Vladimir Kovalev: “What matters in architecture is the factor of responsibility”

An interview with the founder and president of “Olimpproekt” Vladimir Kovalev about his company being a “smart machine”, its main asset a team of like-minded people.

Interviewed by:
Alla Pavlikova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

12 September 2017

Interview

Archi.ru:
– Your company was founded in 2006. Could you please share how it all began?

Vladimir Kovalev:
– Back in 2006, when I was an employee of Gersevanova Institute for bases and underground facilities, I was defending my PhD thesis in the field of foundations and soil engineering, and I also thought of starting my own company. I was young and full of ambition back then and I was sure that every road was open to me. And what’s more, I was prepared to work a lot and work efficiently. We started from technical survey, geotechnical design and monitoring. By degrees, my company established itself as a leader in its field. Today I can safely say that “Olimpproekt” is one of the leading companies in Moscow in the area of geological and technical survey.

– How did the name of “Olimpproekt” come about?

– The moment of founding our company coincided with the time when there was a competition going on for the capital of Winter Olympics. In 2007 it was announced that it would be Sochi. I was inspired by this victory and the name sort of suggested itself. To me, it symbolizes the desire for success through hard work and self-realization.

– How did you come to the necessity of creating an architectural firm inside a company that specializes in geological survey and engineering?

– When in 2010 I took an active part in the actualization of the code “Bases of buildings and other facilities”, it became clear to me that this was a certain milestone after which I had to move on. In 2011, I started to expand “Olimpproekt” with a view of creating a division of architecture and design. First of all, already at that point I was thinking about the advantages of the integrated approach that would allow us to pass all the stages of the technical survey within the framework of one organization. Second, I was always interested in architecture. And at some point I felt that I was ready to take the responsibility not only for the technical part of the project but for the architectural part as well. What matters in architecture is the factor of responsibility because architecture forms the human habitat.

– How important is the architectural design for the overall structure of your company? Who is heading that design division now?

– Our company first debuted as the author of the architectural concept and as the general designer in the project of LoftGarden complex on Moscow’s Third Transport Ring. We had a challenging task of redevelopment which I think we solved. Together with the British firm JohnMcAslan + Partners, we worked on the project of reconstructing the “Bolshevik” complex (“Olimpproekt” was the general designer in this project – editorial note). This was a valuable experience for my team and for me personally.

zooming — Vladimir Kovalev, the founder and president of Olimpproekt Group. Photograph © Olimpproekt Group

In the end of 2013 I was asked to develop an architectural concept for the reconstruction of the body-shop building on the territory of the ZIL plant. It is a huge industrial building with a long history. It stands on a very important location next to the major ice arena – I realized that it was a tall order. However, it was a great educational experience that took my team to a whole new level. But the architectural branch really became a full-fledged part of our company after the great and talented architect Ekaterina Gren came to work for us – now she’s the chief of the architectural and project division.

– How is your company organized? What does its structure look like? To what extent are you involved in the design process as the general director?

– Our company has a vertical structure. A lot depends on the leaders and the management of the company. From the very start I tried to surround myself with like-minded people who shared my values and my beliefs. Most of the company leaders have been working with me for eight or ten years. They know my business development strategy and they help me to implement it successfully.

As far as craft workers go we pay as much attention to them. Our main asset is our people. It’s important for us to work with top-class specialists creating comfortable working conditions for them to work in. We invest a lot into our new employees, into their professional training and their growth. It’s a lot more valuable to grow an operations manager within your team rather than invite one from the side.

I take an active part in the day-to-day operations of the company. I always interact with clients who expect me to be an expert in literally everything – from economics to geological survey to architectural proposals and concepts. I have no formal architectural education but I immersed into the profession so much that now I am also involved with the architectural design as well. I get to the bottom of our every project, regardless of its scale or importance. I think that this is a necessary thing to do in order to be sure in the quality of the end product. Our organization is all about quality, efficiency and our desire to provide top-class service to our clients. And although the idea of providing top quality service is not really popular in Russia, it is my firm belief that this is an important part of our work.

– Your fields of activity are really diverse: architecture engineering, geological survey. What is of primary importance to you?

