On Wings Spread Wide

Designed by Roman Leonidov in the Moscow area, the Wing-house demonstrates a new type of Russian manor house built in the style of organic architecture. The Wing-house observes three rules: the client’s comfort, harmony with nature, and perfect plastique. We met with Roman Leonidov and spoke to him about manifesto buildings and the architects’ subconscious.

Written by:
Lara Kopylova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

17 January 2018

Object

Architect:

Firm:

Studio of Roman Leonidov http://www.leonidov.com

How did this name of “Wing-house” come about, anyway? Roman Leonidov explains that the image of the house sprung from its owner’s personality. He is a prominent figure in the beauty industry, known for his flights of fancy – hence, the “wing” motif. “My client is a very charismatic personality. I was afraid that he would dominate, and, as it turned out, he feared the same thing from my side. And this is why we stayed at a level of mutual respect but we never became soulmates the way I usually do with ninety percent of my clients”.

In addition, the architect wanted to experiment with the back pitch of the roof. The snow load does not scare away anybody these days because it is calculated for any type of roofing. As for the rainfall water, it just goes down the drain. This is how the “bird” form of the roof of the main house came about. It is duplicated in the design of the roofs of the flanks. As for the structure of the “main wing”, one of the elements under the roof is concrete because it carries most of the weight. The other parts of the structure are wood. The roofs of the wings expose bent glued wooden beams: they put an interesting spin on the wing motif.

zooming — Wing-house in the Moscow area. Architect: Roman Leonidov © Studio of Roman Leonidov

A modern Russian manor estate with a court of honor

The client wanted a home that would be rather open and representative-looking, yet the same time providing an opportunity for seclusion. Due to the fact that the land plot borders on a forest, there was no problem of shutting out from the neighbors but there was still a task of creating an intimate atmosphere in the yard so that a person who would find himself in there would not feel anybody’s presence. For this reason, the composition of the house includes the central tall part (the main house) and side wings of smaller height, which form the court of honor in front of the main façade. On entering it, one can only see the forest and the land plot. The fence (which is there nonetheless) is hidden deep inside the forest, and there is no feeling of being in a confined space. As for the “court of honor” term, it did not come about by chance. In the functional program of the building, typical of today, Roman Leonidov sees a new type of the Russian manor estate. This includes a rather extended public block: a living room, a kitchen, a dining room, and a health-and-fitness part consisting of a swimming pool, a sauna, and a gym. Fully glazed, the swimming pool grants access to nature, specifically to an open-air terrace with lounge chairs (to this same court of honor, to be exact). This is a whole spa complex, the kind you would meet at a luxury resort. The client wanted this part for his personal use, and for welcoming his guests and business partners.

Just the way it should be at a manor house, this house has “stalls” in it, i.e. garages for the family’s cars, because if you live in the country one car per family is definitely not enough. The garage also houses the harvesting equipment and the owner’s collection of cars. Totally, this comes together to form a whole car park. The manor estate is a whopping hectare, so the landscape is handled by a gardener, or rather, the local jack-of-all-trades.

The main house includes a double-height living room, a dining room, and a master’s bedroom on the second floor. One of the wings includes rooms for the residents and guests; beneath them, there is a spa complex. The other wing includes the “stalls” of the garages, and the gardener’s flat above them. What is interesting is the fact that the overpass leading from the main house to the wing on the second floor is essentially an open-air terrace for everyone to see, from which one can also enjoy the surrounding scenery. The terrace makes the image of the house more open (the usable roof, since it is flat, must be filled with life) but its role of a belvedere is rather representational: as was already said, the court of honor, protected from the outside world, enjoys more popularity here.

“At first the I and the client were shocked but then we realized that this thing would be bold and good-looking”

The fashionable black color is in fact a result of a construction mistake. Roman Leonidov: “The paint that we ordered arrived, and it was alright against the waybill. The construction workers started doing the paint job, and then they call us and go: it’s sort of darkish, was it meant to be that way? I instantly come round and see that the wood is now pitch-black! I try to take a shave off the surface, and I realize that this is impossible – you cannot even chip it away. At first I and the customer were shocked but then we realized that this thing would be bold and good-looking. All the more so because he is an emotionally open person, capable of making unexpected decisions! I myself would never have dared to make the plunge but now I see that this was a success”.

“I like Fallingwater in terms of composition, but functionally it’s an atrocity”.

Roman Leonidov says that some of his creations were inspired by organic architecture. When asked whether he drew inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright, he gave an unexpected answer – and our conversation went to a whole new level. “An architect cannot NOT be inspired by Wright. We all are infected by this his “Fallingwater” or “Waterfall villa”. I love it in terms of composition, but functionally it’s an atrocity, a thing in itself. It leaves no room for life. Whatever life there is in it, it only gets in the way of architecture. I am trying to be a modernist like Corbusier or Wright but I can’t seem to be doing very well. Eclecticism is what’s hot right now. At a first glance, modernism seems to have more integrity about it. But, in fact, we do the same decoration stuff that the authors of the late ХIХ century did. It lacks the philosophical prime mover that would push the whole thing forward from inside. It’s just not there. And this is generally the issue with modern architecture. It lacks the integral philosophical construct that would shape up the contents and the form of the architecture. But the tasks that we have to handle are still as important: you need to make the house fit in nicely with its surroundings, ensure the client’s comfort, and achieve the perfect plastique”.

