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​Exquisite and Simple

A curious mix of oriental architecture and Leningrad town planning principles: Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners again raised the bar for the mass housing construction.

28 November 2019
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The housing complex “LEGENDA Dalnevostochnogo” completes one of the newly-built blocks between the Neva and the Prospect Bolshevikov metro station. Over the recent decade, this area has been rapidly developing: the former industrial parks are being renovated and turned into housing projects, and the infrastructure keeps on growing – in addition to various shopping malls, this place boasts the Ice Palace and the base of SKA ice hockey club, the towers of the business complex “Morskaya Stolitsa” (“The Sea Capital”) are in construction, and there are plans for building the Soyuzny Prospect here, as well as a new section of the East High-Speed Diameter here.

The circle that is the closest to the metro station consists of standard prefab houses of the 1990’s, followed by the colossal housing complexes of the 2000’s, and the more human-friendly buildings, if not in height, then at least in the diversity of the facades. The city block, where LEGENDA was built upon the project of Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners is essentially a mix of the two recent phenomena: the housing complex RIO with its multicolored balconies echoes the housing complex “Skladskaya 28”, with unassuming slabs of houses between them. On the other hand, the city block has a clear-cut perimeter structure, and LEGENDA in this respect is the last missing link that completes it and marks the corner of the Dalnevostochny and the future Soyuzny avenues.

Residential complex “LEGENDA Dalnevostochnogo”
Copyright © Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners


Evgeny Gerasimov shares that the architectural solution is based on the Leningrad town planning tradition with its “clarity, order, and logic, all existing in some certain economic and aesthetic conditions”, as well as has a certain oriental twist to it, as a tribute to the local toponymy, which also matches the overall minimalist concept.

The architects considered several composition options; at the same time, in all of them the volumes supported the street front: with a closed city block and towers, slabs of different height, various twists and turns of the sections. Eventually, however, they settled on a solution that was deliberately laconic: seven towers with a rectangular plan are placed alongside the borders of the land site, joined together with a two-story gallery. Three corner buildings are oriented on the street lines; four “intermediate” ones go deeper inside the yard. What the architects ultimately ended up getting is an open city block with plenty of space and light: the spaces between the buildings are large, which helps the complex to maintain its silhouette, because the sections are clearly viewable in the “gaps”, and various interesting views are seen from various vantage points.

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    Residential complex “LEGENDA Dalnevostochnogo”
    Copyright: Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners © Tatiana Kovalenko
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    Copyright: Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners © Tatiana Kovalenko
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    Copyright: Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners © Photograph: Andrey Bekimov-Gushchin
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    Residential complex “LEGENDA Dalnevostochnogo”
    Copyright: Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners © Photograph: Andrey Bekimov-Gushchin


As an offset to the pristine and laconic surface of the complex, its facades are deliberately asymmetric: the windows and the balconies follow a set rhythm, yet its color accents – strokes, dots, and intertwining ornaments – arrest one’s gaze and make one look for repeating patterns. The side ends of the towers are flat; they are coated with light-colored ceramic granite. The broad wall is more tactile and has more plastique about it thanks to the wood-imitating panels, color contrasts, and balconies. Getting back to the oriental allusions – the light-colored side of the buildings looks like neat bento boxes, while the dark side like makisu bamboo mats with an array of stanza “rolls”. 

The air pillow of the gallery – an element quite unusual for complexes of such class, with columns, pilasters, and transparent glass – vividly reminds us about other samples of local architecture: the House on Pillars on the Novosmolenskaya Waterfront or the Ivan Fomin and Evgeny Levinson House on the Karpovka Embankment.