– Our company offers practically a full cycle of survey and design work. This is a fairly rare combination for Russia. And creating such an operational model, I was inspired by the experience of one famous project institute in China that I visited for the exchange of experiences. And architecture was of course of primary importance there. But at the same time it could not effectively operate without the other constituent parts, such as engineering, geological survey, and structural design. This integrated approach is our main comparative advantage that ensures the steady growth of our company. In addition, this helps us to significantly optimize the time of implementing our projects. Our clients are sometimes amazed at how soon we issue the project documents without losing the project quality.

– What specifically helps you to minimize your design period so dramatically?

– Our architects geologists designers engineers and other specialists all the work in one office; we have efficient communication between the divisions, and they are on great friendly terms with one another. This facilitates communication, coordination, and data exchange. People here trust one another, and they don’t spend time having to double-check the information they get. This is why all the questions are quickly solved. And this is what modern market requires from us – quickness, quality, and reasonable prices.

– Which of your implemented projects do you consider the most successful? Which projects are important to you?

– Our design bureau was created not so long ago – five years ago, in fact – a rather short term for an architectural company. This is why currently we have few implemented projects. Among the large-scale ones are LoftGarden and Bolshevik.

A lot of our projects today are close to completion, though. The multifunctional complex “Park of Legends” on the territory of the ZIL plant was supposed to be put into operation still in 2016 but because of the economic crisis the project got frozen several times. The time shifted to 2018. Soon the façades will be ready. The structure is already complete. Next year, a housing project on the Ozernaya Street will also be complete – it a small but really well thought-out residential complex. The construction of a residential complex on the Mikhailova Street is underway. They’ve already built the fourth floor there. So I hope that in the nearest future people will be able to see and appreciate our architecture.

– Your projects are mostly multistory housing complexes. Is this your specialty?

– The volume of construction of public buildings as opposed to housing projects is relatively small. Chiefly for this reason we chose for ourselves the segment of multistory housing construction. Today this indeed has become our specialty. We have accumulated formidable experience having designed dozens of housing projects. We are professionals in this field we know how to and we love to design quality housing projects. We quickly and efficiently prepare plans and layouts that satisfy both the developer and the end consumer. If you take that same residential building on the Ozernaya Street, for example, it’s interesting to know that for this project alone we came up with seven types of studios, thanks to which the sales skyrocketed. But this, of course, doesn’t mean that we won’t be able to do as good a job of developing a public building project.

– Which of your current projects do you consider to be the most important?

– There is an interesting housing complex at the crossing of the Varshavskoe Highway and the Moscow Ring Road. This place is very picturesque in terms of its natural surroundings. There is a forest that steps right up to the border of the land site, and we proposed to “route” this forest right into the yard. As a result, the yard started looking pretty much like a park, while the territory of the complex took on the countryside quality. Of this in spite of the fact that the buildings are rather tall, up to 75 meters.

Still another project is a house on the 11th Parkovaya Street. It is relatively small, its floor space being under 30 thousand square meters. The land site is surrounded by greenery, next to a residential area and a derelict kindergarten. The dense construction and the insolation restrictions did not stop us from being able to offer to the future residents convenient apartment layouts and a full-fledged public territory before the building. Regretfully, this project has been stopped but we hope it will be resumed one day and our client will get back to it.

In addition, “Olimpproekt” works a lot in the field of developing project documents. This is a huge amount of work, considering the scale of the projects. One of the examples is a housing complex situated on the territory of a former flour mill. Its area is just under 150 000 square meters, its height is 53 floors.

But our most important and cherished projects are “Park of Legends” at ZIL and the housing complex on the Mikhailova Street. These are the most complex projects and therefore the most expensive ones. The multifunctional complex on the territory of the ZIL plant was designed virtually by me alone. This project changed drastically from the first tentative concept to the final project proposal – thought-out and multilayered. As far as the complex on the Mikhailova Street is concerned, I must mention the invaluable input from Ekaterina Gren in this project. For her, just as for the the whole company, this project became the symbol of an architect fighting for architecture. And it was on this project that we realized that we have a right to exist as an architectural firm, and we can successfully develop in this direction.

– How would you describe the goal and mission of “Olimpproekt” for the next few years?

– To me, Olimpproekt is not just a company – it is a sophisticated mechanism, a machine that consists of talented and goal-oriented people. And the quality of work of this machine must constantly grow. This is our main goal because together with the improvement of the efficiency of the company operations we improve the quality of the end product. The construction market is different, and the economics of the projects is also different. The laconism of our works is to a large extent determined by their economics. Before the crisis, the investor was ready to invest virtually any money into projects with a great location. Now the investor is compelled to count his money, and we have to achieve top-quality results under any conditions.

