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​Between the Past and the Future

Neatly inscribed into the respectable housing environment of the Petrogradskaya Side, the residential complex “Futurist” teeters on the brink of postconstructivism and Art Deco. Its main task, however, was to breathe new life into the building of the Levashovsky bread factory and make it flourish once again.

27 December 2018
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The project of the elite housing complex Futurist consists in redeveloping the Levashovsky bread factory situated in a triangle formed by the Barochnaya and Bolshaya Zelenina streets and the Levashovsky Avenue, not far away from the spot where the Karpovka River flows into the Neva. The factory was built in 1933 based on the project of engineer George Marsakov. He developed a “vertical ring” bread-baking technology, which ultimately determined the shape of the building: the production facility consisting of cylinders fitting into one another, and the boiler house covered with a dome. The factory is famous for the fact that during the Nazi seize of Leningrad it never for a second stopped baking bread.

The residential complex Futurist. Birds-eye view © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners
View of the building from the west side of the land site, the end of construction, 1933 © The Central State Archive of Photographic and Filming Documents of Saint Petersburg


In 2012, the building got a status of an architectural monument of regional importance, and the production facilities moved over to a new place. The factory stood empty until 2016, when it (together with the neighboring 2.5-hectare land site) was bought out by the RBI, a developer company that decided to invest both in the construction of a new housing complex and in reconstruction of this heritage site.

Photographic evidence © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


Photographic evidence © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


The project, developed by the architectural firm “Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners”, solves three tasks: building a commercially successful housing complex, bringing the city block’s housing stock to order, and introducing into the city’s day-to-day life a monument of architecture that for a long time has been hiding behind fences and later additions.

Probably, it will make sense to start off with the latter. The volumetric and planning solutions, the historical façades, the staircases, and the factory chimney will be kept fully intact, while about 15 of the surrounding buildings of the soviet period, which are not included in the boundaries of the heritage site and simply make visual “noise” – will be torn down altogether (CLICKABLE). The company “Development Systems” has already presented (CLICKABLE) a 3D BIM model of the Levashovsky bread factory created on the basis of laser scanning of the complex.

The residential complex Futurist. The square © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


The residential complex Futurist. Section views © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


The concept of operating the complex was prepared by the Agency of urban transformations Genius Loci. The building will be turned into a cultural center containing expo and congress venues, a bakery, various art objects, a book store, offices, and an exposition devoted to the Nazi siege of Leningrad.

In front of the main entrance from the Levashovsky Avenue, there will appear a “grand entrance” square, while from the side of the Bolshaya Zelenina Street, there will be an art park. As for the building itself, it will be clearly viewable from the adjacent streets.

The residential complex Futurist. The square © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


The new residential buildings that frame the bread factory are arranged in a manner that is anything but trivial. Two of them, which stand along the Barochnaya Street and the Levashovsky Avenue, stop the lacunae in the existing construction of the early XX century. In accordance with the plane geometry of the Barochnaya Street, the architects positioned the in-block nine-story building – the tallest and the longest one. Its staircase-like part is echoed by three buildings that are lined up diagonally in an order of decreasing their height down to three floors in the direction of the Bolshaya Zelenina Street, where getting close to the red line is impossible because of the trees growing there. The seventh and the last building stands on the corner. Evgeny Gerasimov explains that such planning structure was to some extent borrowed from the Traktornaya Street, where the houses are joined by semi-arches, and to some extent from the Leitenanta Shmidta Embankment, whose curve is accentuated by the corners; also, to some extent, the configuration was conditioned by the insolation regulations. One way or another, the lines of the master plan turned out to be pretty avant-garde.

The residential complex Futurist. The projects of landscaping design © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


The residential complex Futurist. Birds-eye view © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


The Bolshaya Zelenina Street looks here as if it were turned inside out. The city block consisting of odd buildings of different height resembles the classic “water well” yards of Saint-Petersburg with their inevitable annexes and labyrinths of arches and underpasses. As for the “grand” or “representative” part of the complex, it is situated precisely behind them. Only this is not a classical façade but a constructivist factory building – the closer we get to it, the more reverently the new buildings lower their height in token of respect for the architectural monument.

