An Open House School

Designed by Archimatika, the gymnasium A+ on the territory of Kiev’s housing complex “Comfort Town” is remarkable not only for its architecture that can best be described as a “friendly fortress” but also for its openness: it is designed in such a way that both students and their parents can have a comfortable time here, and other children and adults as well.

Written by:
Alyona Kuznetsova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

12 October 2018

Object

The gymnasium A+ opened its doors on the territory of the housing complex “Comfort Town”, also designed by Archimatika. This place also features yet another project designed by this firm: the complex of “Academy of Modern Education A+”, which consists of a kindergarten, a school of fine arts, and a junior high school. Gymnasium A+ will teach students from third to twelfth grade.

From a formal standpoint, a gymnasium or a high school is one of the “necessary evils” for the developers that you cannot avoid building in order to provide the required amount of student places for a residential area. Originally, it was planned that the place would get a regular state-run high school but it turned out that the city had no funds to enter it in its books – and then KAN Development invited a private school to be accommodated here. Ultimately, the housing complex ended up getting one of the best educational institutions in Kiev in all respects: in terms of architecture, educational program, and technical equipment.

zooming — Gymnasium A+, project © Archimatika

The architects chose the location at the edge of “Comfort Town” – at the crossing of Berezneva and Vifleemskaya streets. Not far away, there is a railroad line that by default gave a 100-meter sanitary protection zone. Because of this, the construction could only be carried out on a small strip of land but on the other hand there was a large vacant territory around it, on which the architects made a park, playgrounds, sports fields, and a stadium. Calculating the insolation requirements, the architects came to the most efficient possible form – a square-plan building with a courtyard.

The architects wanted to make their gymnasium building look pristine – not only for the sake of contrast with the bright-colored houses of “Comfort Town” but also in order to highlight the fundamentality of education as such. At the same time, it was meant to look friendly and open. All of these tasks are solved by the form, color, and materials used.

The budget did not allow the architects to make the façades 100% stone, so they had to look for a compromise. According to the architects, the only suitable kind of stucco that could do the trick was Baumit: “because of the naturally chaotic inclusions of black and gray”. The stone was also selected to match the stucco: ultimately, they settled for the Armenian basalt – this material is not really widely spread and recognizable, and, therefore, as the authors say, it does not bring any associations with museums or memorials. As one of the chief architects of the project, Olga Chernova, put it, this stone is “soft and friendly, just like Armenians are who tend to treat everyone as part of their family”. Yet another shade of gray is given by the metallic gabled roof.

The first floor is executed of prominent chunks of basalt – the massive foundation, like the ruins of some ancient monastery, from which rock-face stuccoed tiles of varying thickness sprout upwards.

Making the building completely gray was something that the architects were unable to do – because they had to place on the main façade the marsala-colored A+ logo. It turned out that it looked quite harmonious, and then the architects added some color over the entire façade – they used the ultra-opaque paint of the same color to paint the window frames.

The reserved and pristine image of the gymnasium that the architects came up with automatically set before them the task of “making the building look as unlike Château d’If as possible”, making it calm but not frowning, noble-looking but not gloomy. Rather, according to the authors’ idea, the outline of the gabled roof must bring associations with mountains, the arch must bring associations with a cave; maybe even evoke some romantic cinematic and literary pictures of meeting your mentor – like in Star Wars and in many other films and books.

As for the main façade of the gymnasium, from an almost “blind” wall it switches over to a “crystal” stained glass window almost the entire height of the building, then it gets slit by the classroom windows, and then follows a 25-meter span of an unsupported arch – it invites and almost sucks you right into the yard with an amphitheater. It is planned that the yard will host school assemblies, concerts, performances by the student theater, and sometimes even lessons.

The windows of the first floor on the main façade belong to the parents’ cafeteria, separated from the school premises by an access system. Next to it, there is a library that has its own individual exit into the courtyard – should such need arise, the library can also be shut out from the rest of the school for conducting public events, coaching seminars, book presentations and open readings in it. According to the architects and the school administration’s plans, the library must become the cultural “hub” of the entire neighborhood. Also, on the first floor, there is a FIFA-certified gym, a cafeteria, an open-space teachers’ common room, a cloakroom, a first-aid station, and a few rooms of computer science and technology.

The second floor has an auditorium for 200 people in it, a gym, classrooms of mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology. One of the wings is occupied by the junior high – the third and fourth grade students will have a recreation area of their own – they will be able to roll about on the grass, hide in a “cabin” or swing from the lianas.

On the third floor, there is an art studio, a multifunctional black box rehearsal hall, and a lecture hall with 150 seats that can be easily turned into a movie theater. On all of the floors, the corridors create a closed-circuit quadrant around the classrooms and rehearsal halls. The interior design was developed in collaboration between Archimatika and Svoya Studio.

The school has an autonomous system of heating and air conditioning: underneath the football field, there are 170 wells for a geothermal heat pump. The street lights work on photovoltaic batteries; the parking lot has sockets for EV’s. There is also a small greenhouse and a vegetable garden on the territory of the gymnasium. According to the leader of the creative team Alexander Popov, the energy efficient solutions are not just a tribute to fashion. Since Ukraine raised the utility tariffs, such things have started bringing return on investment, and the demand for them is on the rise.

One of the main features of A+ that was implemented, among other things, by architectural means, is its openness. The lecture hall designed for a round of two or three classes hosts presentations by TV anchors, statesmen, artists, and athletes who lead lectures or do seminars. The auditorium, which, should such need arise, can be shut off from the other premises and used as a chamber theater, its sound and lighting systems conforming to the applicable standards. It is planned that this will be the place for performances given by the students and by the artist of the theater laboratory “Review”. The 60x40 meters football field will be used as the home arena by the youth football club “Vulkan”. In summer, the school will be turned into a summer camp full of various creative studios from the kids. The parents will be able to make use of the cafeteria, in the evenings – of the sports fields and the coach’s services; they can also sign up for the theater studio. The school also invites them to other activities and events – like the Vienna Opera Ball, for which you need to learn how to waltz and come up with costumes of your own design. The residents of “Comfort Town”, incidentally, get a little discount for their kids’ education.

***

Designing school buildings seem to become the by-specialty of Archimatika. This, although it makes perfect sense, is a rather rare case: like it was said above, schools and kindergartens are often designed by the architects simply because they have to be there, without getting the attention that they deserve. But then again, comparing private educational institutions and state-run ones is not quite a correct thing to do, the educational program of the latter still lagging behind the modern pedagogy.

In Kiev, Archimatika has designed and built the корпус Печерской международной школы and the already-mentioned Academy of Modern Education A+ for younger kids. The company is planning to build its next school in “Fayna Town” residential area, then there will be a sports school in the housing complex “Respublika”, both under the brand of A+.

12 October 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.

send.project

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.