По-русски

David Leventhal. Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF). Interview and text by Vladimir Belogolovskiy

KPF is one more participant of an exposition of the Russian pavilion on XI Architectural biennial in Venice

28 July 2008
Report
mainImg
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, KPF was founded in 1976 in New York. The firm employs over 500 architects in New
York, London and Shanghai with a diverse portfolio of super tall skyscrapers, museums, universities, banks, hotels,
convention centers and airports all over the world. David Leventhal jointed KPF in 1979. He is a partner-in-charge of design at the London office, which he founded in 1989 together with Lee Polisano, now the president of the firm. David designed award-winning projects at Oxford University, the London School of Economics, the Parliament House and the National Theatre in Cyprus and high-rises in North America, Europe and the Middle East. These projects incorporate low-energy design strategies and exemplify the firm’s commitment to sustainable architecture.
KPF is now working on three projects in Moscow. In 2006, the firm was invited to take part in new Administrative
Business Complex competition in St. Petersburg for Gazprom, Russian energy giant. David expressed his amazement and
disappointment with Gazprom’s decision to build a 400-meter tall skyscraper in close proximity to the historical city center. Being familiar with the horizontal and historically cohesive urban character of St. Petersburg, it became a moral issue for KPF partners to decline the challenge to design a skyscraper in a place where it does not belong. We met with David Leventhal at his company’s multistory office in the Economist building, the home of the famous namesake.

You went to Harvard art school but graduated from architecture. What determined your choice?


I’m originally from Boston and if you live in Boston you are expected to go to Harvard. In my undergraduate program, I specialized in fine arts and was debating whether to become a museum curator or an architect. When I finished the undergraduate program I still didn’t know, so I went to work – first at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and then for
Pietro Belluschi, a famous Italian-American architect. I learned what it is like to be an architect and was much more excited about architecture, so I went back to Harvard. For me the best professor there was Michael McKinnell, a fantastic teacher and the architect of the City Hall in Boston, which I think is the best example of 20th century architecture in Boston. I graduated in 1978.

How did you hear about KPF?

I came to New York right after Harvard and saw the new ABC Television Studio on West 67th Street. I found out that it was a building designed by a company called KPF, so I went there and was interviewed by two KPF founders, Eugene Kohn and William Pedersen. They liked my work and we shared a great passion for Alvar Aalto’s architecture. They were not hiring then and asked me to come back in the future. I started working for Cain, Farrell & Bell, the successors to the famous beaux-arts firm of McKim, Mead and White. They had original drawings by Charles McKim, which attracted me to their office in the first place. I worked there for about 9 months. One day a professor from Columbia University came
to the office because he found out about these drawings. He asked the partners if he could have them and they gave these
priceless drawings away, just like that. At that point, I knew I had to leave since the office was not very passionate about
architecture. I called KPF and almost 30 years later, I am still here.

Do you ever contemplate about having your own firm?

Absolutely not! What is so great about KPF is that from the very beginning I knew that I was with the people who share my
thoughts and passions. My voice was heard, my opinions respected and whenever I was with the clients by myself I could speak for the firm. I could always say – “we”.

Do skyscrapers remain the main focus of KPF’s workload?

They are one of our focuses. We continue to work on very tall and exciting projects, such as Shanghai World Financial Center, a 101-story tower. It’s primary form is an intersection of a square plan extruded and two sweeping arcs, which taper to a single line at the apex. The top is pierced by a square opening to relieve wind pressure. It is under construction now and is expected to become a new icon on the Shanghai skyline. However, for us the real focus is not just producing tall iconic buildings, but working in cities. Of course, skyscrapers are now a big part of working in cities. It is important how our urban projects contribute to city life and how it is for the people to work inside of these buildings.

Let’s talk about your projects in Russia.

We have three major projects in Moscow. Two projects are direct commissions and one we won through a competition. The first project is with the development firm called Horus Capital. The second project is Park-City. It is located right across the river from the White House and next to the Ukraine Hotel on 36 acres (15 hectares) site. There we are working on the master plan and the design of several new buildings. The third project is several office towers along Kutuzovsky prospect for Alpha Bank and ZAO Inteco.

What are these projects like?


The Horus project is right on the Garden Ring. At first, we designed a tall building that featured horizontal planes rising gradually into vertical planes. The design was inspired by Russian architecture of the 1920s and 30s. When we presented this scheme, we were told that our site was not reserved for a highrise, so we went back to the drawing board. The second proposal is very different. It has a very hard edge on the outside protecting a curving, oasis-like interior space to the rear. Straight rays coming from an imaginary point deep down within the earth and form the basis for the façade. Dynamically angled glass panels evoke the impression of a great burst of energy and excitement. The lobby is very open and accessible to the public for restaurants and retail. We are working  with designer Ron Arad on a very expressive sculptural piece that will unify many architectural elements within.
At Park-City we proposed two main organizing urban gestures – a new boulevard, parallel to Kutuzovsky Prospekt and the diagonal axis, which picks up the angle from the late 19th century Badaevsky Beer Brewery building. This axis runs straight, past the water’s edge over a highway and terminates in a very dramatic 35-meter cantilever. This dynamic structure will have a spectacular viewing platform, restaurants and outdoor spaces along the river. The office complex on Kutuzovsky
prospect, near Victory Park, is a composition of organic towers and lower terraced buildings that merge with the landscape,
creating a public space with an underground retail link to the Metro.