The Wing-house successfully solves all these three tasks. As for the comfort aspect, we already covered it. The house also fits nicely with its surroundings thanks to its materials. There are many of them: concrete and wood, stone and brick, glass and stucco. “Yes, it may seem like there are too many different materials used in our house. Had we used fewer materials, it would be more integral and its form would read better – Roman Leonidov says. But what people are after is something that has texture about it, something palpable”. In this case, the architect was very considerate of the human psychology. Wood, brick and stone are used in the bearing structures. The decoration is ruled by plaster and basswood. The vertical towers are covered with sandstone: “not for any functional reason, just for the beauty of it”.

The composition, as was already said, consists of three parts. Where a vertical accent was needed, the stone-covered “Wright” towers appeared – a memory of the “Villa above the waterfall”. (“The vertical wall here is, regretfully, not a fireplace. It’s just that we needed a vertical here”). These towers bump into other elements, one of them piercing the “wing” roof, for example. This technique makes the architectural form particularly dramatic. The tension between the plastique tasks and the function is always there.

As is known, “manifesto” houses are rarely lived in. While Fallingwater, according to Roman Leonidov’s confession, is functionally atrocious, in spite of all its artistic beauty (or maybe thanks to it), and Philipp Johnson’s Glass House is also a manifesto that he never lived in, the next question I asked Roman Leonidov was – why does it always happen this way? And it turned out that “the architect’s artistic concept is one thing, and his subconscious is another”. And when I asked if it was worth trying to hear what the subconscious tells you, the answer was as follows: “This is far from easy. It’s great when somebody is around who can help you find your inner freedom. But when the person you have to fight is yourself, it’s pretty tough sometimes. My task was to make sure that my pencil sketch shows through in the end result”. In the Wing-house project, Roman Leonidov was able to do it. What he ultimately got is a house that is integral in its image and comfortable to live in. The artistic concept and the function made peace with each other and are now keeping a good balance.

Architect:

Firm:

Studio of Roman Leonidov http://www.leonidov.com

17 January 2018

Headlines now

Architecton Awards

In 2025, the jury of the Architecton festival reviewed the finalist projects through live, open presentations held right in the exhibition hall – a rather engaging performance, and something rarely seen among Russian awards. It would be great if “Zodchestvo” adopted this format. Below, we present all the winning projects, including four special nominations.

send.project

Garden of Knowledge

UNK architects and UNK design created the interiors of the Letovo Junior campus, working together with NF Studio, which was responsible for developing the educational technology that takes into account the needs and perception of younger and middle school children.

The Silver Skates

The STONE Kaluzhskaya office quarter is accompanied by two residential towers, making the complex – for it is indeed a single ensemble – well balanced in functional terms. The architects at Kleinewelt gave the residential buildings a silvery finish to match the office blocks. How they are similar, how they differ, and what “Silver Skates” has to do with it – we explore in this article.

Overview

On the Dynastic Trail

The houses and townhouses of the “Tsarskaya Tropа” (“Czar’s Trail”) complex are being built in the village of Gaspra in Crimea – to the west and east of the palaces of the former grand-ducal residence “Ai-Todor”. One of the main challenges for the architects at KPLN, who developed the project, was to respond appropriately to this significant neighboring heritage. How this influenced the massing, the façades, and the way the authors work with the terrain is explored in our article.

Object

A New Path

The main feature of the Yar Park project, designed by Sergey Skuratov for Kazan, is that it is organized along the “spine” of a multifunctional mall with an impressive multi-height atrium space in its middle. The entire site, both on the city side and the Kazanka River embankment, is open to the public. The complex is intended not to become “yet another fenced enclave” but, as urban planners say, a “polycenter” – a new point of attraction for the whole of Kazan, especially its northern part, made up of residential districts that until now have lacked such a vibrant public space. It represents a new urban planning approach to a high-density mixed-use development situated in the city center – in a sense, an “anti-quarter”. Even Moscow, one might say, doesn’t yet have anything quite like it. Well, lucky Kazan!

Object

Beneath the Azure Sky

A depository designed by Studio 44 will soon be built in Kenozersky National Park to preserve and display the so-called “heavens” – ceiling structures characteristic of wooden churches in the Russian North, painted with biblical scenes. For each of these “heavens”, the architects created a volume corresponding in scale and dimensions to the original church interior. The result is a honeycomb-like composition, with modules derived directly from the historic monuments themselves, allowing visitors to view the icons from the historically accurate angle – from below, looking upward. How exactly this works is the subject of our story.

Object

The Power of Lines

The building at the very beginning of New Arbat is the result of long deliberations over how to replace the former House of Communication. Contemporary, dynamic, and even somewhat zoomorphic in character, it is structured around a large diagonal grid. The building has become a striking accent both in the perspective of the former Kalinin Avenue and in the panorama of Arbat Square. Yet, unfortunately, the original concept was not fully realized. In 2020, the Moscow ArchCouncil approved a design featuring an exoskeleton – an external load-bearing structure, which eventually turned into a purely decorative element. Still, the power of the supergraphic “holds” the building, giving it the qualities of a new urban landmark with iconic potential. How this concept took shape, what unexpected associations might underlie the grid’s form, and why the exoskeleton was never built – all this is explored in our article.

News

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Interview

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.

Object

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.

send.project

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

send.project

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Interview

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.

Overview

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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”.

​On Wings Spread Wide

On Wings Spread Wide