For the Sake of the View

The project of the elite residential complex “Z-House” was developed by the architectural firm ATRIUM for a closed competition that evaluated not only the quality and beauty of the project’s architecture but also the presence of solutions that are the most popular and expected at today’s real estate market.

Written by:
Elena Petukhova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

26 March 2018

Object

The closed competition was organized by the developer company Vesper in 2017, its winners becoming “Tsimailo, Lyashenko and Partners” in collaboration with the French company Antonini Darmon; currently, they are still working on this project. The project by ATRIUM, which is covered in this article, was one of the participants of the competition.

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A Third Point

In Moscow, there are several areas that are commonly considered to be the most prestigious among the buyers of real property. Still quite recently, this list was topped by Ostozhenka, but then it was slowly pushed back off the leading position by the areas of Patriarshie Ponds and Khamovniki. The latter is currently rated as better than the others and at the same time having a better potential for further growth. Unlike the other two “points of invisible attraction”, the southeast bend of the Moskva River combines several customer-coveted factors at once: transport accessibility, highly developed infrastructure, relatively decent ecological situation, and the presence of recreational areas. Now add to this the quickly vacating industrial parks, including the ones that are situated along the Savvinskaya Embankment, and you will get a residential area that in all probability will attract, within the next five to ten years, the operation of all the Russia’s top architectural firms. Actually, the trend is already becoming obvious. And it comes as no surprise that a number of developers are already using the format of closed tenders or competitions to invite the nation’s leading architectural companies for choosing the concepts for building on this promising land.

zooming — "Z-House" residential complex © ATRIUM

Express Testing

Vesper, which belongs to the circle of developers who prefer to organize invite-only competitions, in 2016 invited a few architectural teams to find the optimum solution and test their preliminary marketing calculations. Having a general understanding of what kind of project could satisfy the needs of the city and at the same time be in market demand, Vesper decided to conduct a series of express tests of its perspective vision. Because there is always a chance that you will find a more effective and “selling” solution that will increase the return on investment. The invited participants had a month to come up with a concept that would provide for a rigorously stipulated yield of square meters and other parameters stipulated by the city. At the same time, the volumetric and planning solutions were up to the architects who were free to make any sorts of experiments.

The participants list of the competition included the architectural firm ATRIUM, quite familiar with the format of closed competitions. Anton Nadtochiy comments on this practice: “I suppose that the system of closed competitions is the most effective for the developer because it helps to achieve the best results in the shortest possible time. The client invites the best teams that will not only propose a high-quality idea but also will be able to implement it. In this case, the clients get the concepts that show various authors’ strategies that are sometimes even one step ahead of the hot trends of the market; they may come up with the next big thing. Taking part in such competitions, it is always interesting to us to show our vision, get our colleagues’ opinion about it, and struggle for the actual commission”.

Not an Accordion

The land site that the future elite residential complex got to be built upon was far from an easy one. It was far from easy both in terms of the history of the place and in terms of the mottled surroundings and various obstacles on the path to the perfect project.

First of all, the architects had to find a way to inscribe the elite housing complex into a land site of challenging configuration, already cramped by already existing buildings, these being: a two-story building of Mosvodokanal and non-residential 4-story house that stood between the future housing complex and the waterfront, a 12-story brick tower built in the 1990’s and a four-story building of the “Correction and Development Center”, standing along the 2nd Truzhenikov Alley, and a whole scattering of other two and three story affairs of different purposes and in different conditions. This “gentleman set” of encumbrances was added by a more than 8 meters height difference. After the architects methodically stepped back from the site boundaries, considering the fire lanes and the insolation parameters, they got a construction blueprint forming an L-shaped building with wings of virtually equal length, one of which ran parallel to the embankment, and the other ran into the depth of the land. The inner territory was allotted for a small green yard. The underground parking garage was accessed from the top, from the side of the 1st Truzhenikov Alley.

As for the history of the place, the main “theme” was set by... a local “Workers and Peasants Red Army” Russian accordion factory that once was there. Little was left of its facilities, and the all but derelict building gave little promise of any renovation possibility. On the other hand, the literary component opened up before the architects a great expanse of interpretations. This specialization, so rare these days, due to its sheer juiciness just had to be rejected in the architecture of the complex one way or another. The architects confess that the first attempts to convert the shape of this musical instrument into a volumetric solution were unsuccessful. Playing the accordion turned out to be much more of a trick than they originally thought.

