Basmanny Manhattan

Designed by City Arch, the city block on Moscow’s Malaya Pochtovaya Street, with its red-brick high-rises, terraces and penthouses, looks a little bit like Tribeca and other places in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The architecture of the complex explores a high potential of this university area and brings extra benefits to its residents.

Written by:
Lara Kopylova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

11 June 2019

Object

The housing complex on the Malaya Pochtovaya Street is being built next to Moscow State Technical University named after N.E.Bauman, a prestigious educational institution that defines the atmosphere of this part of the Basmanny district of Moscow. There are lots of buildings around here that belong to the university, as well as to the startup companies that some of the university alumni launch after graduation. That is to say that this place is dominated by young, smart, and active people, chiefly male. You could even say that this is the nest of Richard Florida’s creative class because in his world-famous book “The Rise of the Creative Class” the sociologist wrote first of all about IT specialists who are in great demand in the modern world. In the age of augmented intelligence, the brainpower is flourishing and feeling confident about tomorrow. And, although the technical progress is moving forward by leaps and bounds in this field, the town-planning progress in this area of the nation’s capital is decades behind.

The development of this territory is expected to gain extra momentum thanks to the opening of a new additional entrance of the Baumanskaya metro station. The stream of commuters will be rerouted through the industrial park of the former plant of electrical equipment MZATE-2. Currently, the territory of the plant is outside of the life circle of the neighborhood, and the architectural environment does not meet people’s needs either. The endless walls and fences form labyrinths and dead-end alleys of a loosely organized, chaotic, and faceless industrial area. The residents of the nearby homes are forced to detour this area as an estrangement zone, while the university students have to contemplate the tar sheet roofs from the auditoriums.

zooming — The multifunctional housing complex at Malaya Pochtovaya, 12

Copyright: © City-Arch

The architects of “City-Arch” are proposing their own solution for the town planning problems of this area as a multifunctional housing development. The prevalence of the housing function will not only add to the housing stock in the city center, but also ensure comfort and safety of the city block: the area will be “watched over” from the windows of the new homes 24/7. As for the residents of the new complex, they will get a 5-minute walking distance to the metro station, a 7-minute walking distance to the Lefortovsky Park, and functionally eventful bottom floors. Running down the Gospitalnaya Street, the path to the new entrance to Baumanskaya metro station (to be opened in 2020) will not run past the dull factory fence anymore but past shop windows and a landscaped pavement with art objects and recreation spots. Making use of the fact that the ground level goes down from the metro station towards the university the height of a whole floor, the architects were even able to make two levels for pedestrian walks. Thus, the first “New York” association comes to mind – it looks a little bit like the High Line Park that carries the public functions of the bottom multi-height floors. The metro station, the university, and the housing complex itself are significant gravity centers, so there is no double that street retail will be in demand here.

Thanks to its height difference, the construction site of an irregular shape gave the architects an opportunity to inscribe the underground parking garage into the podium part of the project, which ultimately vacated extra area for landscaping. The client – MZATE-2, the owner of the land – expectedly briefed great density – about 39 000 people per hectare. Proceeding from the required figure and the maximum allowed height, the architects positioned the “building blocks” (of a known yield of useful floor space) along the perimeter of the land site, then turned them around based on the insolation and aeration of the apartments, as well as the organization of the yard space. Playing around with the number of floors in each of the sections (it ranges from 7 to 18), the architects were able to come up with diverse silhouettes and provide most of the apartments with panoramic views.

The complex consists of ten towers. Five towers are lined up alongside the street, three are turned at an angle; one, seven stories high, was fitted into the yard, and one duplicates the street lineup, at the same time forming an arch leading into the yard. The street-side lineup is continued by the already-existing office building that belongs to the client. It is planned that this building will host a museum or modern art.

Responding to the “factory” theme, the façades of three towers standing along the street will be made of red Flemish brick – sturdy and warm tactile material. The light-colored towers will be decorated with ceramic tiles, hollow inside. The pattern of narrow windows grouped in two or three floors is a technique that visually diminishes the number of floors. The slender windows make the façade easily readable, and bring everything to human-friendly proportions. In the early versions of the project, the towers standing along the street were orthogonal but then the architects decided to make their top parts lighter and more narrow, and accentuate them with black color. This is how terraces with penthouses came around, which went a long way to increase the attractiveness and the price of the top-floor apartments, thus making up for some loss in useful floor space. The terraces on the roofs make the top floor make like classic textbook penthouses of the Tribeca so much loved by movie makers. In my opinion, the architects could have made the ledges on all the four sides, and not just on two – the more terraces the better.

