The Flowing Lines

Probably, for more than a year now the drivers of the cars entering the south end of the Lefortovo Tunnel underneath the Yauza River have been able to see a string of contrastive-colored striped houses that tangibly livened up the cityscape with their rather unusual visual appearance. These are the houses of Stage 1B of the “Simvol” residential complex that DONSTROY development company is building on the territory of the former “Serp i Molot” factory. The houses are finished, and the residents are moving in; last summer, in the center of the landscaped section of the territory, with the participation of the Moscow Mayor, the first fragment of the “Green River” was inaugurated – a promenade designed by the architects of the first stage, the ATRIUM studio.

zooming — “Simvol” residential complex (Stage 1B)

Copyright: © DONSTROY

We already covered this project some time ago. It has an extensive history: in 2014, a competition was organized for the redevelopment of 58 hectares – most of the giant territory of the former factory. At that time, the judging panel opted for the idea proposed by MVRDV but the client ultimately preferred the concept proposed by the British consortium headed by LDA. The concept, very green and bionic – manmade hills alternating with towers and little corners of “semi-blocks” of streamlined shapes – was further developed by the British (again) UHA London, which brought it closer to reality, refraining from the highest centerpieces, but maintaining the “green” component as a focus on landscaping, as well as the preference for flowing and supple plastique. And it comes as no surprise at all that for on-site design within the framework of the design code, Moscow-based ATRIUM was invited – a team of architects known for their adherence to the sculptural plastique of the form. Which ultimately made it possible to get these houses that now attract the attention of the motorists driving down the Third Transport Ring – the most unconventional ones that stand out against the background of the metropolitan construction industry.

The group of buildings of Stage 1B, designed and built by Vera Butko and Anton Nadtochiy, is situated in the eastern part of the factory’s territory and consists of five U-shaped “frames” of different degree of asymmetry; all of them are opened on the promenade and grouped around it.

Let us start with the boulevard: ultimately, DONSTROY is promising to make it a public pedestrian artery. About 30 meters wide and slightly bent, in the future it will traverse the whole triangular territory of the residential complex from east to west, parallel to the Entuziastov Highway. The total length of the boulevard is about 2 km; it was originally designed as the recreational and “green” axis of the complex still in the concept stage. Currently, the fragment belonging to Stage 1B has been finished, about a fifth of its length. Besides green lawns, trails, and landscaping elements, it includes state-of-the-art playgrounds and sports fields designed by “Chekharda” company: steel slides, constructions of natural logs, pergolas, and trampolines. The project of expanding the park will also be done by ATRIUM.

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“Simvol” residential complex (Stage 1B)

Copyright: © DONSTROY
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“Simvol” residential complex (Stage 1B)

Copyright: © DONSTROY
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“Simvol” residential complex (Stage 1B)

Copyright: © DONSTROY
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“Simvol” residential complex (Stage 1B)

Copyright: Photograph © ATRIUM

The most amazing and attractive element, however, is the bridge. It is situated approximately in the middle of the finished district at the crossing of the promenade and the only inner driving street in the eastern part of the complex, the Nevelskogo Drive. The LDA concept and UHA elaboration did not have the bridge in them – the promenade and the drive simply crossed – and the bridge, which made it possible, on the one hand, to separate the flows and make the promenade more peaceful and self-sufficient, and, on the other hand, to make it more sophisticated and double-tiered, was proposed by the ATRIUM architects and designed in collaboration with Vladimir Garanin architectural studio.

The bridge is divided into a driveway and a pedestrian bridge, wavy and running parallel to the main one. The promenade, on the other hand, which, as we remember, is completely pedestrian, “ducks” under the bridge. Probably, this is how the name of “Green River” came around: the elongated pedestrian space is situated lower than the private yards of the residential buildings, and, because of height difference, it does look like a river that flows between two sloping green banks. Underneath the bridge, it gets deeper still, ever so smoothly – walking here, we suddenly find ourselves on the minus-first level. The play with the levels was made possible due to the fact that the relief here is chiefly man-made. First of all, according to the architects, the ground here was re-cultivated after the metallurgical plant, and, second, all of the houses feature underground parking garages, the private yards resting on their roofs, while here, on the central axis of the complex, where there are no underground parking garages, the solution to “sink” the whole green river, routing it underneath the bridge, literally suggested itself.