12 September 2017

Headlines now

The Big Twelve

Yesterday, the winners of the Moscow Mayor’s Architecture Award were announced and honored. Let’s take a look at what was awarded and, in some cases, even critique this esteemed award. After all, there is always room for improvement, right?

Object

Above the Golden Horn

The residential complex “Philosophy” designed by T+T architects in Vladivostok, is one of the new projects in the “Golubinaya Pad” area, changing its development philosophy (pun intended) from single houses to a comprehensive approach. The buildings are organized along public streets, varying in height and format, with one house even executed in gallery typology, featuring a cantilever leaning on an art object.

Report

Nuanced Alternative

How can you rhyme a square and space? Easily! But to do so, you need to rhyme everything you can possibly think of: weave everything together, like in a tensegrity structure, and find your own optics too. The new exhibition at GES-2 does just that, offering its visitor a new perspective on the history of art spanning 150 years, infused with the hope for endless multiplicity of worlds and art histories. Read on to see how this is achieved and how the exhibition design by Evgeny Ace contributes to it.

Object

Blinds for Ice

An ice arena has been constructed in Domodedovo based on a project by Yuri Vissarionov Architects. To prevent the long façade, a technical requirement for winter sports facilities, from appearing monotonous, the architects proposed the use of suspended structures with multidirectional slats. This design protects the ice from direct sunlight while giving the wall texture and detail.

Report

Campus within a Day

In this article, we talk about what the participants of Genplan Institute of Moscow’s hackathon were doing at the MosComArchitecture booth at the “ArchMoscow” exhibition. We also discuss who won the prize and why, and what can be done with the territory of a small university on the outskirts of Moscow.

Overview

Vertical Civilization

Genpro considered the development of the vertical city concept and made it the theme of their pavilion at the “ArchMoscow” exhibition.

Interview

Marina Yegorova: “We think in terms of hectares, not square meters”

The career path of architect Marina Yegorova is quite impressive: MARHI, SPEECH, MosComArchitectura, the Genplan Institute of Moscow, and then her own architectural company. Its name Empate, which refers to the words “to draw” in Portuguese and “to empathize” in English, should not be misleading with its softness, as the firm freely works on different scales, including Integrated Territorial Development projects. We talked with Marina about various topics: urban planning experience, female leadership style, and even the love of architects for yachting.

Interview

Andrey Chuikov: “Optimum balance is achieved through economics”

The Yekaterinburg-based architectural company CNTR is in its mature stage: crystallization of principles, systematization, and standardization helped it make a qualitative leap, enhance competencies, and secure large contracts without sacrificing the aesthetic component. The head of the company, Andrey Chuikov, told us about building a business model and the bonuses that additional education in financial management provides for an architect.

Object

The Fulcrum

Ostozhenka Architects have designed two astonishing towers practically on the edge of a slope above the Oka River in Nizhny Novgorod. These towers stand on 10-meter-tall weathered steel “legs”, with each floor offering panoramic views of the river and the city; all public spaces, including corridors, receive plenty of natural light. Here, we see a multitude of solutions that are unconventional for the residential routine of our day and age. Meanwhile, although these towers hark back to the typological explorations of the seventies, they are completely reinvented in a contemporary key. We admire Veren Group as the client – this is exactly how a “unique product” should be made – and we tell you exactly how our towers are arranged.

Object

Crystal is Watching You

Right now, Museum Night has kicked off at the Museum of Architecture, featuring a fresh new addition – the “Crystal of Perception”, an installation by Sergey Kuznetsov, Ivan Grekov, and the KROST company, set up in the courtyard. It shimmers with light, it sings, it reacts to the approach of people, and who knows what else it can do.

Object

The Secret Briton

The house is called “Little France”. Its composition follows the classical St. Petersburg style, with a palace-like courtyard. The decor is on the brink of Egyptian lotuses, neo-Greek acroteria, and classic 1930s “gears”; the recessed piers are Gothic, while the silhouette of the central part of the house is British. It’s quite interesting to examine all these details, attempting to understand which architectural direction they belong to. At the same time, however, the house fits like a glove in the context of the 20th line of St. Petersburg’s Vasilievsky Island; its elongated wings hold up the façade quite well.

