A Roman Rome

Designed by Mikhail Filippov, the UP-quarter “Rimsky” is being built by FSK Lider at the crossing of the Kashirskoe Highway and the Moscow Ring Road. This place never was either expensive or respectable but the introduction of this unique author-architecture project can make a difference.

Written by:
Lara Kopylova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

30 August 2017

Object

zooming — UP-quarter "Rimsky". Project © Mikhail Filippov Architects

See also an interview with
Mikhail Filippov from August 29, 2017

In terms of its scale, “Rimsky” is not even a quarter or a block but rather a traditional European town consisting of several blocks. The plan of the town looks like the L letter. One of its parts – the one that is currently under construction – includes a 17-section building with a semicircular yard, across a football field from which there is a school that forms a triangle with propylaea. The first stage will be put into operation in the IV quarter of 2018, the entire project due to be completed in 2023. “Rimsky” will in fact be an ensemble of five squares strung on one axis and connected by city streets. The round central square will include cafes and shops, and on New Year’s Eve it will host the Christmas tree; the Harmony Square will host the sports infrastructure; the Beauty Square will host beauty salons and spas; the Fine Arts Square – places for creative activities of adults and children; the Fair Square – a farmers market, so fashionable these days. The sections will be from three to twelve stories high. It is planned that the complex will have several kindergartens; also, the residents will be able to enjoy a developed infrastructure of the surrounding area. The bottom floors are public ones. As for the apartments, they will be of many different types: from studios to a penthouse with a terrace, two-level, loft-type, ones with a bathroom window, and so on. This architecture is the classic “Filippov” signature type.

Context 1: mass construction. Beginning of the age of beauty

Before we start sharing about Mikhail Filippov’s numerous inventions, it is worth mentioning just how amazed we are to live in an epoch when mass housing can look like this. I really think that sociologists and urbanists should invest a fair amount of their time into studying this phenomenon. The fact that the concrete panel buildings are on the way out is a sure sign of the end of the industrial epoch that they manifested – the new creative economies of today are much better suited with versatile and humane architecture that is all about the city with a capital “C”. Just a while ago it seemed that there were no serious alternatives to prefabricated panel construction but over the last seven years some architects and enlightened developers have been able to come up with a concept of housing that, on the one hand, is affordable enough, and, on the other hand, is not devoid of the humane imagery of the traditional architecture – in Russia this happened for the first time since the memorial decree on architectural excesses issued by Nikita Khrushchev back in 1955. This context definitely includes the Maxim Atayants cities built around Moscow, as well as the city of Val-de-Marne near Paris designed by Pier Carlo Bontempi (though of a smaller scale). In the same way were designed the traditional New Urbanist cities, such as Poundbury in Great Britain or Celebration in Florida, USA – but these are smaller in height and closer to a village in their typology.

Context 2: other residential areas and cities designed by Mikhail Filippov

“Rimsky” is yet another classic Filippov town. Starting with his manifesto of 1984, when Filippov presented a series of watercolor paintings in which a panel residential area was gradually giving way to traditional architecture (still later on, these paintings brought Filippov a victory in the Japanese contest “Style 2001”) the architect has consistently developed and implemented this idea. The 2000’s saw the “Roman House” in Moscow’s Kazachy Alley, the “Italian Quarter” on Moscow’s Dolgorukovskaya Street, the housing complex “Marshal” on Moscow’s Oktyabrskoe Pole, and the Gorky Gorod in Sochi built specially for the 2014 Olympics. Now yet another Roman town will soon appear right next to Moscow.

Filippov has always thought about his architecture as the heir of the neoclassicism of the Silver Age, bypassing the Soviet Stalin-era classicism that he considers a compromise. The typology of many of his works can be traced down to a “quarter-house” of the Silver Age like the Benoit House on Saint Petersburg’s Kamennoostrovsky Avenue. Neoclassical architects of the Silver Age considered the street-side façade to be the main or “grand” one, while the practice of adorning the building’s yard side with a colonnade was rather an exception than a rule, most of the yards performing purely utilitarian functions. As for Filippov, however, all of his yards are in fact of the “grand” kind, with elaborated façades and a system of colonnades and arcades. This is the way it is done in “Italian Quarter” and in “Marshal”. The same principle is to be seen in “Rimsky” housing complex, the only difference being that the “quarter-house” grew up to the size of a town. However, the most important thing about “Rimsky” is not its typology.