The end effect looks curious in itself: it not just separates the flows at the crossing, relieving the pedestrians of the necessity to “cross the street” – it also creates a few emotional types of city space, not just different, but suggesting comparison, and experiencing the differences between the neighboring sites: one can look up from below and look down from above, one can hide underneath the bridge from the sun or the rain, or, conversely, walk from beneath it, feeling the space and the enticing perspective of intertwining trails. In addition, walking down the promenade towards the bridge, we are objectively going down, but subjectively we are “raising” the railings for ourselves, getting an opportunity to interact with the bottom floors of the buildings, as if gaining a permit to access the city part of the stylobate, which essentially forms the key role of the bridge as an important local hub – whose set of functional features will, of course, be determined by the functional content of the bottom floors. However, the premises adjoining the bridge are already booked not for a parking lot but for cafes, with a possibility to use the gently sloping squares of the banks as the summer terraces. Together with the open-air wooden amphitheater and the pebble-like circular seats scattered around, a certain nucleus of the public life of the district is being formed here – or even a small city plaza akin to those that we love in the historical centers of European cities, the difference being that it is made car-free not by the traffic signs but by the height drop. Various groups of youth culture choose bridges as their favorite hangouts – the architects explain. And here they created such a hangout, yet more glamorous than just a space underneath the bridge.

Another bright detail is the “cachepot” columns that support trees and climbing plants. “Usually, bridges are devoid of any verdure; they become blind spots in the city’s green framework. And we decided to change this and elevate the trees above the ground, making our bridge green” – the architects say. The plinths of the columns are smoothly rounded, like a tilting doll’s; the concrete surface is perfectly smooth: its high quality, as the architects say, was ensured by the general contractor, FODD Company.

Everything here works towards creating the effect of these volumes looking more like vases and less like the bridge supports. The constructive supports are treated in a non-tectonic way, thanks to which the bridges, both automobile and pedestrian, visually rather hover above the ground, surrounded by hyper-cachepots, than rest on them. The paving pattern reacts to the columns’ standing points in concentric circles, which in a conditional and general way are symbolic of circles on the water – this, on the one hand, enhances the “river” associations, and, on the other hand, marks the difference between the promenade and an actual river because the lines of the trails on the promenade stretch like the flow of the river, whilst the circles also cover all the other non-promenade streets and yards of the complex, i.e. the whole conditional “terra firma”; after all, we mostly see such circles in the puddles on the city streets, and they can be, to a certain degree, a symbol of city space in general.

Anyway, the smooth lines of the trails, looking like a half-undone braid, water streams in the river, or water weed – everything symbolically highlights the status of the promenade as the “Green River”. One can really appreciate the whole idea when looking from above: the effect is mostly designed for the look from the top floors, when the landscaping project takes on a role of the “fifth facade”.

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“Simvol” residential complex (Stage 1B)
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“Simvol” residential complex (Stage 1B)
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“Simvol” residential complex (Stage 1B)

The graphic completeness of the landscaping part, its “clarity of statement” both for the gaze of pedestrians and people looking from above, creates an impression of space that is carefully looked after, an impression of a space that is coherent and well thought out in terms of all of manifestations of the complex, both inward and outward, subjected to a single concept. Needless to say, these ideas are continued in the entrance groups: flowing lines of the floors and walls, natural colors, white pointed reception desk; in addition, three will be a small winter garden inside – a “green wall”.

The intertwining of the lines of the promenade resonates with the moderately flowing lines of the facades. Or, rather, it is the other way around: the contrastive and willful, “wired” graphics of the houses got reflected in the promenade; ultimately it was the primary structure-forming factor.

As for the outlines of the houses, they are subjected to the architecture of the apartments, and are therefore more on the rectangular side (even though it must be said that the parameters of the houses are really good: the ceiling height is 3.5 meters, the window height is 2.1 meters, the skewed “crowns” of the top floors host penthouses). However, let us admit that perfect bionics is nearly impossible and really hard to implement in housing projects; the architects, limiting themselves to rounded corners and asymmetric arrangement of two houses out of five, left the rest to the large-scale pattern of the lines. These are visually active, they arrest one’s gaze, and they pierce the space of the complex — by using these lines, the architects were able to enhance the effect of bionic agility, maybe even impose on the houses this modern statement as a reasonable compromise between the marketing requirements and the project’s imagery. As a result, these two do not contradict each other at all, as is often the case, between the creative impulse and the harsh marketing realities, but rather boost each other: the financial part of the project did not have to make any significant concessions for the sake of the form, yet, at the same time, the architecture provides a recognizable and, hopefully, “sales-friendly” image of the houses. The architects say that they are specifically grateful to DONSTROY for its readiness to build by a nonlinear project with rounded corners of the concrete framework and curvilinear panels of the metallic coating.

