh. It occupies the western part of the new residential neighborhood “Troitsky” named after the architect Nikolai Troitsky who headed the restoration of Voronezh after the Second World War. The location of the new area with a binding “architectural” name proved to be a lucky one – practically between the park of Biotechnology Institute and the Botanical Garden of the Voronezh University, amidst the greenery but at the same time but a ten minutes drive away from the city center. The total area of Troitsky is 29 hectares; its middle part is occupied by the large “Olimpiysky” residential complex that consists of almost-complete 18-story buildings of architecture that is calm and reserved but rather on a simple side and stereotypical. The west and east parts of the complex are occupied by two housing projects also designed by the Saint Petersburg architectural company headed by Sergey Oreshkin: the east side is occupied by the housing complex “Avangard”, while on the west side, on a narrow land site in the shape of a rectangular triangle, its major leg adjoining the Zagorovskogo Street – “Russia. Five Capitals” is situated. The acute angle of the triangle is pointed northward into the tree nursery, while the minor leg of the triangle adjoins the broad highway of the Shishkova Street that makes here a smooth 90-degree turn.

The five 25-story towers that gave the complex its name were the client’s idea. Sergey Oreshkin proposed to unite them with an L-shaped podium. On the east side, one that stretches along the relatively quiet Zagorovskogo Street, the slabs of towers, placed in a ship’s wake fashion, alternate with six-story buildings that face the street with a building front of a human-friendly “city” scale (regretfully, not supported by the neighboring buildings but valuable nonetheless). The podium of the minor leg has two stories in it; it carries but two towers that are shifted forward upon slender pillars of galleries set in a futuristic fashion. From this side, the complex is permeable; it looks like it opens up the giant “blinds” letting into the center of Voronezh a stream of fresh air from the park. Or maybe the other way around: it asserts itself as a pair of giant propylaea.

zooming — Housing complex "Russia. Five Capitals". Project, 2016 © A.Len

The extreme northern tower – the “nose” of Unit 9 pointed towards the tree nursery – is slightly shifted off the main “ship’s wake” towards the west, thus opening the forest views to the towers of the central part. For the same purpose – catching more panoramic views – the towers took on a somewhat spindle-like quality: their walls are slightly slanted, while the balconies turned on the direction of the best views form a cascade of steps, the further ones standing out more than the closer ones.

The second “panoramic segment” of the complex is the south one. From this side, the complex commands city views, and it is also built in a cascade fashion. “This, of course, is a rather interesting place. Here, the land site comes out to a great wide open in terms of panoramic views. At that point, the Shishkova Street takes a turn and keeps going down all the time. This opens up a rather wide space between the buildings, and this mesmerizing bend of the road is clearly seen, stretched into the distance of the land” – shares Sergey Oreshkin.

The client opted out of insisting on the idea of painting each of the towers its individual color, and the architects were able to come up with an integral color design solution for the façades: in gray and white colors, with bright green inserts – it all looks almost like a metaphor of the famous local “black soil”, through which the young offshoots are showing. The extended outside eastern wall is dominated by black, the yard is half white, half green but the colors blend here: for example, the outside parts of the towers smoothly grow white, thus making their silhouette look more elegant. This smoothness, however, is relative, of a pixel kind – the black and white frames of the stanzas first alternate, overlapping in a staggered order, but white “takes over” with every next step leading outside. The green side walls of the stanzas also come into play, first only “igniting” here and there, and then blending into spots of happy green in the distance.

“The towers grow from a multistory podium like stalagmites: the material used in the bottom part goes over to the top part, and then the upper part begins to “pixelate” – this is how Sergey Oreshkin describes the image of the building.

The long string cornice of the green awning above the entire podium above the Zagorovskogo Street cuts the transparent glass base away from the point where the black-green-white mass of the building starts to grow. This cutaway has a lot of meaning to it: here, in the glass part, in addition to the retail function, there are also offices situated in the basement, the first floor, and, for the two south towers, on the second floor as well. It is planned to use high-quality glass, without rough seams, and the workspaces will get plenty of natural light.