Context 3: a historical city

The phenomenon of a historical city that, judging by the tourist flows, most people seem to like, is rather difficult to describe and still more difficult to structurally comprehend and reproduce without copying. Filippov, however, has been doing this his whole life – studying the city through drawing watercolor paintings. The method that he used, among other projects, in Gorky Gorod, and now in “Rimsky”, consists in the following. The beauty of historical cities – Paris, for example – can be explained, according to Filippov, by the superimposition of two different coordinate systems: the “starburst” radial layout and the Hippodamus planning pattern. This superimposition gives birth to picturesque crossroads with interesting viewing points that fill one’s walk around the city with an abundance of visual pleasure. Filippov reproduced this superimposition in Sochi’s Gorky Gorod which resulted in a multitude of amazing views opening up to its visitors. The same principle is applied in “Rimsky”. The streets that run in a starburst fashion from the main city square cross with a rectangular coordinate system, these streets crossing with yet another grid, and so on.

It is not enough, however, just to put together a picturesque plan – you also need façades that must be rather articulate and interesting to look at, and in “Rimsky” the houses are dissected into sections with façades 20-30 meters long (just like they should be in a historical city), Filippov’s façade design always being no less than perfect; you also need streets that are not too broad and buildings that are not too high – and in “Rimsky” the houses of different height create a picturesque view of pitched roofs; you need city architectural views that open up in the alleys that puncture the façade line – and “Rimsky” has plenty of those, asking to be made a watercolor painting of. As Filippov himself put it, “the form of the symphony has yet to be filled with melodic content”. Taking this analogy still further, we can safely say that he’s got plenty of “melodic talent”. In Gorky Gorod, for example, the pattern of façades is particularly good, down to the last window sash, and there are rather exquisite colors of stucco, stone and brick (here we are, of course, referring to the buildings that luckily remained unspoiled by the construction companies). In “Rimsky” (specifically, in the buildings of the first construction), the basic principle is slightly different: it is not the classic massive wall with windows of right Alberti architecture proportions but large modern glass windows, in fact, glass screens with orderly decoration that was first in the Silver Age, for example, in the trading house on the Nevsky Prospect. A combination of glass and architectural order is a very promising path for taking the classics to a whole new level.

If the aesthetic arguments do not seem to convince you, there are economic ones as well. The eye-walking level, as urbanists explained to us (see the interview with Aleksey Novikov) is extremely important. Because, if on the eye-walking level a person sees beautiful façades of exquisite materials, inviting doors and see-through windows that display life going on behind them, that person will want to walk there, the businesses will flourish, and the people will get diverse necessary functions within a walking distance.

Context 4: Rome

As for Rome, Mikhail Filippov has a soft spot for it. In his works he constantly holds a dialogue with the great architecture of the Eternal City. The colonnade of the Saint Peter’s Cathedral got reflected in the wings that embrace the round yard of the house in the Kazachy, and the Theatre of Marcellus, built up in the ensuing centuries – in the form of “Italian Quarter” on the Dolgorukovskaya. Roman motifs are also to be found in “Marshal” (the slanted ruined wall) and in Gorky Gorod. In “Rimsky”, however, this is more than just individual buildings. I will try to explain the difference.

Here is the thing – Rome is something like “avant-garde before avant-garde”. It has a very avant-garde form of city planning: this city stands on hills, these forms creating vertical “modes” of architecture. Lifting your gaze, you see that above the building that you’re looking at there is yet another building, and then still another one, towering up into the sky. And then in your mind’s eye you start hopping up these tiers. I even think that Filippov’s signature “stairway to heaven” technique can be traced back to that. At the same time, this is by no means a Mediterranean terraced “seaside town on the slope” because the upward movement is so unpredictable here. Add to this the already-mentioned superimposition of the starburst and Hippodamus patterns. It does not stop Rome (or any other historical city, for that matter) from having a clear-cut structure of streets and squares. But the most interesting thing is that when the line of Roman façades gets punctured, the opening shows not a yard of a regular shape (as one would expect) but a house standing at an angle or some other sort of angular composition. This “wedge” is to be seen rather often here. It adds so much to the dynamics of the project that the avant-garde “red wedge” seems minor in comparison to that. In “Rimsky”, Filippov literally reproduces this technique, just as the usual-for-Rome inclusions of antique arches or walls carved into walls but 200 years old.

