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​A Town Within a Suburb

The construction of the first stage of “Novokraskovo” housing complex has been completed. Two city blocks set quite a different rhythm to the surrounding territory of the settlement: the new complex comes in larger increments, yet at the same time it is more flexible and diverse – of the true urban type.

25 March 2019
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We already covered the housing project of “Novokraskovo”: it consists of four large city blocks on the Egoryevskoe Highway lying 15 kilometers off the Moscow Ring Road, east of Lyubertsy. Essentially, this is a countryside place, not far away from the proverbial town of Malakhovka but currently it is mostly dominated by multistory buildings – and the work of Ostozhenka Architects became the first example of design architecture here. The settlement of Kraskovo is particularly known for its sand quarries: a result of the work of the Korenevsky plant of building materials (founded in 1930, just as Malakhovka), they were later on flooded over and turned into manmade lakes.

Novokraskovo housing complex. View from the corner of Korenevskoe and Egoryevskoe highways
Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
Novokraskovo housing complex. Top view
Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau


The residential complex is occupying the territory of a former military base situated between the highway, the Chekhova Street and the Novokraskovsky Quarry Lake: the latter is sort of hazardous to swim in but still there is a semblance of a sand beach on the other shore. Until recently, this place looked all but derelict: the classic lopsided trees peeking from behind the sickeningly familiar concrete fence of the military base.

Now it has turned into a full-fledged urban area – in front of terra-cotta brick façades, at the crossroads, a small Y-shaped square appeared thanks to a slight turn of the corner building: this space “pause” or “rest” gave extra meaning to the crossroads. It even looks as though the surrounding greenery has decided to live up to the new standards – now it looks almost like a park. It is only the laconic volume of the sales office, saluting to the cars driving down the highway, that lets us know that it wasn’t always this way here. According to the project, the office building will later be replaced by a sculpture with a clock – a clear indication of the city importance of this square.

Novokraskovo housing complex. View from the crossing of Korenevskoe and Egoryevskoe highways
Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau


Novokraskovo housing complex
Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau


Currently, two city blocks out of four have been built – the first and second stages, houses 1-4.

Novokraskovo housing complex. Master plan
Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau


These two blocks, however, are larger than the other two, which will be built more to the north on the lake shore – and, in addition, they are more representative-looking. It is these particular blocks that are essentially the face of the complex, and, it must be said that already now – at least, for the cars passing by – it looks like quite a complete architectural project.

The bend of the façade in front of the square, however small compared to the scale of the complex at large, is a very important stylistic device: this “author’s signature”, very delicate and reserved, demonstrates both bending plastique and, if viewed from certain angles, the sharpness of the corner “nose” that takes on the role of the main façade of the entire complex. Therefore, the tall bottom floor is fully glazed and sunken in – the volumetric cutaway is enough to create an effect of an overhanging mass above the transparent ground floor.

Novokraskovo housing complex. View from the square
Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau


Cafes, shops, and public spaces will occupy the bottom floors of the outside contour; one of the sections will host a children’s clinic, which is already popular with the local residents. However, the bottom floors of different buildings are designed differently: the theme of modernist “stripe” is sometimes continued, and sometimes it dies away, the buildings losing in their height. Along the length of the highway, the band of the bottom floors is intercepted by three groups of pylons that cover two floors, one on top of the other – “porticos” at the base of the towers.

Novokraskovo housing complex. Overview from the Egoryevskoe Highway, Moscow-bound
Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau


The design of the bottom floors on the “yard” side is more interesting still: there are lots of galleries here, resting on pillars sometimes one and sometimes two stories tall. They make it possible to interpret the vehicle-free yards as inland “mini-squares”. The pillars are mostly white, the gallery walls behind them being subjugated to a color code: orange, red, and cadmium yellow colors are assigned to specific buildings, and they also appear in the arches that serve as gateways to the yards, elevator lobbies with pram storage rooms, and the corridors on each floor. The color casts overtones and gives some extra intrigue to the depth of the galleries. This effect was used by the architects in the “Akvareli” (“Watercolor”) housing complex located comparatively near, in Balashikha, which was completed six years earlier. This housing complex, just many other buildings designed by Ostozhenka, is echoed by a sophisticated structure of volumes that combines “beams” with “towers” and is abundant in cutaways, which turn out to be both a “compulsory measure”, i.e. the result of searching for the optimum insolation solution – and, at the same time an artistic device that enriches both plastique and silhouette. What also makes this complex akin to “Akvareli” is also the architects’ love for white color – which easily reflects other colors and sunlight. In this particular instance, the architects settled on white stucco, both for economy and imagery reasons.

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    Novokraskovo housing complex. View of the yard of the first block © Novokraskovo housing complex
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. View of the yard of the second block
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. View of the first block from the Egoryevskoe highway
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. A facade fragment
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau


But then again, in spite of these similarities, the complexes are completely different. “Novokraskovo” is much more about the “fortress” theme, very much like a silhouette outline of an Italian castello – which is boosted by externally brick façades and towers, especially those three that stand along the highway, at the basis of which the pylons of the “porticos” appear. But then again, it does not go any further than a mere hint: just as important is the image of the “city at large”, a complex multi-height and multicolored structure. The white color mostly belongs with the yards but it also appears on the outside façades; the brick also “leaks inside”, reminding us of a jigsaw puzzle of numerous interconnected differently colored pieces or a snow iceberg melting inside the brown crust.

The sculptural image is dictated, among other things, by the insolation requirements – the architects explain – but it is strengthened by the “introduction of white stucco fragments into the outside perimeter and, the other way around, brick ones into the yards” – in order to avoid the effect of lengthy façades of equal height along the perimeter of the complex.

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    Novokraskovo housing complex. View of the yard of the first block
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. View of the building of the first block
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. A facade fragment
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. View of the building of the second block
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau


“Both these materials are naturally warm and really homely – the architects explain – and on the sensitive level, however different, they are perceived as being of the same kind, and they beautifully complement each other. In the vein of this solution, dictated, among other things, by economic reasons, we made the choice of color and stucco, and designed the façade surfaces”.

Novokraskovo housing complex. Overview from the Korenevskoe Highway
Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau


This is not all there is to it, however: depending upon their location, the façade materials get different rhythms of alternating vertical and horizontal windows. On the brick façades, it is strictly chessboard-like, the narrow windows being grouped in twos that look very much like a pair of eyes above the wide open mouth of the horizontal window. In the yards, the rows of windows become more agile and form punctured lines. The white side ends are getting pristine diagonal compositions of small openings that distantly resemble the façade grid of the Melnikov House. The strict diagonal rhythm is also supported by the casings of the air conditioning units – on the outside façades they are painted the color of the walls and thus merge with the brick and white colors alike. Inside the yards, the casings also become a color code element. The casings are factory-painted, while the round openings in the metal help the “little balconies” to perform the expected decorative function. In combination with the colorful slants and the dazzling white of the wall everything looks fresh and pure. The balconies, which are sunken in to be on a level with the wall on the façades, turn into bay windows on the yard side, getting a slight sideways turn and their share of color.

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    Novokraskovo housing complex. View of the second block from the Egoryevskoe Highway
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. View from the Egoryevskoe highway
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. View from the Korenevskoe highway
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau


Of course, the sophisticated silhouette of the complex is defined by the balance between the required output of square footage, insolation requirements, height restrictions, and town planning logic. This is why the corner building, the one that faces the crossroads and the square, is seven stories high. It serves as a transition link between the complex and the surrounding houses that are mostly two or three stories high standing behind the trees – and ensures a comfortable city scale. Further on, on either side, the volumes grow higher up to a maximum of 17 floors. One must say that on the other side of the Chekhova Street (which is also the Korenevskoe Highway), on the territory of the Construction Research and Development Institute, the Vyacheslav Bogachkin Architects designed a housing project of the same height, and, therefore, in the course of the design work, Ostozhenka Architects had to take into account not only the already-existing buildings but also this neighboring project; but then again, it is not yet clear if the latter will be actually built.