It is planned that the adjacent land will be very well organized. The functional zones are numerous; landscape elements go one after another, and Sergey Oreshkin likens them to train cars. At the same time, the entire yard is not a very large one, particularly considering the size of the housing complex and the expected number of people that will live here. The yard will be of a residents-only type.

The yard territory will include volleyball and basketball grounds, a piazza with a fountain, flowerbeds and lawns, an event square, three playgrounds of different content, recreation zones, wooden gazebos, a green amphitheater, a fruit alley running along the hallway lobbies, and five-meter high туи at the border of the yard that will visually separate the territory of the new housing complex from the already-existing bleak buildings. At this same “border zone”, they will make the extra parking lot, even though the complex will have an underground parking garage of its own.

The principle of arranging apartments of different size reminds a layered cake: the more spacious housing is concentrated closer to the bottom part of the complex and on the top floors of the towers, while the main middle part is occupied by studios, two and three room apartments. For the people living on the top floors, the architects designed individual exits to the roof upon which terraces will be organized. All the elevator shafts are grouped at the west façade because it is this façade that faces the comparatively dull-looking neighborhood.

Each of the towers symbolizes one of the Russian “capital cities”: in addition to Moscow and Saint Petersburg, these are Sochi as the city of the Olympics, Yalta as the capital of the Crimea, and Voronezh as the capital of the “black soil” region of Russia. The spacious entrance lobbies and elevator halls of each tower will be designed in accordance with the city that this particular tower represents.

Even a fleeting glimpse at the main mass of the Voronezh newly built stock is enough to see that it is a bit on the monotonous side. “Russia. Five capitals” stands out against this background not only thanks to its colorful façades. A.Len has designed a housing complex that, thanks to the architects’ careful approach to organizing the public space takes the city environment to a whole new level.

Architect:

Firm:

A-Len http://www.a-len.ru/

10 July 2017

Written by:

Natalya Muradova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

Headlines now

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

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.

Object

A Twist of the Core

A clever and concise sculptural solution – rotating each floor by N degrees – has created an ensemble of “dancing” towers: similar yet different, simple yet complex. The designers meticulously refined a single structural node and spent considerable effort on the column construction – after that, “everything else was easy”. The architects also rotated the core walls on each floor to maximize the efficiency of the office spaces.

Object

The Sculpting of Spring Forest Matter

We’ve been observing this building for a couple of years now: seemingly simple, perhaps even unassuming, it fits in remarkably well with the micro-district context shaped by the Moscow MCD road junctions. This building sticks in the memory of everyone who drives along the highway, even occasionally. In our opinion, Sergey Nikeshkin, by blending popular architectural techniques and approaches of the 2010s, managed to turn a seemingly simple structure into a statement “on the theme of a house as such”. Let’s figure out how this happened.

Object

Water and Wind Whet the Stone

The Arisha Terraces residential complex, designed by Asadov Architects, will be built in a district of Dubai dedicated to film and television production. To create shaded spaces and an intriguing silhouette, the architects opted for a funnel-shaped composition and nature-inspired forms of erosion and weathering. The roofs, podium, and underground spaces extend leisure opportunities within the boundaries of a man-made “oasis”.

Object

Elevation 5642

The Genplan Institute of Moscow has developed a comprehensive development project for three ski resorts in the Caucasus, which have been designated as special economic zones of the tourism and recreation type. The first of these zones is Elbrus. The project includes the construction of new ski runs, cable cars, and hotels, as well as the modernization of stations and improvements to the Azau tourist meadow. To expand the audience and enhance year-round appeal, a network of eco-trails is also being developed. In this article, we provide a detailed breakdown of each stage.

Object

The IT Town

Taking the example of the first completed phase of the “U” district, we examine how the new neighborhood in Innopolis will be organized. T+T Architects and HADAA formed a well-balanced and ingenious master plan with different types of housing, a green artery, a system of squares, and a park in the town’s central part.

Object

The Heart Lies Within

The second-phase building of the Evgeny Primakov School already won multiple awards while still in the design stage. Now that it’s completed, some unfinished nuances remain – most notably, the exposed ceiling structures, which ideally should have been concealed. However, given the priority placed on the building’s volumetric composition, this does not seem critical. What matters more is the “Wow!” effect created by the space itself.

