Activation by Amelioration

A most interesting idea of a pilot renovation project developed by Ostozhenka and the Institute for Urban Economics consists in building underground parking garages combined with soil drains. In addition, the project is all about preserving the valuable land assets combined with the city getting a new large-scale street and a few minor ones as well.

Written by:

Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

21 August 2018

News

Firm:

Ostozhenka Bureau http://www.ostarch.ru

In this issue, we are continuing to share about the works submitted for the competition of pilot territory renovation projects. What makes the district of Vernadskogo Avenue different, stuck, like on a thumb pick, on the metro station of the same name, is the prestigious status, characteristic of most areas of Moscow’s southwest combined at the same time with insufficient cohesiveness. The main task that the Ostozhenka architects set for themselves in their pilot renovation project was joining the new construction sites, currently chaotically scattered, together, and livening up the internal life of the area.

Naming their project “When the Trees Became Tall” (an allusion to the cult Soviet movie of the 1960’s “When the Trees Were Tall”), the architects stressed the importance of green framework to their project.

zooming — The renovation platform "Vernadskogo Avenue", Designed Drive 6640, the current state © Ostozhenka

“We do not destroy the existing vegetation – we only add to it. The green spaces between the buildings became a peculiar token for us: they are like a clock’s hands counting time – Andrew Gnezdilov says – the new houses fit in almost perfectly with the existing planning structure without destroying the vegetation in between them. And it must be noted that the planning pattern of the 1960’s is vital to this day: arranging the houses from north to south is convenient for the construction because it answers today’s insolation norms”. As for the “string” or “horizontal row” construction principle, the architects do change it: in the depth of the neighborhood, buildings of relatively moderate height (up to 8 floors) form semi-closed urban blocks, while near the future transport interchange hub, next to the metro station and near the Vernadskogo Avenue the architects form the blocks that consist of high-rise towers. This way, they accentuate the meaningful points and support the visual correlation with the existing surroundings – housing complexes of the 2000’s.

In order to tie the existing recreations into a single system, the architects add overland pedestrian crossings of the Vernadskogo Avenue in the vital points, proposing to synchronize the mode of the existing traffic lights – one will be able to cross the avenue by a pedestrian crossing, even if somewhat remote from the set of traffic lights, while the cars remain standing, and the traffic will remain unhindered as well because the authors do not propose to build new lights, attaching their crossings to the already existing ones; one must admit that this is a very subtle solution indeed.

One of the interesting features of the Ostozhenka project that caused much controversy at the exhibition held in the “House on Brestskaya” is the fact that the district is getting a new main street that literally grows from the Borovskoe Highway and other “desire paths”, already mastered by the local residents but in no way attached in terms of urban planning.

The highway only coincides with a no-name fragment of the new main street near Moscow State Institute of International Relations. Then, near the triangular square, the street turns right towards the center of the business activity – the metro station and the future transport interchange hub, where the project has office towers in it, resonant, in terms of proportion, to the construction of the late 2000’s on the peripheral part of the territory.

The street gets a zigzagging and winding contour with a few green branches but it is obvious that the main rod connects the metro station and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, thus coinciding with the path that has already been tread upon but has not been organized and landscaped yet. This path runs past a few schools and medical centers; according to the project, their public zones must be widened. This way, these public zones will find themselves not deep inside the city blocks but on the axis of the city activity. The continuation of the main street – which runs beyond the pedestrian crossing of the avenue – coincides with what is today the Ulitsa Semenova-Tyan-Shanskogo. What is still more interesting is the fact that as far as the Ulitsa Semenova-Tyan-Shanskogo and Designed Drive 6640 are concerned, the architects are proposing to tie them from the inside by an automobile drive, which will cross the Vernadskogo Avenue – this way, the place gets on the inside a full-fledged street of district importance, which will connect the two parts of this area. This part of the street runs exactly by the water parting line.

The main street is only part of the framework that the architects are proposing to build. Its second part is a system of the parks and ponds in its southeast part, which require a certain amount of landscaping work.

Their recreational semicircle locks on with the new city axis running through in-block passages at the end of the Ulitsa Semenova-Tyan-Shanskogo; on the other side it locks on with the new crossing over the avenue behind the string of ponds. The map clearly shows how the business function smoothly changes into the recreational one – they became the mutually penetrating halves of a single ring, whose purpose is to unite the two parts of the district.

As for the embellishments of the main “tree” of the street and the parks, these will be the in-block drives, which are much more numerous in the new construction plans, just as the revised paths and shortcuts, some of which become pedestrian-only, and some, on the contrary, take on more automobile importance. The main catalyst, however, is still the marked transport arteries.

“This looks very much like amelioration. If you take a swamp, the water is motionless in it – Andrew Gnezdilov comments on his project – What we do is create a channel, and then motion begins. We see our task in creating prerequisites for the qualitative changes. We also see the potential that this street has both in terms of commerce and as a driving force for developing a decent social life”. Thanks to this solution, the urban activities, which hitherto predominantly existed in the periphery of the district, are logically carried over to its center, and the district is “turned inside out”: along the pedestrians’ pathway unfolds infrastructure – social, commercial, and the kind that is meant to fill the route with impressions.

As far as the city blocks of the Vernadskogo Avenue are concerned, the problem of parking is particularly acute here. Answering this challenge, the Ostozhenka architects are proposing to place underground parking garages not in the basements of the buildings (which oftentimes complicated planning solutions due to the fact that the bearing columns in the basement have a space grid of their own) but underneath streets and alleys. The feasibility of using the streets to this purpose was calculated by the Institute for Urban Economics.

For years, Ostozhenka has been consistently guided by many of the principles outlined in this article in many of its projects, implementation get them both in Moscow and all across the nation. What’s remarkable is the fact that the 3D visualizations submitted by the office were notable for their conditional landscapes, while the other contestants were much after photographic realism. Although the façades of the volumes are but sketchily marked, the district in these pictures really came alive thanks to the shop signs and people that populated it. This is essentially what the company’s main principle is all about – when it does a renovation project it first of all cares about the environment, and not this or that specific building. “Life is smarter than we are – it is difficult to predict its exact scenario; we only create the basis for the qualitative changes – Andrew Gnezdilov explains – this is why we depicted those who will ultimately change this environment, the residents of this area who are the full-fledged stakeholders of this process”.

Firm:

Ostozhenka Bureau http://www.ostarch.ru

21 August 2018

Written by:

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?

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.

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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.

​Activation by Amelioration

Activation by Amelioration