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    Novokraskovo housing complex. The 1st floor
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. The 5th floor
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. The 14th floor
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau


One of the important narratives of the project is the system of green spaces that penetrating the entire residential area. Arrays of new, so far small, trees separate the complex from the street and the highway, and surround it along its perimeter. On the inside of the complex, there will be a crossing of two boulevards. On the one hand, they will serve as the inside traffic arteries, and, on the other hand, they are connected by pedestrian links with landscaped vehicle-free yards and the quarry lake shore. The construction of a school and underground parking garage is still debated because they would have to be built on alluvial lands, and the local residents protest against filling some of the lake. The construction of a kindergarten, which is located closer to the residential buildings, has already begun.

Novokraskovo housing complex. Top view, a fragment
Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau


In spite of the rather sophisticated composition of volumes, the architects were still able to avoid sharp angles in their planning solutions and get the required diversity of apartment floor plans – from small studios to spacious three-room apartments. Virtually all of the curvilinear surfaces conceal stanza balconies that make it possible to solve the task of making sure that the rooms nevertheless have regular measurements; some of the apartments of the first, second, and third floors are enlarged in order to get the required amount of sunlight. Going higher up, the architects unified the floor plans, considering the fact that the project is essentially economy class. The corridors are rather long at times, leading to 7-8 small apartments, which is crucial for space-efficient planning. 

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    Novokraskovo housing complex. Development drawing along the inner boulevard
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. Development drawings
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. The facade scheme
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. The facade scheme
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. Development drawings
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. Development drawings
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. Facades, Buildings 2 and 3 © Novokraskovo housing complex
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. Facades, Buildings 5 and 6 © Novokraskovo housing complex
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. Longitudinal section view, Building 3 © Novokraskovo housing complex
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. Longitudinal section view, Building 4 © Novokraskovo housing complex
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    Novokraskovo housing complex. Longitudinal section view, Building 5 © Novokraskovo housing complex
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau


Ostozhenka Architects have long since developed their own methods of creative and productive work with large-scale housing projects: they inevitably turn out to be big – yes – but still recognizable and having a unique identity of their own. When still in the concept stage, the architects considered a prospect of building a few towers here, yet the project ultimately ended up being made of perimeter city blocks sporting a picturesque silhouette formed by rhythmically placed tower-like volumes. The complex became one of the logically grounded versions of implementing the idea that Ostozhenka Architects have been promoting for years – perhaps, from the day the company was founded – and which is still relevant today. Essentially, this residential area is a small town in its own right, which sets new standards of space organization to this actively developing formerly industrial area.
Novokraskovo housing complex
Copyright: © Ostozhenka Bureau