The residential complex Futurist. Development drawing along the Bolshaya Zelenina Street © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


Thus, the view of the Levashovsky bread factory opens up from the adjacent streets; the accent is strengthened by the grand square and the art park. Together, they create a large public territory that is augmented by an array of residents-only private yards. The architects and the client paid a lot of attention to the landscaping part, setting for themselves a task of making a “model” landscaping project.

The residential complex Futurist. The park © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


The staircase-like configuration of the new city block allowed the architects to create a system of little yards and squares where people would have various scenarios of spending their time outdoors. The most active life goes on around the elongated building, whose first floor is going to host a conference hall, a spa zone, and a small gym. There is also a recreational area joining it on one side, with playgrounds and sports fields, and a promenade on the other side, where one could go for a walk with a stroller or ride a bike. The firewall of the historical building, which goes out to this particular yard, is decorated with vertical greenery. Other yards display mosaic panel pictures, gazebos or benches underneath the trees; there are also ping pong tables and easels for drawing placed underneath one of the arches. The complex is fenced off from the city public areas by a hedgerow.

The residential complex Futurist. The yard © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


One can only get into the inside yard through two lobbies that serve the entire complex, which are located in the buildings standing on the Barochnaya and Bolshaya Zelenina streets. The other residential buildings can be entered from the yard.

The landscaping concept picks up the suprematist composition of the master plan, playing with the same rectangles and circles, only on a smaller scale. The rhythm is set by the geometric paving patterns, on the background of which other figures are placed in accordance with a certain logic: wooden boardwalks, neatly trimmed shrubs, and groups of trees. There will be a lot of new trees added to the ones that are already there: pine and fir trees, oaks, maples, willows, and mountain ash.

As for the façades of the buildings, they are deliberately designed in a simple manner, oriented not so much on the avant-garde architecture (although some of its notes are heard in the jagged balconies of the stairway-like part of the elongated building), as in the early post-constructivism, pretty similar to the Lensovet House on the Karpovka – because they are essentially trying to perform the function of the frame of the 1930’s heritage site. On the other hand, the façades of the new houses are decorated with stone, which was almost never the case in the Soviet Russia of the 1930’s, but which in this specific instance is meant to combine the historical prototype of the “proletarian Art Deco” with the modern requirements for bourgeois respectability. Therefore, the basement floor is decorated with dark rock-face granite of various textures, with broad horizontal stripes containing broad grooves. The higher part is decorated with natural Jurassic stone, fine faceting, slabs of the windowsills, the “shutters” of the flutes on the sides of the window apertures, and volumetric stones insets, placed in a staggered order. The latter resemble, on the one hand, the building designed by Evgeny Gerasimov in the Kovensky Lane (CLICKABLE), and, on the other hand, numerous examples of the 1930’s, for example, the Rudnev façades of the Frunze Academy.

The residential complex Futurist. A fragment of the facade © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


The residential complex Futurist. The hand-drawn graphics © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


The residential complex Futurist. The hand-drawn graphics © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


The residential complex Futurist. The hand-drawn graphics © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


The small quadrants of the relief pictures can be traced back both to the Soviet prototypes in the spirit of All-Union Agricultural Exhibition, and to more pristine forms of foreign Art Deco. The golden spicules of the ventilation grills seem to be closer to the image of the Soviet Union, thematically, in any case – but generally, for the sole exception of their expensive materials, the façades almost answer the standards of the early-Stalin architectural style.

The residential complex Futurist. The hand-drawn graphics © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


Dramatic outlines are only sported by two buildings with public lobbies: the entrance on the Bolshaya Zelenina Street is marked by an asymmetrically placed portico with fluteless semi-columns in the spirit of Ivan Fomin’s “red dorika”; the building on the Barochnaya Street sports a row of triangular bay windows.