What other architects work with you on the Park-City project?

Rafael Vinoly is designing three residential towers along the river. Other buildings are designed by a Beirut architect Nabil Gholam and young London-based Brisac Gonzalez, who apprenticed at our London studio many years ago.

Many major projects in Russia are being designed by foreign architects. Do you feel you have the advantage over the Russian architects?

I can only tell you about KPF. We have a great passion for working in cities and we have a tremendous respect for local
culture. Most importantly, we know how to interpret a local condition from an international perspective. We have a very
diverse international portfolio of successful projects.

How frequently do you go to Russia?


I’m very involved with the Horus project and now we are beginning to collaborate on a couple of new projects with them. We have meetings every two weeks, alternating between London and Moscow. I go to Moscow at least once a month. I have been there ten times. Moscow is a difficult city to say that one knows it well, but I think I am beginning to understand it more and more. Each time we go, we try to visit a museum, a local site, a train station or a monument. Our client is very passionate about architecture so whenever we have an hour between meetings, we go see something.

Have you seen anything interesting built there recently?

There is a lot being built, but to be honest,  much of what one sees just passing by is not incredibly exciting. I suspect there are some interesting projects there, but they are not at the forefront of the city. What interests me more are buildings from the 1920’s and 30’s by the constructivists. The ones that I liked most are by Melnikov – his house and the clubs. They are done with a fantastic imagination and a great sense of taking a program and making something very special. Also, I’ve been several times to the recent exhibit of Richard Pare photographs at MoMA, so I made a list of buildings and every time I go to Moscow I try to visit something new.

Is it difficult to work in Russia?

What is special about Russia is that so many things are constantly changing. Even the building codes are changing. The
notion of a tall building is always being reconsidered. Atria in tall buildings are not clearly defined. The fire codes are very conservative because there are no precedents for many types of construction. Even with our international experience, we have great difficulties to prove that our solutions are safe and valid.

How would you compare working in Russia to China or the Middle East?


Each place is different and it has a lot to do with where each country stands in the cycle of development. In the Middle East,
in places like Abu Dhabi or Qatar they are far ahead of Russia. China is right behind the Middle East and Russia is behind China. Recently these countries reissued their building codes, so they have, for example, real high-rise codes. In Russia, we still run into so many uncertainties.

Do you see any particular shifts in the demands of your clients for innovative ideas?


Interestingly, some of the countries in the Middle East are the ones that are pushing for new ideas. For example, our client in Abu-Dhabi for the ADIA Headquarters pushed us to come up with the workspace that would be the best in the world and actually encourage people to work together. Each floor has an open plan, zones for interaction and meetings  within a central landscaped atrium and a series of sky gardens. There was also a desire to fit this new building into the local context. The curved form of the tower is related to fluid forces of the waterfront site. The office floors are connected with convenience stairs, expressed in elevation as a slim glass tower. It breaks the bulk of the building and proportionally mimics
many tall minarets in the city, but in a very suggestive, abstract way. The building is wrapped in ribbon-like surface of doubleglazed curtain wall with horizontal shading devices, which is both economical and beautiful.

Do you foresee any particular changes in the way tall and super tall buildings are going to be used in the future?


The world’s densest cities like New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong are also its most energy efficient. For sustainable reasons alone, we must live more densely. More and more, tall buildings are used for mixeduse programs such as hotel, residential, commercial and offices. It is a very economical way to occupy a particular site. This strategy leads to substantial energy savings because an excess heat load, for example from an office user could be used to heat an apartment. Tall structures create new important social spaces, such as elevator transfer floors or sky-gardens. Many cities in the Middle East are very spread out and tall buildings make them feel very exciting and urban. Tall buildings are identified with progress and prestige and people are willing to pay a very high price to live or to work in them.

In other words, cities will grow upwards and Moscow is no exception.


 Sure. Tall buildings make economic sense in many parts of the world. When skyscrapers are grouped together and are supported by developed infrastructure and especially public transportation, they form very exciting dense city centers that identify the greatest cities around the world today. That is why Moscow needs to build high, but obviously, each building should be sensitive to its surrounding. There is another important point. A skyscraper is defined by an aspiration, one that intends to link earth and sky, the new dimension of the cities of this new century.
zooming