25 March 2019

Headlines now
​The Power of Lines
The building at the very beginning of New Arbat is the result of long deliberations over how to replace the former House of Communication. Contemporary, dynamic, and even somewhat zoomorphic in character, it is structured around a large diagonal grid. The building has become a striking accent both in the perspective of the former Kalinin Avenue and in the panorama of Arbat Square. Yet, unfortunately, the original concept was not fully realized. In 2020, the Moscow ArchCouncil approved a design featuring an exoskeleton – an external load-bearing structure, which eventually turned into a purely decorative element. Still, the power of the supergraphic “holds” the building, giving it the qualities of a new urban landmark with iconic potential. How this concept took shape, what unexpected associations might underlie the grid’s form, and why the exoskeleton was never built – all this is explored in our article.
Resort on the Kama River
Wowhaus has developed a project for the reconstruction of Korabelnaya Roshcha (“Mast Grove”), a wellness resort located on the banks of the Kama River.
Nests in Primorye
The eco-park project “Nests”, designed by Aleksey Polishchuk and the company Power Technologies, received first prize at the Eco-Coast 2025 festival, organized by the Union of Architects of Russia. For a glamping site in Filinskaya Bay, the authors proposed bird-shaped houses, treehouses, and a nest-shaped observation platform, topping it all with an entrance pavilion executed in the shape of an owl.
The Angle of String Tension
The House of Music, designed by Vladimir Plotkin and the architects of TPO Reserve, resembles a harp, and when seen from above, even a bass clef. But if only it were that simple! The architecture of the complex fuses two distinct expressive languages: the lattice-like, transparent, permeable vocabulary of “classical” modernism and the sculptural, ribbon-like volumes so beloved by today’s neo-modernism. How it all works – where the catharsis lies, which compositional axes underpin the design, where the project resembles Zaryadye Concert Hall and where it does not – read in the article below.
How Historic Tobolsk Becomes a Portal to the Future
Over the past decade, the architectural company Wowhaus has developed urban strategies for several Russian cities – Vyksa, Tula, and Nizhnekamsk, to name but a few. Against this backdrop, the Tobolsk master plan stands out both for its scale – the territory under transformation covers more than 220 square kilometers – and for its complexity.
St. Petersburg vs Rome
The center of St. Petersburg is, as we know, sacred – but few people can say with certainty where this “sacred place” actually begins and ends. It’s not about the formal boundaries, “from the Obvodny Canal to the Bolshaya Nevka”, but about the vibe that feels true to the city center. With the Nevskaya Ratusha complex – built to a design that won an international competition – Evgeny Gerasimov and Sergei Tchoban created an “image of the center” within its territory. And not so much the image of St. Petersburg itself, as that of a global metropolis. This is something new, something that hasn’t appeared in the city for a long time. In this article, we study the atmosphere, recall precedents, and even reflect on who and when first called St. Petersburg the “new Rome”. Clearly, the idea is alive for a reason.
On the Wave
The project of transforming the river port and embankment in the city of Cheboksary, developed by the ATRIUM Architects, involves one of the city’s key areas. The Volga embankment is to be turned into a riverside boulevard – a multifunctional, comfortable, and expressive space for work and leisure activities. The authors propose creating a new link with the city’s main Krasnaya (“Red”) Square, as well as erecting several residential towers inspired by the shape of the traditional national women’s headdress – these towers are likely to become striking accents on the Volga panorama.
Valery Kanyashin: “We Were Given a Free Hand”
The Headliner residential complex, the main part of which was recently completed just across from Moscow City, is a kind of neighbor to the MIBC that doesn’t “play along” with it. On the contrary, the new complex is entirely built on contrast: like a city of differently scaled buildings that seems to have emerged naturally over the past 20 years – which is a hugely popular trend nowadays! And yet here – perhaps only here – such a project has been realized to its full potential. Yes, high-rises dominate, but all these slender, delicate profiles, all these exciting perspectives! And most importantly – how everything is mixed and composed together... We spoke with the project’s leader Valery Kanyashin.
​The Keystone
Until quite recently, premium residential and office complexes in Moscow were seen as the exclusive privilege of the city center. Today the situation is changing: high-quality architecture is moving beyond the confines of the Third Ring Road and appearing on the outskirts. The STONE Kaluzhskaya business center is one such example. Projects like this help decentralize the megalopolis, making life and work prestigious in any part of the city.
Perpetuum Mobile