Object

Magnetic Forces

“Krylatskaya 33” is the first large-scale residential complex to appear amidst the 1980s “micro-districts” that harmoniously coexist with the forests, the river, the slopes, and the sports infrastructure. Despite its imposing scale, the architects of Ostozhenka managed to turn the complex into something that can be best described as a “graceful dominant”. First, they designed the complex with consideration for the style and height of the surrounding micro-districts. Second, by introducing a pause in its tallest section, they created compositional tension – right along the urban planning axis of the area.

Object

Orion’s Belt

The Stone Khodynka 2 office complex, designed by Kleinewelt Architekten for the company Stone, is built with an ergonomic layout following “healthy building” principles: natural light, ventilation, and all the necessary features for an efficient office environment. On the outside, it resembles – like many contemporary buildings – an iPhone: sleek, glowing, glass-and-metal, edges elegantly rounded. Yet, it responds sensitively to the Khodynka context, where the main theme is the contrast between vertical and horizontal lines. The key intrigue lies in the design of the “stylobate” as a suspended passage, leaving the space beneath it open for free pedestrian movement.

Interview

Grigory Revzin: “It Was a Bold Statement Made on the Sly. Something Won”

In this article, we discuss the debates surrounding the circus competition and the demolition of the CMEA building with the most renowned architectural critic of our time. A paradox emerges in the process: while nostalgia for the Brezhnev era seems to be in vogue in Russia, a landmark building – the “axis” of the Warsaw Pact – has been sentenced to demolition. Isn’t that strange? We also find out that wow-architecture has made a comeback as a post-COVID trend. However, to make a truly powerful statement, professionals still remain indispensable.

Object

Exposed Concrete

One of the stages of improving a small square in the town of Lermontov was the construction of a skatepark. Entrusting this part of the project to the XSA team, the city gained a 250-meter trick track whose features resemble those of land art objects – unparalleled in Russia in both scale and design. Here’s a look at how the experimental snake run in the foothills of the Caucasus was built.

Object

One Step Closer To the Dream

The challenges of getting all the mandatory approvals, an insufficient budget, and construction site difficulties did not prevent ASADOV Bureau from achieving its main goal in the realization of the school project in the town of Troitsk – taking another step away from outdated notions of educational spaces toward creating a fundamentally new academic environment.

Object

Chalet on the Rock

An Accor hotel in Arkhyz, designed by A.Len, will be situated at the gateway to the resort’s main tourist hubs. The architects reinterpreted the widely popular chalet style while adding an unexpected twist – an unfinished structure preserved on the site. The design team transformed this remnant into an exciting space featuring an open-air pool and a restaurant with panoramic views of the region’s highest mountain ridges.

Interview

Sergey Skuratov: “By and large, the project has been realized in line with the original ideas”

In this issue, we talk to the chief architect of Garden Quarters, looking back at the history and key moments of a project that took 18 years to develop and has now finally been completed. What interests us most are the transformations that the project underwent during construction, and the way the “necessary void” of public space was formed, which turned this remarkable complex into a fragment of a whole new type of urban fabric – not just at the horizontal “street” level but in its vertical structure as well.

Object

A Unique Representative

The recently concluded year 2024 can be considered the year of completion for the “Garden Quarters” residential complex in Moscow’s Khamovniki. This project is well-known and, in many ways, iconic. Rarely does one manage to preserve such a number of original ideas, achieving in the end a kind of urban planning Gesamtkunstwerk. Here is a subjective view from an architecture journalist, with an interview with Sergey Skuratov soon to follow.

Object

Field of Life

The new project by the architectural company PNKB (an acronym for “Design, Research, and Advisory Bureau”), led by Sergey Gnedovsky and Anton Lyubimkin, for the Kulikovo Field Museum is dedicated to the field as a concept in its own right. The field has long been a focus of the museum’s thorough and successful research. Accordingly, the exterior of the new museum building is gentler than that of its predecessor, which was also designed by PNKB and dedicated specifically to the historic battle. Inside, however, the building confidently guides the visitor from a luminous atrium along a spiral path to the field – interpreted here as a field of life.

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.