The nineteenth century covers up the second one sticking from underneath it. An irregularly shaped piece of ancient wall or arch stands out from the regular classical façade, and this technique is something that Filippov actively uses as well. In a word, Rome is an architectural shape of an incredible power. Plus – the richness of the classical harmony, strength and beauty, power and complexity. Against this background, modernist architecture starts looking pale and weak, and, because of that, it looks so out of place in Rome. It is strange that none of the architects has ever noticed this avant-garde quality that’s inherent to the classic Rome. And Filippov not only did but made it his life’s work. The superimposition of logics and epochs plus beauty is something that a city of today should be about, and this is what Filippov’s architecture is about.

Stairway to Heaven

Stairway to Heaven is Filippov’s signature technique that travels from project to project. In “Rimsky”, it is embodied in two forms: it is either a stairway of arcades (porticos) on the façade or a terraced composition of several houses. The metaphysical meaning of this is anyone’s guess: from the Led Zeppelin song to a Ziggurat. The “stepping” arrangement of arcades is also to be seen in the historical Rome. It looks approximately like this: next to the main building, there is a later-on addition, and its arcade is situated a little bit lower than the one on the main building – but these two are proportionately connected. Filippov is the perfect master of this technique, and it is to be seen in all of his projects. In “Rimsky”, the façades of Section 5, for example, are decorated with such step-like arcades. What it ends up looking is that on the one side the building has a clear-cut lower tier of arcades – and, generally speaking, the house has a bottom, a middle tier, and a decorated top, which is really important for human perception: one’s eye gets tired of monotonous façades. On the other side, these façades alternate in their height and produce an interesting “moving” effect. If the architect makes a stairway of porticos, he by no means violates their proportions. Developing the classical canon, he leaves the essential things intact, and this is what makes him different from postmodernists.

“Rimsky” presents yet another variation of the stairway – the Leonardo da Vinci double spiral staircase of Chambor castle (see interview with Mikhail Filippov). These staircases are to be found in several houses in the towers that connect the residential sections. Ascending one spiral, you can get to the right-hand section, ascending the other – to the left. The staircase towers with their huge windows are pierced through by the sun rays from top to bottom. On top of them, there will be sightseeing platforms. The project also provided for the Chambor staircases connecting the round squares of the upper and lower towns (the first and the second part of “Rimsky”, yet unbuilt) but it’s still unclear if these plans will come to pass.

Antique theater

Filippov has many times said that he was fascinated by the grandiose ruin – an antique amphitheater, built up in the ensuing century very much like the Theatre of Marcellus. In this theme, the architect saw modern dynamics combined with life-affirming meaning, and he tested it in “Italian Quarter” in other places. In “Rimsky”, this is more than an amphitheater – it is a full-circle theater situated in the right-hand two-level part of the complex near the five squares ensemble. An antique theater very much like a coliseum surrounds the central square. The number of floors in the houses decreases as they near the square. This is like a play of giant substructures of the Roman Coliseum, and at the same time it is a dynamic modern shape that unites many different buildings with different façades.

Materials

For “Rimsky”, Filippov came up with a few know-how’s in terms of construction materials (see the interview). The problem of high-quality craft work is really acute for the classical architecture. The craft industry was destroyed in 1955, there are no educational institutions that provide training for craft workers but this does not mean that they are nonexistent or that they will not learn their trade again if one just gets down to it. For example, Berlin’s Schlüter Palace was restored with a superb quality of craft work. Currently, the situation in the field of classic decor is improving.

Underground Town and Heavenly City

The idea of two-level space, just as the idea of Chambor staircase, was inspired by the works of Leonardo da Vinci. “Rimsky” has become one of Russia’s first mini-cities in which the architect was able to realize a two-level concept that consists in complete separation of the upper pedestrian and residential zone from the lower zone that includes infrastructure projects, cafes and restaurants, where vehicle traffic is allowed and where there is a parking garage underneath. In this project, the lower level is a full-fledged city with active public life and even a system of squares of its own. As for the upper level subjugated to the current principle of “vehicle-free city”, it is safe and quiet, full of parks and recreation; it becomes an Arcadia of sorts, a Heavenly City. If everything is built to plan, this UP-quarter stands every chance of becoming a high-profile landmark not only in terms of neoclassicism imagery but in terms of modern urban planning as well.