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    Residential complex “LEGENDA Dalnevostochnogo”
    Copyright: Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners © Photograph: Andrey Bekimov-Gushchin
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    Copyright: Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners © Photograph: Andrey Bekimov-Gushchin
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    Residential complex “LEGENDA Dalnevostochnogo”
    Copyright: Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners © Photograph: Andrey Bekimov-Gushchin
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    Residential complex “LEGENDA Dalnevostochnogo”
    Copyright: Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners © Photograph: Andrey Bekimov-Gushchin
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    Residential complex “LEGENDA Dalnevostochnogo”
    Copyright: Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners © Photograph: Andrey Bekimov-Gushchin


The yard is also unusual – Evgeny Gerasimov claims that in this case he took the landscaping work to a whole new level. First of all, there are many different spaces with different scenarios here. In the middle, there is a universal sports field; in the cozy corners, fenced off by the buildings, there are three recreation areas for different age brackets: the architects thought not only about the little ones but also about the teenagers (which quite a rare case), and about the grownups. All the areas are connected with trails and small spots for quiet recreation. A special mention should be given to the galleries of the entrance groups: these create a smooth transition from the street outside to the house, a place protected from the wind and the rain, where one van wait to meet somebody, and the kids can play longer. Another thing that invites people to spend more time outside is the outdoor armchairs: one can enjoy here a cup of tea while reading a book or just sit here working with a laptop. This seemingly unassuming element at once takes the yard to a higher level of modern standards for public areas.

Second, the zones of the yard are organized so beautifully that the yard, without any exaggeration, can be called the fifth facade; it makes one feel good just to look out the windows here. Each of the venues has a paving pattern of its own, while the landscaping spots merge together into a single, seemingly chaotic, yet well-thought-out, like in a stone garden, composition, which offsets the geometric rigidity of the architecture. Due to the fact that the underground parking garage runs underneath the perimeter of the building, the yard will get more “oases” of trees and shrubs – promises the developer.

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    Residential complex “LEGENDA Dalnevostochnogo”
    Copyright: Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners © Photograph: Andrey Bekimov-Gushchin
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    Copyright: Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners © Photograph: Andrey Bekimov-Gushchin
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    Residential complex “LEGENDA Dalnevostochnogo”
    Copyright: Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners © Photograph: Andrey Bekimov-Gushchin


The apartment layouts in this complex are of the “smart” category: they were developed with consideration for various lifestyles of the future residents – from a single young man to a family with two kids and grandparents, so that in small apartments every square inch was useful, and the larger ones would get the “luxury of spaciousness”. From the housing of a higher class, the architects also “borrowed” the bedrooms with walk-in closets, children’s rooms with bathrooms, and bathrooms with windows. The total catalogue contains 250 basic planning solutions, all of which are patented.

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    Residential complex “LEGENDA Dalnevostochnogo”
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    Residential complex “LEGENDA Dalnevostochnogo”
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Evgeny Gerasimov emphasizes that the entire complex is bound together by repeating details. For example, the natural materials are first seen on the facades and are later on continued in the landscaping concept; the gallery is there both on the inside and outside, and the “Japanese” and “Leningrad” traditions also coexist on more than one level.

“LEGENDA Dalnevostochnogo” is the developer’s fifth joint project with Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners, and the second realization. Yet another housing complex of the same “smart” category, “LEGENDA na Komendantskom”, is being built on the other end of the city, and demonstrated quite a different approach, conditioned by the context: an urge to stand out with bright multicolored squares. Also, in the Petergofskoe Highway, “LEGENDA Geroev” is in construction, which includes all of the techniques seen in the two previous projects, and vividly demonstrates that mass housing can be indeed diverse, comfortable, and beautiful.
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28 November 2019

Headlines now
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”.
Warm Black and White
The second phase of “Quarter 31”, designed by KPLN and built in the Moscow suburb town of Pushkino, reveals a multifaceted character. At first glance, the complex appears to be defined by geometry and a monochrome palette. But a closer look reveals a number of “irregular” details: a gradient of glazing and flared window frames, a hierarchy of façades, volumetric brickwork, and even architectural references to natural phenomena. We explore all the rules – and exceptions – that we were able to discover here.
​Skylights and Staircase
Photos from March show the nearly completed headquarters of FSK Group on Shenogina Street. The building’s exterior is calm and minimalist; the interior is engaging and multi-layered. The conical skylights of the executive office, cast in raw concrete, and the sweeping spiral staircase leading to it, are particularly striking. In fact, there’s more than one spiral staircase here, and the first two floors effectively form a small shopping center. More below.