The residential complex Futurist © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


The residential complex Futurist. The Barochnaya Street © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


The interior design of the entrance zones shows even more clearly the influence of the western Art Deco, austere and at the same time pompous in its own way. Here the architects used artificial marble, black glass, wooden sashes, and carpet reliefs with geometric ornaments.

The residential complex Futurist. The main lobby of the 4th building © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


The residential complex Futurist. The main lobby of the 4th building © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


All the seven buildings rest upon a single underground parking garage. The first floors will host cafés, shops, and other rentable premises. The complex is designed for 199 apartments with a useful floor space ranging from 50 to 190 square meters; most of the windows command views of the Krestovsky Island and the Malaya Neva, the Petrograd Side, and the building of the Levashovsky bread factory.

The project of Futurist was awarded a silver achievement badge at the international architectural festival “Zodchestvo – 2018”. The complex is due to be built and put into operation by 2022.
The residential complex Futurist. Development drawing along the Levashovsky Avenue © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners
The residential complex Futurist. Development drawing along the Barochnaya Street © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners
The residential complex Futurist. Building 1-3, the standard floor © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners
The residential complex Futurist. Building 4, the standard floor © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners
The residential complex Futurist. Building 5, the standard floor © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners
The residential complex Futurist. Building 6, the standard floor © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners
The residential complex Futurist. Building 7, the standard floor © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners
The residential complex Futurist. Building 7, section view © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