Seaside Resort Style

The solution was found thanks to yet another key feature of the place – its proximity to the river and an opportunity to make the river view one of the most valuable competitive edges to the potential buyers. In order to achieve that effect, the architects opted out of the traditional configuration of the building in favor of a composition that is more commonly spread in different latitudes, and with different views, too. Instead of a usual vertical façade, there came a stepping structure, receding in tiers into the depth of the site, thanks to which the architects got an opportunity to both open up the river views for the apartments of the lateral wings, and to create a system of open terraces, which could be used by the residents of the apartments opening up on them.

Such structures are characteristic of seaside resorts. This is the way most seaside hotels are built, for whose guests it is important to spend part of their vacation time sitting on the terrace with a view of the boundless sea expanses. For the Moscow realities, the view of the grayish waves of the Moskva River and the perspective of the industrial parks lying along the Berezhkovskaya Embankment and beyond, with the giant of the Moscow City business center propping up the low clouds, is quite comparable and competitive to an imaginary sea view. Or so decided the ATRIUM architects who placed their bet on the seaside resort type of architecture, all the more so because in the non-rhythmic zigzags (hence the “Z-House” name of the complex) and the stairs of the terraced building one can see, with some desire and imagination, the analogy with the opening bellows of an accordion. Quod erat demonstrandum.

A Collection of Bonuses

As a result of superimposition of history and literature on the geology, with an extra pressure from the economics, the architects were able to crystallize a logic and living system of a tiered building, in which each of its elements, including the main volumetric, layout planning, and façade solutions are dictated by the desire to provide the future residents with a maximum set of preferences, connected with the complex’s situation and the views that it commands.

The wings of the complex are set and an angle that is slightly greater than 90 degrees – this was done to provide the residents of the lateral wing with a wider river view. This same purpose is served by small glass bay windows that stand out at a skewed angle beyond the façade surface on the inner and outer side of the lateral unit. On the inside, they appear on the bottom floors, where, above the lowered section of the longitudinal wing, the main panorama opens up.

The staircase and elevator nuclei are concentrated along the inner façade. It is oriented southeast – in any other situation it would be left to residential properties but in this case the authors preferred to concentrate here the technical and utility zones in order to clear the outer “viewing” façade.

The façade decoration combines brick and stained glass windows. The balance between them is again determined by the view-commanding properties. The best views get maximum of glass. The façades that only command the views of the neighboring buildings have to settle for parity between the brick piers and two-story narrow stained glass windows, which are periodically replaced with glass bay windows.

As a compensation for the loss of the river view, the two side apartments on the bottom floors of the longitudinal unit are made in a format that is close to a townhouse. They have their own entrances from the street, two full-fledged floors, and individual terraces under the podium part.

The base floor of the complex is designed in such a way as to visually tie the inner yard of the complex with the world outside, which commands the river and the embankment. Making the most out of the height difference, the architects raised the main volume of the complex above the ground level, leaving, as supports, the bigger part of the first floor of the main unit and a small communication block with a lobby and two staircase and elevator blocks of the lateral wing. The space between the main volume and the podium is used as the public and recreational venues. The immediate connection between the waterfront and the yard is provided by the broad staircase that looks imposing enough to claim the role of the background for memorable photos that new residents may make before they move in.

Here is how Vera Butko comments on the idea of the end-to-end passage through the building: “We wanted to bring light and air into the composition, and connect the yard to the river. Thanks to this passage running through the main wing, we got a space that is at once protected and open to the outside world. A person is walking under this roof with huge cantilevered structures, and then he can get down to the street by a staircase. From any vantage point, we can see the passages to the waterfront, thus avoiding a feeling of isolation, a feeling of being cut away from the waterfront”.

The load from the seemingly hovering outer corner of the complex comes to an only single column that is decorated with polished white stone, thanks to which it looks almost dissolved in the enormous space between the brick-clad podium and the intermediate floor decorated by high-gloss white panels. The unusual combination of brick and light-gray decoration materials on the façades makes the complex look light to the point of being exquisite, putting one on the mind of the London quarters with their inevitable white window sashes framed in brickwork. In this façade play of the materials an important role is also played by the stained glass windows. For them, the architects proposed lighted glass panes with a slight mirror effect.

As one looks at the visualization of the complex, inscribed into the waterfront panorama, the first thing that meets the eye is the fact that the new building does not in the least violate the existing environment. The first line of the Savvinskaya Embankment consists of houses 9 to 12 stories high. Their variety and the absence of one single height standard does not allow us to speak about any sort of architectural ensemble comparable, for instance, with the architecture of the Frunzenskaya Embankment, but, still, one can see some certain architectural rhythm here. The solution proposed by ATRIUM supports this general rhythm, at the same time giving a still deeper development of the composition at the expense of the receding high-rise part and the lowering of the tiers towards the neighboring brick tower.

26 March 2018

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

​For the Sake of the View

For the Sake of the View