The interior of the headquarters of Natsproektstroy, created by the IND studio team, vividly and effectively reflects the client’s field of activity – it is one of Russia’s largest infrastructure companies, responsible for logistics and transport communications of every kind you can possibly think of.
Water and Light
Church art is full of symbolism, and part of it is truly canonical, while another part is shaped by tradition and is perceived by some as obligatory. Because of this kind of “false conservatism”, contemporary church architecture develops slowly compared to other genres, and rarely looks contemporary. Nevertheless, there are enthusiasts in this field out there: the cemetery church of Archangel Michael in Apatity, designed by Dmitry Ostroumov and Prokhram bureau, combines tradition and experiment. This is not an experiment for its own sake, however – rather, the considered work of a contemporary architect with the symbolism of space, volume, and, above all, light.
Champions’ Cup
At first glance, the Bell skyscraper on 1st Yamskogo Polya Street, 12, appears strict and laconic – though by no means modest. Its economical stereometry is built on a form close to an oval, one of UNK architects’ favorite themes. The streamlined surface of the main volume, clad in metal louvers, is sliced twice with glass incisions that graphically reveal the essence of the original shape: both its simplicity and its complexity. At the same time, dozens of highly complex engineering puzzles have been solved here.
Semi-Digital Environment
In the town of Innopolis, a satellite of Kazan, the first 4-star hotel designed by MAD Architects has opened. The interiors of the hotel combine elegance with irony, and technology with comfort, evoking the atmosphere of a computer game or maybe a sci-fi movie about the near future.
History never ends
The old railway station in Kapan, a city in southern Armenia, has been given new life by the Paris-based design firm Normal Studio. Today, it serves as a TUMO center.
A Deep, Crystal Shine
A new luxury residential development by ADM architects is set to rise in the Patriarch’s Ponds district, not far from Novopushkinsky Square. It will replace three buildings erected in the early 1990s. The project authors, Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova, have placed their bets on the variety among the three volumes, modern design solutions, and attention to detail: one of the buildings will feature smoothly curved balconies with a ceramic sheen on their undersides, while another will be accented by glass “sculpture” columns.
Grigory Revzin: “What we should do with the architecture of the seventies”
Soviet modernism came in two flavors: the good, author-driven kind, and the bad, standardized kind. The good kind was “on the periphery”, while the bad kind was in the center – geographically, in terms of attention, scale, and everything else. Can we demolish it? “That would be destroying public consensus out of thin air”. So what should we do? Preserve it, but creatively: “Bring architecture into places where it hasn’t yet appeared”. Treat these buildings not as monuments, but as urban landscape. Read our interview with Grigory Revzin on the pressing topic of saving modernism – where he proposes a controversial, yet really intriguing, way of preserving 1970s buildings.
A Roadside Picnic of Urban Planning Theorists
Marina Egorova, head of Empate Architectural Bureau, brought together urban planning theorists – the successors of Alexey Gutnov and Vyacheslav Glazychev – to revive the substance and depth of professional discourse. At the first meeting, much ground was covered: the participants revisited the theoretical foundations, aligned their values, examined a cutting-edge case of the Kazan agglomeration, and concluded with the unfathomable intricacies of Russian land demarcation. Below, we present key takeaways from all the presentations.
Perspective View
CNTR Architects has designed a business center for a new district in Yekaterinburg, aiming to reduce the need for commuting and make the residential environment more diverse. The architectural solutions are equally focused on creating spatial flexibility, comfortable working conditions, and a memorable image that could allow the building to become a spatial landmark of the district.
Malevich and Bathhouses, Nature and High-Tech
The Malevich Bathhouse complex is scheduled to open in the fall of 2025 on the Rublyovo-Uspenskoye Highway. The project, designed by DBA-GROUP under the leadership of Vladislav Andreev, is an example of an unconventional approach to the image of a spa in general and of a bathhouse in particular. Deliberately avoiding any kind of allusion, the architects opted for streamlined forms with characteristic rounded corners, a combination of wood with bent glass, and restrained contemporary shapes – both inside and out. Let’s take a closer look at the project.
Rather, a Tablecloth and a Glass!
After many years, the long-abandoned Horse Guards Department building in St. Petersburg has finally received the attention it deserves: according to a design by Studio 44, the first restoration and adaptation works are scheduled to begin this year. Both the intended function and the general scope of works imply minimal alteration to the complex, which has preserved traces of its three-century history. All solutions are reversible and aimed, above all, at opening the monument to the city and immersing it in a lively social scene – hence the choice of a cultural center scenario with a strong gastronomic component.