The buildings are subdivided into two types: three smaller ones, from 5 to 17 stories high, in the middle — these are dominated by horizontal motion, their silhouette being formed by large ledges (for the adjoining apartments, terraces are designed). The two other buildings are situated at the edges; they are 21 and 27 stories respectively, about 100 meters high, and are vertically designed: each of the sections, has rounded corners, and on the plan (or if viewed from above) each of the buildings looks like a multiply bound toy balloon. The form makes it possible to highlight their structure as a group of tall sections, like several towers sticking together. However, what the architects do is they disrupt the pristine array of verticals with a diagonal at the joint between the facades and dark brick or white surfaces. All of the towers, like yin and yang, are composed of such halves, the diagonal contour echoing the branching lines on the “horizontal” buildings.

The “halves” on the facades of the tall buildings are endowed with an easily readable contrastive look: the fine grid of the brick lintels is treated vertically, the windows are grouped height-wise, the white part is horizontal by nature, and then the bands of windows come into play – they also step a little bit forward, taking on the role of the “skin” or the “bark” of the houses. Which makes the facades look as if they consist of three or even four layers: white substance – brick – dark metal –glass windows. They have a relief, distinct and imbued with a “telltale” plot — for example, curvilinear dark metal with thin grooves is to be seen pretty much everywhere here, like a reminder of the metallurgical past of this territory.

Just like the metallic casings for the air conditioning units, which support the texture and the rhythm on some of the facades. The brick is definitely responsible for the modern trends and the respectability of the complex, while its “relevant” differently-toned surface is set in metallic frames everywhere. Four textures and two directions of motion in the long run turn out to be quite enough to create an image that is as integral as it is agile – at times it looks as if the buildings were arrested in midair, getting frozen in some strange dance, moving sometimes rhythmically and sometimes smoothly, and this is what their megalithic charm is all about.

The “dance” effect is further supported by numerous different vantage points: using the bend of the promenade and placing just a few of the sections at an angle on the pivot of this bend, the architects ended up with a multitude of vantage points, as well as a constant shift of the picture as one walks the promenade. “The perspective in motion is something that is particularly intriguing because new angles of vision open up” – Anton Nadtochiy says.

It must also be said that, even though Stage 1B currently does look like an oasis amidst a giant construction site, already now, on the inside – on the promenade – this is hardly ever felt: from here, the city looks quite self-realized and self-sufficient, like an element that is deadly to be included into a larger system, yet at the same time quite capable of functioning on its own, first of all due to the inner axis of the promenade and the nucleus of the “bridge” crossroads. Its town planning structure is open to development, yet at the same time it is ready to take in new residents, while the integrity of the “genetic code” is to a large degree ensured by the above-mentioned super-graphics that unites all the volumes, together with the “fifth facade”, with a single structure of large lines and spots, agile and supercharged with modern dynamics.

Currently, the ATRIUM architects are involved in designing the eastern half of the “Simvol” promenade, its fragments situated left and right of the finished one, along with the school and kindergarten buildings. The eastern part of the boulevard is to get an oval cafe building, an artificial pond, and a “dry fountain”; the theme of “circles on the water” – the large graphic pavement elements – is also further distributed all around. South of the finished houses, there will appear yet another “inner” pedestrian promenade of a smaller size. Another four houses will be built in the south corner of the territory, west of the school building; these were jointly designed by WALL and ATRIUM (they proposed facades that inherit some elements of the finished buildings, specifically, the white balconies with a curved outline, these can be seen on the complex’s website). Then it is planned to build yet another house east of Stage 1B, by the project developed by Timur Bashkaev’s ABTB, and then still another house on the sharp eastern corner that opens up to the Entuziastov Highway, by Julius Borisov’s UNK Project. Totally, the “Simvol” residential complex will include six construction stages.

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“Simvol” residential complex (Stage 1B)

Copyright: © DONSTROY
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“Simvol” residential complex (Stage 1B)

Copyright: © DONSTROY
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“Simvol” residential complex (Stage 1B)

Copyright: © DONSTROY
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“Simvol” residential complex (Stage 1B)

Copyright: © DONSTROY

08 April 2020

Written by:
Julia Tarabarina
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

Headlines now

The Mirror of Your Soul

We continue to publish projects from the competition for the design of the Russian Pavilion at EXPO in Osaka 2025. We are reminding you that the results of the competition have not been announced, and hardly will ever be. The pavilion designed by ASADOV Architects combines a forest log cabin, the image of a hyper transition, and sculptures made of glowing threads – it focuses primarily on the scenography of the exhibition, which the pavilion builds sequentially like a string of impressions, dedicating it to the paradoxes of the Russian soul.