30 August 2017

Headlines now

Object

Gold Embroidery

A five-story housing complex designed by Stepan Liphart in Kazan, responds to the stylistically diverse context with its form, both integral and agile, and as for the vicinity of the “Ekiyat” movie theater, the complex responds to it with a semblance of theater curtain folds, and active plastique of its balconies, that bear some resemblance to theater boxes. Even if excessively pompous a little bit, the complex does look fresh and modern. One will have a hard time finding Art Deco elements in it, even though the spirit of the 1930s, run through the filter of neo-modernism, is still clearly felt, just as a twist of the Occident.

Object

Reconciliation

The restoration of the Salt Warehouse for the Zvenigorod Museum, on the one hand, was quite accurately implemented according to the design of the People’s Architect, and, on the other hand, it was not without some extra research and adjustments, which, in this case, was quite beneficial for the project. The architects discovered the original paint color, details of the facades, and studied the history of rebuilds of this building. As a result, the imposing character of the empire building, the oldest one in the city, and the differences of later additions were accurately revealed. Most importantly, however, the city got a new cultural and public space, which is already “working” in full swing.

From Moscow to Khabarovsk

This year, the works submitted by the students of the Genplan Institute of Moscow included a proposal for revitalizing Moscow’s “Pravda” complex with its structures designed by Ilia Golosov, landscaping an East Siberian town, located a 12-hour drive away from the nearest big city, and three versions of turning a derelict “pioneer camp” into an educational hub, similar to “Sirius”. Two sites out of three have an interested client, so chances are that the students’ works will be ultimately implemented.

Interview

Harmonization of Intentions

We met and talked with the chief architect of Genplan Institute of Moscow Grigory Mustafin and the chief architect of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Maxim Efanov – about how the master plan of the city is formed. The key to success: gathering data, digital simulation, working with the city people, thinking infrastructure, and presentation.

Object

Cité for Naro-Fominsk

The new neighborhood on an island in the center of Naro-Fominsk continues the ideas of developing the territory of the silk-weaving factory, around which the city actually formed. The authors skillfully mix different formats of mid-rise development and make the most of the island location, offering a variety of formats of interaction with water, available to all citizens. No wonder that the project is considered exemplary and worthy of duplication in the region. It is also an example of rare synergy between the client and the architects.

Object

A Tower and a Manor House

The concept of a high-density residential district replacing a set of outdated privately owned houses in Yekaterinburg preserves the street grid and, in some cases, even the scale of construction. OSA Architects combine towers with townhouses and other types of housing, orienting the silhouette composition towards a pedestrian boulevard. Through non-linear routes and spatial diversity, the residents will see their neighborhood in a new way every day.

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The Warm Stone

The housing complex in Zelenogorsk is interpreted by Mayak architects as a scatter of stones. The unconventional outline of houses with a pentagon plan not only helped to form the image part of the project, but also facilitated the architects’ work with the density of construction and insolation of the apartments.

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For All Times

The modular technology combined with the building material of glued wood allows the architectural company Rhizome to create quick-mount hotels (no less!) that are highly rated by the architectural community: last week, the new hotel “Vremena Goda. Igora” scored three awards. Below, we are examining the project in detail.

Review

The Other Way Around

Few awards instead of many, the award ceremony conducted on the first day instead of last, projections instead of sketch boards, trees inside and art objects outside – the renewal of the Architecton festival seemingly took the sure-fire path of turning all the professional traditions upside down – or at least those that happened to be within the scope of the organizers’ attention. There’s certainly a lot to pick on, but the exhibition does feel fresh and improvisational. It looks that pretty soon these guys will set trends for Moscow as well. We shared with you about some elements of the festival in our Telegram channel, and now we are examining the whole thing.