27 December 2018

Headlines now
Layers and Levels of Flight
This project goes way back – Reserve Union won this architectural competition at the end of 2011, and the building was completed in 2018, so it’s practically “archival”. However, despite being relatively unknown, the building can hardly be considered “dated” and remains a prime example of architectural expression, particularly in the headquarters genre. And it’s especially fitting for an aviation company office. In some ways, it resembles the Aeroflot headquarters at Sheremetyevo but with its own unique identity, following the signature style of Vladimir Plotkin. In this article, we take an in-depth look at the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) headquarters in the Moscow agglomeration town of Zhukovsky, supplemented by recent photographs from Alexey Naroditsky – a shoot that became only recently possible due to the fact that improvements were finally made in the surrounding area.
Light and Shadow
In this article, we delve into the architectural design of the “Chaika” house by DNK ag architects, which was recently completed in 2023 as part of the collection of signature designs at ZILArt. As is well-known, all the buildings in this complex follow a design code, yet each one is distinct. This particular building stands out not only for its whiteness and minimalism but also for the refined use of a limited number of techniques that, together, create what can confidently be called synergy.
Casus Novae
A master plan was developed for a large residential area with a name of “DNS City”, but now that its implementation began, the plan has been arbitrarily reformatted and replaced with something that, while similar on the surface, is actually quite different. This is not the first time such a thing happens, but it’s always frustrating. With permission from the author, we are sharing Maria Elkina’s post.
Treasure Hunting
The GAFA bureau, in collaboration with Tegola and Arkhitail, organized an expedition to the island of Kilpola in Karelia as part of Moskomarkhitektura’s “Open City” festival. There, amidst moss and rocks, the students sought answers to questions like: what is the sacred, where does it dwell, and what sustains it? Assisting the participants in this quest were landscape engineer Evgeny Levin, artist Nicholas Roerich, a moose, and the lack of cellular connection. Here’s how the story unfolded.
Depths of the Earth, Streams of Water
In the Malaya Okhta district, the Akzent building, designed by Stepan Liphart, was constructed. It follows a classic tripartite structure, yet it’s what you might call “hand-drawn”: each façade is unique in its form and details, some of which aren’t immediately noticeable. In this article, we explore the context and, together with the architect, delve into how the form was developed.
Fir Tree Dynamics
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​A Brick Shell
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Word Forms
ATRIUM architects love ambitious challenges, and for the firm’s thirtieth anniversary, they boldly play a game of words with an exhibition that dives deep into a self-created vocabulary. They immerse their projects – especially art installations – into this glossary, as if plunging into a current of their own. You feel as if you’re flowing through the veins of pure art, immersed in a universe of vertical cities, educational spaces – of which the architects are true masters – and the cultural codes of various locations. But what truly captivates is the bold statement that Vera Butko and Anton Nadtochy make, both through their work and this exhibition: architecture, above all, is art – the art of working with form and space.
Flexibility and Acuteness of Modernity
Luxurious, fluid, large “kokoshniks” and spiral barrel columns, as if made from colorful chewing gum: there seem to be no other mansion like this in Moscow, designed in the “Neo-Russian-Modern” style. And the “Teremok” on Malaya Kaluzhskaya, previously somewhat obscure, has “come alive with new colors” and gained visibility after its restoration for the office of the “architectural ecosystem” as the architects love to call themselves. It’s evident that Julius Borisov and the architects at UNK put their hearts into finding this new office and bringing it up to date. Let’s delve into the paradoxes of this mansion’s history and its plasticity. Spoiler: two versions of modernity meet here, both balancing on the razor’s edge of “what’s current”.
Yuri Vissarionov: “A modular house does not belong to the land”
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​Moscow’s First
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Looking at the Water
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The White Wing
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Urban Dunes
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Proportional Growth
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The “Staircase” Building
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Projection of the Quarter
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Domus Aurea
In this issue, we examine the “Tessinsky-1” house, designed by Sergey Skuratov and completed in 2023. Located in the middle of the Serebryanicheskaya Embankment district, at the intersection of its main streets, this house assumes a sort of “nodal” role: it not only responds to everything around it and preserves many memories of the former EMA factory within itself, but it weaves all this into a newly directed pattern, reconciling bright “gold” and dark-colored brick, largely with the help of the new, modern-yet-archaic Columba brick, which, come to think about it, is the most precious element here.
The Chimney of Nikola-Lenivets
In this issue, we are examining the “Obelisk House” designed by KATARSIS and built for the Arkhstoyanie 2023 festival. However, it was only finished later on, and this is why we are examining it now. It seems to us that after the “Obelisk House” appeared in Nikola-Lenivets, a dialogue and a few inner connections appeared between the temporary structures built here. These houses no longer look like “accidental neighbors”, more of which below.
​Periscope by the Bay
The jury awarded the second place in the competition for a public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the companies GORA (“Mountain”) and M4. In the consortium’s proposal, the building resembles a sperm whale with a calf swimming next to it or a periscope, whose lenses capture the most spectacular views from the surrounding landscape.
From Arcs to Dolmens
While working on the competition project for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, ASADOV Architects prioritized the value of the natural and urban environment, aiming to preserve the balance of the location while minimizing the resemblance of the volume that they designed to a “traditional building”. The task was challenging, and the architects created three versions, one of which having been developed after the competition, where their main proposal took third place. However, the point of interest here is not the competition result but the continuity of creative thinking.
Hide and Seek
The ID Moskovskiy house, designed by Stepan Liphart in St. Petersburg, in the courtyards near Moskovskiy Avenue beyond the Obvodny Canal and recently completed, is notable for several reasons. Firstly, it has been realized with considerable accuracy, which is particularly significant as this is the first building where the architect was responsible not only for the facades but also for the layouts, allowing for better integration between the two. On the other hand, this building is interesting as an example of the “germination” of new architecture in the city: it draws on the best examples from the neighborhood and becomes an improved and developed sum of ideas found by the architect in the surrounding context.
The Big Twelve
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Above the Golden Horn
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Nuanced Alternative
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Blinds for Ice
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Frozen Magma
A competition for the creation of a public and cultural center was held in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Three architectural companies made it to the final, and we consider it important to share about the work of each. Let’s start with the winner – the consortium led by Wowhaus.
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.
Vertical Civilization
Genpro considered the development of the vertical city concept and made it the theme of their pavilion at the “ArchMoscow” exhibition.
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.