The public volumes, which unite the residential section on the bottom level, simulate the industrial architecture of the XIX century: squatting arches with triangular frontons look like the entrances to the factory or warehouse territory, even though the Ladovsky’s portal on the Krasnye Vorota also comes to mind. One of the arches has a skylight in it that is vaguely reminiscent of a factory chimney and conveys daylight to the tall inside space beneath the arch. This part of the podium is connected to the office building, and, if it is indeed to become a museum, it will make sense to exhibit large-scale installations here. The arches are made of concrete, while the framework of the stained glass windows is made of black steel. The horizontal steel girder under the fronton offers some space for advertising billboards. In the same style, and from the same double-L beams, the architects are planning to make the benches with wooden seats, streetlights, and other outdoor furniture, the main accent being a metallic arcade with swings.

The first level of the podium is essentially a tall space – 6 meters high – and it is designed is such a way that one can use either the whole of it, or it can be divided among different renters having a loft floor in it. Supposedly, it will host a supermarket, a children’s store, a bookstore, a stationary store, as well as one of the floors of a 3-level co-working space, with a flexible interior that can be transformed for various events. The top level of the podium (the High Line) unites the bottom multi-height floors with various functions, meant both for the local residents and the transient flow “metro station – university”: a bank, a café, a restaurant, a drugstore, a fitness center, an exhibition gallery, and rentable premises for local businesses and startups, for example, the university alumni.

The yard space is conditionally divided into two levels by the terraced terrain. The highlights of the yard are playgrounds and sports fields for people of various age brackets, designed for passive and active recreation. What is also important is the fact that the yard is not isolated from the nearby “Brezhnev” houses: a winding ramp is lengthening the walking route and gradually descends towards the earlier-built houses, making a few great ice slides for children in the wintertime. Therefore, the neighbors will be also getting extra bonuses from the appearance of this new housing project with a thought out and picturesque recreational space.

The apartment floor plans were designed with regard to the fluctuations of the housing market – specifically, they leave a possibility to increase the number of small apartments, should such need arise. In a standard three-room apartment, the living room and the kitchen have windows open on one side, the bedroom and the children room – on the other. The heating convectors are installed in the floor before the windows, which made it possible to make all the windows as floor-to-ceiling, thus further increasing the residents’ quality of life.

The new complex is meant to improve the quality of the local urban environment, and, possibly, set a new town planning trend – a “Manhattan” one, where a person, put amidst high-rises, still feels safe and interested. And, in order to achieve that, you only need to get an organized public territory, a well-developed structure of the lower floors, and an unusual-looking silhouette of the rooftops.

11 June 2019

Headlines now

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.

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.

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Architecture and Leisure Park

For the suburban hotel complex, which envisages various formats of leisure, the architectural company T+T Architects proposed several types of accommodation, ranging from the classic “standard” in a common building to a “cave in the hill” and a “house in a tree”. An additional challenge consisted in integrating a few classic-style residences already existing on this territory into the “architectural forest park”.

Overview

The U-House

The Jois complex combines height with terraces, bringing the most expensive apartments from penthouses down to the bottom floors. The powerful iconic image of the U-shaped building is the result of the creative search for a new standard of living in high-rise buildings by the architects of “Genpro”.

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Black and White

In this article, we specifically discuss the interiors of the ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh. Interior design is a crucial component of the overall concept in this case, and precision and meticulous execution were highly important for the architects. Julia Tryaskina, head of UNK interiors, shares some of the developments.

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The “Snake” Mountain

The competition project for the seaside resort complex “Serpentine” combines several typologies: apartments of different classes, villas, and hotel rooms. For each of these typologies, the KPLN architects employ one of the images that are drawn from the natural environment – a serpentine road, a mountain stream, and rolling waves.

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Opal from Anna Mons’ Ring

The project of a small business center located near Tupolev Plaza and Radio Street proclaims the necessity of modern architecture in a specific area of Moscow commonly known as “Nemetskaya Sloboda” or “German settlement”. It substantiates its thesis with the thoroughness of details, a multitude of proposed and rejected form variants, and even a detailed description of the surrounding area. The project is interesting indeed, and it is even more interesting to see what will come of it.

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Feed ’Em All

A “House of Russian Cuisine” was designed and built by KROST Group at VDNKh for the “Rossiya” exhibition in record-breaking time. The pavilion is masterfully constructed in terms of the standards of modern public catering industry multiplied by the bustling cultural program of the exhibition, and it interprets the stylistically diverse character of VDNKh just as successfully. At the same time, much of its interior design can be traced back to the prototypes of the 1960s – so much so that even scenes from iconic Soviet movies of those years persistently come to mind.