The Wrap-Up

The competition project proposed by Treivas for the first 2021 competition for the Russian pavilion at EXPO 2025 concludes our series of publications on pavilion projects that will not be implemented. This particular proposal stands out for its detailed explanations and the idea of ecological responsibility: both the facades and the exhibition inside were intended to utilize recycled materials.

Birds and Streams

For the competition to design the Omsk airport, DNK ag formed a consortium, inviting VOX architects and Sila Sveta. Their project focuses on intersections, journeys, and flights – both of people and birds – as Omsk is known as a “transfer point” for bird migrations. The educational component is also carefully considered, and the building itself is filled with light, which seems to deconstruct the copper circle of the central entrance portal, spreading it into fantastic hyper-spatial “slices”.

Faraday Grid

The project of the Omsk airport by ASADOV Architects is another concept among the 14 finalists of a recent competition. It is called “The Bridge” and is inspired by both the West Siberian Exhibition of 1911 and the Trans-Siberian Railway bridge over the Irtysh River, built in 1896. On one hand, it carries a steampunk vibe, while on the other, there’s almost a sense of nostalgia for the heyday of 1913. However, the concept offers two variants, the second one devoid of nostalgia but featuring a parabola.

Review

Midway upon the Journey of Our Life

Recently, Tatlin Publishing House released a book entitled “Architect Sergey Oreshkin. Selected Projects”. This book is not just a traditional book of the architectural company’s achievements, but rather a monograph of a more personal nature. The book includes 43 buildings as well as a section with architectural drawings. In this article, we reflect on the book as a way to take stock of an architect’s accomplishments.

Inverted Fortress

This year, there has been no shortage of intriguing architectural ideas around the Omsk airport. The project developed by the architectural company KPLN appeals to Omsk’s history as a wooden fortress that it was back in the day, but transforms the concept of a fortress beyond recognition: it “shaves off” the conical ends of “wooden logs”, then enlarges them, and then flips them over. The result is a hypostyle – a forest of conical columns on point supports, with skylights on top.

send.project

Transformation of Annenkirche

For Annenkirche (St. Anna Lutheran Church in St. Petersburg), Sergey Kuznetsov and the Kamen bureau have prepared a project that relies on the principles of the Venice Charter: the building is not restored to a specific date, historical layers are preserved, and modern elements do not mimic the authentic ones. Let’s delve into the details of these solutions.

The Paradox of the Temporary

The concept of the Russian pavilion for EXPO 2025 in Osaka, proposed by the Wowhaus architects, is the last of the six projects we gathered from the 2022 competition. It is again worth noting that the results of this competition were not finalized due to the cancellation of Russia’s participation in World Expo 2025. It should be mentioned that Wowhaus created three versions for this competition, but only one is being presented, and it can’t be said that this version is thoroughly developed – rather, it is done in the spirit of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, the project is interesting in its paradoxical nature: the architects emphasized the temporary character of the pavilion, and in its bubble-like forms sought to reflect the paradoxes of space and time.

The Forum of Time

The competition project for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025 in Osaka designed by Aleksey Orlov and Arena Project Institute consists of cones and conical funnels connected into a non-trivial composition, where one can feel the hand of architects who have worked extensively with stadiums and other sports facilities. It’s very interesting to delve into its logic, structurally built on the theme of clocks, hourglasses and even sundials. Additionally, the architects have turned the exhibition pavilion into a series of interconnected amphitheaters, which is also highly relevant for world exhibitions. We are reminding you that the competition results were never announced.

Mirrors Everywhere

The project by Sergey Nebotov, Anastasia Gritskova, and the architectural company “Novoe” was created for the Russian pavilion at EXPO 2025, but within the framework of another competition, which, as we learned, took place even earlier, in 2021. At that time, the competition theme was “digital twins”, and there was minimal time for work, so the project, according to the architect himself, was more of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, this project is interesting for its plan bordering on similarity with Baroque projects and the emblem of the exhibition, as well as its diverse and comprehensive reflectiveness.

Report

The Steppe Is Full of Beauty and Freedom

The goal of the exhibition “Dikoe Pole” (“Wild Field”) at the State Historical Museum was to move away from the archaeological listing of valuable items and to create an image of the steppe and nomads that was multidirectional and emotional – in other words, artistic. To achieve this goal, it was important to include works of contemporary art. One such work is the scenography of the exhibition space developed by CHART studio.