Part of the Ideal

In 2025, another World Expo will take place in Osaka, Japan, in which Russia will not participate. However, a competition for the Russian pavilion was indeed held, with six projects participating. The results were never announced as Russia’s participation was canceled; the competition has no winners. Nevertheless, Expo pavilion projects are typically designed for a bold and interesting architectural statement, so we’ve gathered all the six projects and will be publishing articles about them in random order. The first one is the project by Vladimir Plotkin and Reserve Union, which is distinguished by the clarity of its stereometric shape, the boldness of its structure, and the multiplicity of possible interpretations.

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The Fortress by the River

ASADOV Architects have developed a concept for a new residential district in the center of Kemerovo. To combat the harsh climate and monotonous everyday life, the architects proposed a block type of development with dominant towers, good insolation, facades detailed at eye level, and event programming.

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In the Rhombus Grid

Construction has begun on the building of the OMK (United Metallurgical Company) Corporate University in Nizhny Novgorod’s town of Vyksa, designed by Ostozhenka Architects. The most interesting aspect of the project is how the architects immersed it in the context: “extracting” a diagonal motif from the planning grid of Vyksa, they aligned the building, the square, and the park to match it. A truly masterful work with urban planning context on several different levels of perception has long since become the signature technique of Ostozhenka.

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Generational Connection

Another modern estate, designed by Roman Leonidov, is located in the Moscow region and brings together three generations of one family under one roof. To fit on a narrow plot without depriving anyone of personal space, the architects opted for a zigzag plan. The main volume in the house structure is accentuated by mezzanines with a reverse-sloped roof and ceilings featuring exposed beams.

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Three Dimensions of the City

We began to delve into the project by Sergey Skuratov, the residential complex “Depo” in Minsk, located at Victory Square, and it fascinated us completely. The project has at least several dimensions to it: historical – at some point, the developer decided to discontinue further collaboration with Sergey Skuratov Architects, but the concept was approved, and its implementation continues, mostly in accordance with the proposed ideas. The spatial and urban planning dimension – the architects both argue with the city and play along with it, deciphering nuances, and finding axes. And, finally, the tactile dimension – the constructed buildings also have their own intriguing features. Thus, this article also has two parts: it dwells on what has been built and what was conceived

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New “Flight”

Architects from “Mezonproject” have developed a project for the reconstruction of the regional youth center “Polyot”(“Flight”) in the city of Oryol. The summer youth center, built back in the late 1970s, will now become year-round and acquire many additional functions.

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The Yauza Towers

In Moscow, there aren’t that many buildings or projects designed by Nikita Yavein and Studio 44. In this article, we present to you the concept of a large multifunctional complex on the Yauza River, located between two parks, featuring a promenade, a crossroads of two pedestrian streets, a highly developed public space, and an original architectural solution. This solution combines a sophisticated, asymmetric façade grid, reminiscent of a game of fifteen puzzle, and bold protrusions of the upper parts of the buildings, completely masking the technical floors and sculpting the complex’s silhouette.

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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.

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A New Age Portico

At the beginning of the year, Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport opened Terminal C. The large-scale and transparent entrance hall with luminous columns inside successfully combines laconism with a bright and photogenic WOW-effect. The terminal is both the new façade of the whole complex and the starting point of the planned reconstruction, upon completion of which Tolmachevo will become the largest regional airport in Russia. In this article, we are examining the building in the context of modernist prototypes of both Novosibirsk and Leningrad: like puzzle pieces, they come together to form their individual history, not devoid of curious nuances and details.

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A New Starting Point

We’ve been wanting to examine the RuArts Foundation space, designed by ATRIUM for quite a long time, and we finally got round to it. This building looks appropriate and impressive; it amazingly combines tradition – represented in our case by galleries – and innovation. In this article, we delve into details and study the building’s historical background as well.

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Molding Perspectives

Stepan Liphart introduces “schematic Art Deco” on the outskirts of Kazan – his houses are executed in green color, with a glassy “iced” finish on the facades. The main merits of the project lie in his meticulous arrangement of viewing angles – the architect is striving to create in a challenging environment the embryo of a city not only in terms of pedestrian accessibility but also in a sculptural sense. He works with silhouettes, proposing intriguing triangular terraces. The entire project is structured like a crystal, following two grids, orthogonal and diagonal. In this article, we are examining what worked, and what eventually didn’t.

​The Flowing Lines

The Flowing Lines