​Materialization of Airflows
The Nikolai Kamov International Airport in Tomsk opened at the end of August last year. We have already written about the project – now we are taking a look at the completed building. Its functionality is reinforced by symbolic undertones: the architects at ASADOV sought to reflect local identity in the architecture as fully as possible.
The City as a Narrative
Sergey Skuratov’s approach to large urban plots could best be described as a “total design code”. The architect pays equal attention to the overall composition and the smallest of details, striving to ensure that every aspect is thoroughly thought out and subordinated to the original vision. It’s a Renaissance-like approach, really – a titanic effort demanding remarkable willpower and perseverance. The results are likewise grand – architecture that makes a statement. This article looks at the revived concept for the central section of the Seventh Heaven residential district in Kazan, a composition so thoroughly considered that even the “gradient of visual emphasis” (sic!) across the facades has been carefully worked out. It also touches on the narrative idea behind the project – and even the architect’s own doubts about it.
A Garden of Hope for Freedom
In October, at the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery in Suzdal, the Prison Yard Garden opened on the site that had served as a prison from the 18th century until the Khrushchev Thaw. The architectural concept was developed by NOῨD Short Film, and the landscape design by the MOX landscape bureau. In fact, there are two gardens here – very different ones. We try to understand whether they evoke the right emotions in visitors, while also showing the beauty of June’s ruderal plants in bloom.
A Laconic Image of Time
The Time Square residential complex, built on the northern edge of St. Petersburg, appears more concise and efficient than its neighbor and predecessor, the New Time complex. Nevertheless, the architect’s hand is clearly felt: themes of “black and white”, “inside and outside”, and most notably, the “lamellar” quality of the facades that seems to visibly “eat away” at the buildings’ mass – everything is played out like a well-written score. One is reminded of both classical modernism and the so-called “post-constructivism”.
The Flower of the Lake
The prototype for the building of the Kamal Theater in Kazan is an ice flower: a rare and fragile natural phenomenon of Lake Kaban “froze” in the large, soaring outlines of the glass screens enclosing the main volume, shaping its silhouette and shielding the stained-glass windows from the sun. The project, led by the Wowhaus consortium and including global architecture “star” Kengo Kuma, won the 2021/2022 competition and was realized close to the original concept in a short – very short – period of time. The theater opened in early 2025. It was Kengo Kuma who proposed the image of an ice flower and the contraposition of cold on the outside and warmth on the inside. Between 2022 and 2024, Wowhaus did everything possible to bring this vision to life, practically living on-site. Now we are taking a closer look at this landmark building and its captivating story.
Peaceful Integration on Mira Avenue
The MIRA residential complex (the word mir means “peace” in Russian), perched above the steep banks of the Yauza River and Mira Avenue, lives up to its name not only technically, but also visually and conceptually. Sleek, high-rise, and glass-clad, it responds both to Zholtovsky’s classicism and to the modernism of the nearby “House on Stilts”. Drawing on features from its neighbors, it reconciles them within a shared architectural language rooted in contemporary façade design. Let’s take a closer look at how this is done.
An Interior for a New Format of Education
The design of the new building for Tyumen State University (TyumSU) was initially developed before the pandemic but later revised to meet new educational requirements. The university has adopted a “2+2+2” system, which eliminates traditional divisions into groups and academic streams in favor of individualized study programs. These changes were implemented swiftly – right at the start of construction. Now that the building is complete, we are taking a closer look.
Penthouses and Kokoshniks
A new residential complex designed by ASADOV Architects for the Krasnaya Roza business district responds to its proximity to 17th-century landmarks – the chambers of the Hamovny Dvor and St. Nicholas Church – as well as to the need to preserve valuable façades of a historic rental house built in the Russian Revival style. The architects proposed a set of buildings of varying heights, whose façades reference ecclesiastical architecture. But we were also able to detect other associations.
Centipede Town
The new school campus designed by ATRIUM Architects, located on the shores of a protected lake in the Imeretian Lowland Ornithological Reserve, represents an important and ambitious undertaking for the team: this is not just a school, but a Presidential Lyceum for the comprehensive development of gifted children – 2,500 students from age 3 through high school. At the same time, it is also envisioned as a new civic hub for the entire Sirius territory. In this article, we unpack the structure and architecture of this “lyceum town”.