ArchiWOOD-14: Building Bridges

This season, the festival’s jury decided not to award a grand prize: judging by the fact that the shortlist included several projects that had not reached the award in previous years, and the “best house” was pronounced to be an undoubtedly beautiful but mass-produced model, the “harvest” of wooden buildings in 2023 was not too abundant. However, there were many unusual typologies among the finalists, and restoration and revitalization projects received their share of recognition. Let’s take a look at all the finalists.

Object

The Chinese Symphony

The construction of the Chinese center “Huaming Park” has been a long story that came to fruition relatively recently. The building is adjacent to a traditional Chinese garden, but it is very modern, laconic and technological, and the simple-in-form, yet spectacular, white lamellae promise to someday be incorporated as a media facade. This complex is also truly multifunctional: it contains different types of living spaces, offices, a large fitness center, conference halls and restaurants – all wrapped in one volume. You can comfortably hold international forums in it, having everything you may possibly need at your fingertips, and going outside only to take a walk. In this article, we are examining this complex in detail.

Object

Ensemble of Individualities

Construction of the first phase of the INDY Towers multifunctional complex on Kuusinen Street, designed by Ostozhenka, has started. The project opens new angles of similarity between the column and the skyscraper, and we examine the nuances and parallels.

Object

Black and Red

Kazakov Grand Loft received its name for a reason: responding to the client’s brief and proceeding from the historical industrial architecture of its immediate surroundings, Valery Kanyashin and Ostozhenka architects proposed a new version of a modern house designed in the fashionable “loft” style. What makes this building different is the fact that the bricks here are dark gray, and the facades of the romantic “fortress” towers blossom with magnificent glazing of the windows in the upper part. The main highlight of the complex, however, is the multiple open air terraces situated on different levels.

Object

Icy Hospitality

Mezonproject has won the national architectural and town planning competition for designing a hotel and a water recreation center in the city of Irkutsk. The architects chose hummocks of Baikal ice as a visual image.

Object

The Mastery of Counterpoint

In the sculpture of Classical Greece, counterpoint was first invented: the ability to position the human body as if it were about to take a step, imbuing it with a hint of the energy of future movement, and with hidden dynamics. For architecture, especially in the 20th century and now, this is also one of the main techniques, and the ATRIUM architects implement it diligently, consistently – and always slightly differently. The new residential complex “Richard” is a good example of such exploration, based on the understanding of contrasts in the urban environment, which was fused into the semblance of a living being.

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Countryside Avant-Garde

The project of the museum of Aleksey Gastev, the ideologist of scientific organization of work, located in his hometown of Suzdal, is inscribed in multiple contexts: the contest of a small town, the context of avant-garde design, the context of “lean production”, and the context of the creative quest of Nikolai Lyzlov’s minimalist architecture – and it seems to us that this project even reveals a distant memory of the fact that Aleksey Gastev learned his craft in France.

in memoriam

In memory of Jean-Louis Cohen

Marina Khrustaleva – about Jean-Louis Cohen (20.07.1949-7.08.2023), French architect and architectural historian that specialized in modern architecture and city planning.

Object

On the Hills

In the project by Studio 44, the “distributed” IT campus of Nizhny Novgorod is based on well-balanced contracts. Sometimes it is hovering, sometimes undulating, sometimes towering over a rock. For every task, the architects found appropriate form and logic: the hotels are based on a square module, the academic buildings are based on a “flying” one, and so on. Modernist prototypes, specifically, Convent Sainte-Marie de La Tourette, stand next to references to the antique Forum and the tower of a medieval university – as well as next to contextual allusions that help inscribe the buildings of the future campus into the landscape of the city hills with their dominants, high slopes, breathtaking river views, the historical city center, and the Nizhny Novgorod University.

Report

The Magic Carpet

The anniversary exhibition of Totan Kuzembaev’s drawings named “Event Horizons” shows both very old drawings made by the architect in the formative 1980’s, and now extracted from the Museum of Architecture, as well as quite a few pictures from the “Weightlessness” series that Totan Kuzembaev drew specifically for this exhibition in 2023. It seemed to us that the architect represented reality from the point of view of someone levitating in space, and sometimes even upside down, like a magic carpet with multiple layers.