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The Ensemble at the Mosque

OSA prepared a master plan for a district in the southern part of Derbent. The main task of the master plan is to initiate the formation of a modern comfortable environment in this city. The organization of residential areas is subordinated to the city’s spiritual center: depending on the location relative to the cathedral mosque, the houses are distinguished by façade and plastique solutions. The program also includes a “hospitality center”, administrative buildings, an educational cluster, and even an air bridge.

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Pargolovo Protestantism

A Protestant church is being built in St. Petersburg by the project of SLOI architects. One of the main features of the building is a wooden roof with 25-meter spans, which, among other things, forms the interior of the prayer hall. Also, there are other interesting details – we are telling you more about them.

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The Shape of the Inconceivable

The ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh brings to mind a famous maxim of all architects and critics: “You’ve come up with it? Now build it!” You rarely see such a selfless immersion in implementation of the project, and the formidable structural and engineering tasks set by UNK architects to themselves are presented here as an integral and important part of the architectural idea. The challenge matches the obliging status of the place – after all, it is an “exhibition of achievements”, and the pavilion is dedicated to the nuclear energy industry. Let’s take a closer look: from the outside, from the inside, and from the underside too.

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Rays of the Desert

A school for 1750 students is going to be built in Dubai, designed by IND Architects. The architects took into account the local specifics, and proposed a radial layout and spaces, in which the children will be comfortable throughout the day.

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The Dairy Theme

The concept of an office of a cheese-making company, designed for the enclosed area of a dairy factory, at least partially refers to industrial architecture. Perhaps that is why this concept is very simple, which seems the appropriate thing to do here. The building is enlivened by literally a couple of “master strokes”: the turning of the corner accentuates the entrance, and the shade of glass responds to the theme of “milk rivers” from Russian fairy tales.

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The Road to the Temple

Under a grant from the Small Towns Competition, the main street and temple area of the village of Nikolo-Berezovka near Neftekamsk has been improved. A consortium of APRELarchitects and Novaya Zemlya is turning the village into an open-air museum and integrating ruined buildings into public life.

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Towers Leaning Towards the Sun

The three towers of the residential complex “Novodanilovskaya 8” are new and the tallest neighbors of the Danilovsky Manufactory, “Fort”, and “Plaza”, complementing a whole cluster of modern buildings designed by renowned masters. At the same time, the towers are unique for this setting – they are residential, they are the tallest ones here, and they are located on a challenging site. In this article, we explore how architects Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova tackled this far-from-trivial task.

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In the spirit of ROSTA posters

The new Rostselmash tractor factory, conceptualized by ASADOV Architects, is currently being completed in Rostov-on-Don. References to the Soviet architecture of the 1920’s and 1960’s resonate with the mission and strategic importance of the enterprise, and are also in line with the client’s wish: to pay homage to Rostov’s constructivism.

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The Northern Thebaid

The central part of Ferapontovo village, adjacent to the famous monastery with frescoes by Dionisy, has been improved according to the project by APRELarchitects. Now the place offers basic services for tourists, as well as a place for the villagers’ leisure.

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Brilliant Production

The architects from London-based MOST Architecture have designed the space for the high-tech production of Charge Cars, a high-performance production facility for high-speed electric cars that are assembled in the shell of legendary Ford Mustangs. The founders of both the company and the car assembly startup are Russians who were educated in their home country.

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Three-Part Task: St. Petersburg’s Mytny Dvor

The so-called “Mytny Dvor” area lying just behind Moscow Railway Station – the market rows with a complex history – will be transformed into a premium residential complex by Studio 44. The project consists of three parts: the restoration of historical buildings, the reconstruction of the lost part of the historical contour, and new houses. All of them are harmonized with each other and with the city; axes and “beams of light” were found, cozy corners and scenic viewpoints were carefully thought out. We had a chat with the authors of the historical buildings’ restoration project, and we are telling you about all the different tasks that have been solved here.

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The Color of the City, or Reflections on the Slope of an Urban Settlement

In 2022, Ostozhenka Architects won a competition, and in 2023, they developed and received all the necessary approvals for a master plan for the development of Chernigovskaya Street for the developer GloraX. The project takes into account a 10-year history of previous developments; it was done in collaboration with architects from Nizhny Novgorod, and it continues to evolve now. We carefully examined it, talked to everyone, and learned a lot of interesting things.

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A Single-Industry Town

Kola MMC and Nornickel are building a residential neighborhood in Monchegorsk for their future employees. It is based on a project by an international team that won the 2021 competition. The project offers a number of solutions meant to combat the main “demons” of any northern city: wind, grayness and boredom.

Basmanny ​Manhattan

Basmanny Manhattan