The Snowstorm Fish

The next project from the unfinished competition for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025, which will be held in Osaka, Japan, is by Dashi Namdakov and Parsec Architects. The pavilion describes itself as an “architectural/sculptural” one, with its shape clearly reminiscent of abstract sculpture of the 1970s. It complements its program with a meditative hall named “Mendeleev’s Dreams”, and offers its visitors to slide from its roof at the end of the tour.

The Mirror of Your Soul

We continue to publish projects from the competition for the design of the Russian Pavilion at EXPO in Osaka 2025. We are reminding you that the results of the competition have not been announced, and hardly will ever be. The pavilion designed by ASADOV Architects combines a forest log cabin, the image of a hyper transition, and sculptures made of glowing threads – it focuses primarily on the scenography of the exhibition, which the pavilion builds sequentially like a string of impressions, dedicating it to the paradoxes of the Russian soul.

Part of the Ideal

In 2025, another World Expo will take place in Osaka, Japan, in which Russia will not participate. However, a competition for the Russian pavilion was indeed held, with six projects participating. The results were never announced as Russia’s participation was canceled; the competition has no winners. Nevertheless, Expo pavilion projects are typically designed for a bold and interesting architectural statement, so we’ve gathered all the six projects and will be publishing articles about them in random order. The first one is the project by Vladimir Plotkin and Reserve Union, which is distinguished by the clarity of its stereometric shape, the boldness of its structure, and the multiplicity of possible interpretations.

Object

The Fortress by the River

ASADOV Architects have developed a concept for a new residential district in the center of Kemerovo. To combat the harsh climate and monotonous everyday life, the architects proposed a block type of development with dominant towers, good insolation, facades detailed at eye level, and event programming.

Object

In the Rhombus Grid

Construction has begun on the building of the OMK (United Metallurgical Company) Corporate University in Nizhny Novgorod’s town of Vyksa, designed by Ostozhenka Architects. The most interesting aspect of the project is how the architects immersed it in the context: “extracting” a diagonal motif from the planning grid of Vyksa, they aligned the building, the square, and the park to match it. A truly masterful work with urban planning context on several different levels of perception has long since become the signature technique of Ostozhenka.

Object

Generational Connection

Another modern estate, designed by Roman Leonidov, is located in the Moscow region and brings together three generations of one family under one roof. To fit on a narrow plot without depriving anyone of personal space, the architects opted for a zigzag plan. The main volume in the house structure is accentuated by mezzanines with a reverse-sloped roof and ceilings featuring exposed beams.

Object

Three Dimensions of the City

We began to delve into the project by Sergey Skuratov, the residential complex “Depo” in Minsk, located at Victory Square, and it fascinated us completely. The project has at least several dimensions to it: historical – at some point, the developer decided to discontinue further collaboration with Sergey Skuratov Architects, but the concept was approved, and its implementation continues, mostly in accordance with the proposed ideas. The spatial and urban planning dimension – the architects both argue with the city and play along with it, deciphering nuances, and finding axes. And, finally, the tactile dimension – the constructed buildings also have their own intriguing features. Thus, this article also has two parts: it dwells on what has been built and what was conceived

Object

New “Flight”

Architects from “Mezonproject” have developed a project for the reconstruction of the regional youth center “Polyot”(“Flight”) in the city of Oryol. The summer youth center, built back in the late 1970s, will now become year-round and acquire many additional functions.

Object

The Yauza Towers

In Moscow, there aren’t that many buildings or projects designed by Nikita Yavein and Studio 44. In this article, we present to you the concept of a large multifunctional complex on the Yauza River, located between two parks, featuring a promenade, a crossroads of two pedestrian streets, a highly developed public space, and an original architectural solution. This solution combines a sophisticated, asymmetric façade grid, reminiscent of a game of fifteen puzzle, and bold protrusions of the upper parts of the buildings, completely masking the technical floors and sculpting the complex’s silhouette.

​Vladimir Kovalev: “What matters in architecture is the factor of responsibility”

An interview with the founder and president of “Olimpproekt” Vladimir Kovalev about his company being a “smart machine”, its main asset a team of like-minded people.

Vladimir Kovalev: “What matters in architecture is the factor of responsibility”