The Amber Arrow

Saint Petersburg’s EXPOFORUM, a congress and exhibition center that has been long waited for and widely discussed, is finally complete, put into operation, and actively functioning.

Written by:
Lilya Aronova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

04 December 2017

Overview

Last year, the venue of EXPOFORUM hosted the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum – a large-scale event, for which, actually, the complex was built, in order to replace the morally and physically outdated LENEXPO. Today’s EXPOFORUM has very little about it of the original project of the complex, with which Evgeny Gerasimov and Sergey Tchoban once won the international competition, and even the final approved version that passed all the expertise was also slightly altered in the course of construction. But then again, it’s only the first stage of construction that has been currently completed.

zooming — EXPOFORUM © SPEECH, Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners

The place for the center is a lucky one – it is located at the crossing of several large-scale highways, in the immediate proximity to the international airport, and at the Pulkovskie Hills, the rare case of elevation, rare for Saint Petersburg’s terrain. It is understood that good transport accessibility is one of the key assets of any international convention center. Just as important is the comfort of stay, the convenience of inner traffic, intuitive navigation, flexibility and variability of its modules, sturdy technical and material base, and, last but not least, eye-catching design: for thousands of visitors arriving to forums, exhibitions and conventions, these complexes play the role of the city’s or even the nation’s face. So it comes as no surprise that design and construction of such complexes around the world is done by the most prominent architects. It would not be an overstatement to say that the architecture of EXPOFORUM successfully solves all of the tasks mentioned above.

The face of the complex consists of five buildings that stand in a graceful arc along the Peterburgskoe Highway: two business centers, Hilton and Hampton by Hilton hotels, and a congress center, from which a long passage leads to the expo pavilions. “The location of the complex just outside the city boundary and next to the airport accounted for the necessity of creating bright and recognizable façades that would look great from remote vantage points” – explains one of the authors of the project, leader of the firm SPEECH, Sergey Tchoban. Visually, all the five façades are grouped into one smooth line, although in reality these are independent buildings that also perform different functions. The impression of unity is achieved first of all by the color: all of the façades of the complex are designed in uniform golden tones that bring up the textbook associations with the Amber Room and the “Golden Autumn” – incidentally, the town of Pushkin (named after the famous Russian poet who is believed to be the first to come up with the metaphor) is not far away either. The buildings are decorated with volumetric ceramic panels from extruded ceramics. “All the panels were made specifically for this project, including the unique curvilinear elements, which allowed us to soften the outlines of the buildings” – explains Andrey Perlich, the chief architect of the project (SPEECH).

This line is broken but once by the fully-glass façade of the congress center. According to the project, it is covered by a golden “sail” marquee 30 meters high, which must become the main architectural accept of the entire complex. It was decided not to actually build the marquee for the inauguration of the EXPOFORUM but, according to Evgeny Gerasimov, there is still hope that, as part of the second stage of construction, this element will finally occupy its due place.

All the five buildings are of the same height, although both hotels have eight floors in them, while the business centers have seven. Given the unity of form and color, the only way to show the outer individuality of the buildings was to play with the window apertures. For each of the buildings, the architects chose its own rhythm, its own principle, according to which the windows are grouped together or, conversely, get dispersed over the façade. For example, in one of the business centers, they are united in large elongated groups, two stories high, which put one in the mind of the TASS building, while in the other one the vertical and horizontal pairs alternate.

The façade of the Hampton by Hilton hotel (in the middle) is slit with circular bullseye-style openings, which, as they recede from the congress center, gather into ever-lengthening “snakes”.

The regular orthogonal grid of the windows of the Hilton hotel is livened up by golden “little staircases” that dissect the façade from top to bottom.

Pending the absence of the “golden sail”, the glass façade of the congress center is livened up by the plastique alone: against the serene glass backdrop billow three smooth horizontal “waves” – at the level of the second, fourth, and sixth floors.

There is a 500-meter passage stretching into the depth of the complex from the congress center, upon which, as the main “axis”, the three expo pavilions are strung. Andrey Perlich describes this passage – which seemingly performs a purely utilitarian function – as “the most spectacular and sophisticated part of the exhibition complex”. Its façades are up to 16 meters high, these façades being completely made of glass – specially for EXPOFORUM insulated glass units 5.5 meters high were made. To heat such a giant volume, two rows of convectors were required that were installed on the bottom and middle levels. The unique wave-shaped roof with skylights (into which LED’s are installed) saves this grandiose space from looking monotonous, which is the issue characteristic for many such passages in similar complexes around the world.

As for the expo pavilions itself, the area of each of which is over 13 000 square meters, here the architects set for themselves and solved a whole number of most challenging technical tasks. Huge tor gates, unsupported 90-meter girder spans, pull-out partitions that divide, if necessary, the halls into sections – everything in this complex is indeed state of the art. The outside façades of the pavilions, designed in the same golden tones, are decorated by the symbols of Saint Petersburg: the most famous historical buildings and monuments, ships, and palaces. The decoration uses the famous drawings by Mikhail Makhaev. The images are photo printed upon the large ceramic plates 3 millimeters thick, the interesting fact being that the printing was made on ceramic granite before heat-treating it in the furnace - a solution unique for Russia that ensures the long lifetime of the plates and images.

Currently, there are three complete pavilions; the construction of another three on the other side of the passage has yet been postponed. If they are indeed built in the long run, the giant parking lot that now occupies all the vacant space will have to go underground.

In the course of construction, on the territory of the complex were discovered the remains of the foundation of the church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, built in the XVIII century by Giacomo Antonio Domenico Quarenghi and destroyed during the Second World War. The church was completely restored by the old drawings and not it adorns the grand façade of the complex, which overlooks the Peterburgskoe Highway.

Milan, Frankfurt, Cologne, and Kwangchow – it is common knowledge what an important role is played in the life of these cities by international trade shows that take place in them almost all the year round. At the moment, it is hard to say which was primary: was it the necessity for organizing trade shows that determined the construction of expo centers in these cities or is it the other way around - the all-but-unlimited possibilities of Fiera Milano, Messe Frankfurt, KoelnMesse or Pazhou attract the organizers of the world’s largest trade shows. With the advent of EXPOFORUM, Saint Petersburg will also have a right to claim the status of a venue for such grand-scale events. Whether this will come to pass, only time can tell – but the architects have definitely done their job: now the city does have a venue worthy of hosting world-class conventions and trade shows.

04 December 2017

Written by:

Lilya Aronova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.