28 July 2008

Headlines now
Resort on the Kama River
Wowhaus has developed a project for the reconstruction of Korabelnaya Roshcha (“Mast Grove”), a wellness resort located on the banks of the Kama River.
Nests in Primorye
The eco-park project “Nests”, designed by Aleksey Polishchuk and the company Power Technologies, received first prize at the Eco-Coast 2025 festival, organized by the Union of Architects of Russia. For a glamping site in Filinskaya Bay, the authors proposed bird-shaped houses, treehouses, and a nest-shaped observation platform, topping it all with an entrance pavilion executed in the shape of an owl.
The Angle of String Tension
The House of Music, designed by Vladimir Plotkin and the architects of TPO Reserve, resembles a harp, and when seen from above, even a bass clef. But if only it were that simple! The architecture of the complex fuses two distinct expressive languages: the lattice-like, transparent, permeable vocabulary of “classical” modernism and the sculptural, ribbon-like volumes so beloved by today’s neo-modernism. How it all works – where the catharsis lies, which compositional axes underpin the design, where the project resembles Zaryadye Concert Hall and where it does not – read in the article below.
How Historic Tobolsk Becomes a Portal to the Future
Over the past decade, the architectural company Wowhaus has developed urban strategies for several Russian cities – Vyksa, Tula, and Nizhnekamsk, to name but a few. Against this backdrop, the Tobolsk master plan stands out both for its scale – the territory under transformation covers more than 220 square kilometers – and for its complexity.
St. Petersburg vs Rome
The center of St. Petersburg is, as we know, sacred – but few people can say with certainty where this “sacred place” actually begins and ends. It’s not about the formal boundaries, “from the Obvodny Canal to the Bolshaya Nevka”, but about the vibe that feels true to the city center. With the Nevskaya Ratusha complex – built to a design that won an international competition – Evgeny Gerasimov and Sergei Tchoban created an “image of the center” within its territory. And not so much the image of St. Petersburg itself, as that of a global metropolis. This is something new, something that hasn’t appeared in the city for a long time. In this article, we study the atmosphere, recall precedents, and even reflect on who and when first called St. Petersburg the “new Rome”. Clearly, the idea is alive for a reason.
On the Wave
The project of transforming the river port and embankment in the city of Cheboksary, developed by the ATRIUM Architects, involves one of the city’s key areas. The Volga embankment is to be turned into a riverside boulevard – a multifunctional, comfortable, and expressive space for work and leisure activities. The authors propose creating a new link with the city’s main Krasnaya (“Red”) Square, as well as erecting several residential towers inspired by the shape of the traditional national women’s headdress – these towers are likely to become striking accents on the Volga panorama.
Valery Kanyashin: “We Were Given a Free Hand”
The Headliner residential complex, the main part of which was recently completed just across from Moscow City, is a kind of neighbor to the MIBC that doesn’t “play along” with it. On the contrary, the new complex is entirely built on contrast: like a city of differently scaled buildings that seems to have emerged naturally over the past 20 years – which is a hugely popular trend nowadays! And yet here – perhaps only here – such a project has been realized to its full potential. Yes, high-rises dominate, but all these slender, delicate profiles, all these exciting perspectives! And most importantly – how everything is mixed and composed together... We spoke with the project’s leader Valery Kanyashin.
​The Keystone
Until quite recently, premium residential and office complexes in Moscow were seen as the exclusive privilege of the city center. Today the situation is changing: high-quality architecture is moving beyond the confines of the Third Ring Road and appearing on the outskirts. The STONE Kaluzhskaya business center is one such example. Projects like this help decentralize the megalopolis, making life and work prestigious in any part of the city.
Perpetuum Mobile
The interior of the headquarters of Natsproektstroy, created by the IND studio team, vividly and effectively reflects the client’s field of activity – it is one of Russia’s largest infrastructure companies, responsible for logistics and transport communications of every kind you can possibly think of.
Water and Light
Church art is full of symbolism, and part of it is truly canonical, while another part is shaped by tradition and is perceived by some as obligatory. Because of this kind of “false conservatism”, contemporary church architecture develops slowly compared to other genres, and rarely looks contemporary. Nevertheless, there are enthusiasts in this field out there: the cemetery church of Archangel Michael in Apatity, designed by Dmitry Ostroumov and Prokhram bureau, combines tradition and experiment. This is not an experiment for its own sake, however – rather, the considered work of a contemporary architect with the symbolism of space, volume, and, above all, light.
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.
Semi-Digital Environment
In the town of Innopolis, a satellite of Kazan, the first 4-star hotel designed by MAD Architects has opened. The interiors of the hotel combine elegance with irony, and technology with comfort, evoking the atmosphere of a computer game or maybe a sci-fi movie about the near future.
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.
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.
Grigory Revzin: “What we should do with the architecture of the seventies”
Soviet modernism came in two flavors: the good, author-driven kind, and the bad, standardized kind. The good kind was “on the periphery”, while the bad kind was in the center – geographically, in terms of attention, scale, and everything else. Can we demolish it? “That would be destroying public consensus out of thin air”. So what should we do? Preserve it, but creatively: “Bring architecture into places where it hasn’t yet appeared”. Treat these buildings not as monuments, but as urban landscape. Read our interview with Grigory Revzin on the pressing topic of saving modernism – where he proposes a controversial, yet really intriguing, way of preserving 1970s buildings.
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.
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.
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.
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.
​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.
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.
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”.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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”.
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.