Object

A Copper Step

Block 5, designed by ASADOV architects as part of the “Ostrov” (“Island”) housing complex, is at the same time grand-scale, conspicuous thanks to its central location – and contextual. It does not “outshout” the solutions used in the neighboring buildings, but rather gives a very balanced implementation of the design code: combining brick and metal in light and dark shades and large copper surfaces, orthogonal geometry on the outside and flexible lines in the courtyard.

Object

The Light for the Island

For the first time around, we are examining a lighting project designed for a housing complex; but then again, the authors of the nighttime lighting of the Ostrov housing complex, UNK lighting, proudly admit that this project is not just the largest in their portfolio, but also the largest in this country. They describe their approach as a European one, its chief principles being smoothness of transitions, comfort to the eye, and the concentration of most of the light at the “bottom” level – meaning, it “works” first of all for pedestrians.

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Spots of Light

A new housing complex in Tyumen designed by Aukett Swanke is a very eye-pleasing example of mid-rise construction: using simple means of architectural expression, such as stucco, pitched roofs, and height changes, the architects achieve a “human-friendly” environment, which becomes a significant addition to the nearby park and forest.

Object

Ledges and Swirls

The housing complex “Novaya Zarya” (“New Dawn”) designed by ASADOV Architects will become one of the examples of integrated land development in Vladivostok. The residential area will be characterized by various typologies of its housing sections, and a multitude of functions – in addition to the social infrastructure, the complex will include pedestrian promenades, shopping malls, office buildings, and recreational facilities. The complex is “inscribed” in a relief with a whopping 40-meter height difference, and overlooks the Amur Bay.

Object

Agglomeration on an Island

Recently, an approval came for the master plan of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk agglomeration, which was developed by a consortium headed by the Genplan Institute of Moscow. The document provides for the creation of 12 clusters, the totality of which will give the region a qualitative leap in development and make the island more self-sufficient, more accessible, and less dependent on the mainland. We are inviting you to examine the details.

Interview

Ivan Grekov: “A client that wants to make a building that is “about architecture” is...

In this article, we are talking to Ivan Grekov, the leader of the architectural company KAMEN (translates as “stone”), the author of many high-profile projects that have been built in Moscow in the recent years, about the history of his company, about different approaches to form making, about different meanings of volume and facade, and about “layers” in working with the environment – at the example of two projects by Osnova Group. These are the MIRAPOLIS complex on the Mira Avenue in Rostokino, whose construction began at the end of last year, and the multifunctional complex in the 2nd Silikatny Proezd on the Zvenigorodsky Highway; recently, it received all the required approvals.

Report

Grasping and Formulating

The special project “Tezisy” (“Abstracts”), showcased at Arch Moscow exhibition in Moscow’s Gostiny Dvor, brought together eight young “rock stars of architecture”, the headliner being Vladislav Kirpichev, founder of the EDAS school. In this article, we share our impressions of the installations and the perspectives of the new generation of architects.

Object

The White Tulip

Currently, there are two relevant projects for the Great Cathedral Mosque in Kazan, which was transferred to a land site in Admiralteiskaya Sloboda in February. One of them, designed by TsLP, was recently showcased at Arch Moscow. In this article, we are covering another project, which was proposed during the same period for the same land site. Its author is Aleksey Ginzburg, the winner of the 2022 competition, but now the project is completely different. Today, it is a sculptural “flower” dome symbolizing a white tulip.

News

ATRIUM’s Metaverse

The architectural company ATRIUM opened a gallery of its own in a metaverse. Inside, one can examine the company’s approach and main achievements, as well as get some emotional experience. The gallery is already hosting cyberspace business meetings and corporate events.

Object

From Darkness to Light

Responding to a lengthy list of limitations and a lengthy – by the standards of a small building – list of functions, Vladimir Plotkin turned the project of the Novodevichy Monastery into a light, yet dynamic statement of modern interpretation of historical context, or, perhaps, even interpretation of light and darkness.

Contest Results

Modernism in Avant-Garde

The contest proposal that Studio 44 made for the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theater is bright in all senses, and in many ways even provocative – just like a modern theater performance should be. Being in context with modern culture, it even shocks you in some respects. At first, you are amazed at the red color that is present all around, and then you gradually make sense of the picturesque congregation of volumes that share a multitude of functions. And it’s only later that you realize that this conglomerate conceals a modernist building, most of which the architects save intact.