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​Balance of Infill Development

Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio is designing a house that inadvertently prevails over the surrounding buildings, yet still tries to peacefully coexist with the surrounding environment, taking it to a next level.

Alyona Kuznetsova

Written by:
Alyona Kuznetsova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

30 March 2020
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The housing project will be built in Sosnovka district, near the Utkina Creek – the latter is probably familiar to a lot of Russian people thanks to a Boris Grebenshchikov song, which indirectly describes this place as a problem area. As one can easily guess, this place used to be a pine forest, a large portion of which actually survived – the territory of Alexander Chernov’s dacha, handed over to “Radio Center #3” – and turned as a consequence into a restricted area.

The district, where the construction site is situated, opens up on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment – this is the former settlement “Svet Rabochim” (“Light to the Workers”), which was essentially a housing project of the State District Power Plant “Krasniy Oktyabr” (“Red October”), consisting of “German” three-story houses built in the 1920-1930’s, “Khrushchev” houses, and slightly taller “Stalin” buildings.



In this part of the city, the right bank of the Neva River, unlike the left one, filled with residential complexes of megalithic proportions, keeps so far human-friendly scale, and little green streets and yards, not overcrowded with cars. However, this area is also growing denser by degrees. For example, in 2007, a 25-story house was wedged into the city block in question; a little closer to the embankment, the housing complex Veren is being built, designed by Studio 44. As for the house designed by Anatoly Stolyarchuk, it is situated on the third line from the embankment, in the very center of the “little town”. And this location actually presented the main designing challenges.



First of all, the house steps back, yet it will still be quite a highlight, because it is going to be about two or three times higher than the surrounding buildings. Its configuration is the only possible solution under the technical and economic performance conditions and insolation requirements. Two of its sections are turned in the direction of the embankment, and yet another one goes into the depth of the block; together, they form an L-shaped plan that makes it possible to avoid overshadowing the apartments of the neighboring houses. But then again, such positioning corresponds to the latitudinal orientation of the entire area. On a small land plot, the architects were able to place a little yard with playgrounds, and a kindergarten for two groups of children – it occupies the whole first floor of the unit that has windows gazing south — an entrance pavilion for driving into the underground parking garage, and everything else that was included into building code – driveways, setbacks, parking lots, etc.



We are covering this in such great detail because working with land plots that look like an unsolvable equation, became one of the trademark specialties of Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio. A similar situation was there with the house on the Prilukskaya Street, a residential complex on the Sofiyskaya Street, and many others. As a rule, the company delivers a pure form, looking at which one does not even suspect what it took to “stretch” this multistory house on a small land plot amidst preexisting environment.



The facade solutions, again, are of the company’s trademark kind – they respond to the context and balance it off with rhythm and proportions, without verbatim quotes or imitations, speaking in the language of modern architecture.

The architects treat the L-shaped volume of the building as a two-layer one: it has a “basis” of the neutral gray tone, walls, covered with tiles of horizontal proportions in two tones, lighter and darker – and the light matter of the glazed stanzas, which consist of white frames and glass. The “basis” behaves in an extremely neutral way, only on the spatial pivot of the corner appears a large modernist cantilever with a “television” stained glass facade that, nonetheless, takes on the role of the house’s main highlight: this way, the house gazes past the river and in the direction of the center of the city.



There is no actual entrance underneath the cantilever, only the side wall of the kindergarten, so this solution is not so much functional as an “image” and “plastique” one, yet still essential in this particular case: it accentuates the corner, specifically for those who drive down the embankment. The “television” stained glass facade is composed of glazed recessed balconies, the same kind that forms the strokes of the large horizontals left and right of the facade that stretches along the embankment.



White recessed balconies also appear in the center, on the elongated facades of the slabs; they are grouped into vertical blocks of threes and fives, and are arranged in a staggered order: this way, the architects, on the one hand, avoid the proverbial “thermometer” effect created by vertical groups of glazed recessed balconies, and, on the other hand, give the facade some expressive plastique of ledges and recessions, which produces a regular play of light and shade, at the same time providing each of the apartments with a full amount of insolation, 6 square meters per apartment on average.



In the yard, where the verticals of the utility lines are plainly seen, the rhythm is more reserved, yet new themes appear – for example, fine mesh of white cells, and the composite character of the building is felt more strongly.



It must be noted that the staggered compositions of recessed balconies become the signature technique of Anatoly Stolyarchuk’s; this is not the first time he works with this theme, and each of his solutions is a little bit different. For example, in the hotel on the Veteranov Avenue, the checkered pattern of the glazed recessed balconies is much denser, but it is diluted by backlights and brass finish. In the house on the Prilukskaya Street, the recessed balconies are accentuated by slim verticals.





On the Oktyabrskaya, the balconies have almost a perfectly cubical shape, and are prominently articulated. In addition, the varying height of the stacks allows the house to better respond to the surrounding buildings, “imbibing” their typology.



Anatoly Stolyarchuk believes that modernizing the old panoramas is inevitable; this process cannot be stopped. And this process also yields certain benefits: the access roads are going to be overhauled, the nearby territory will be organized, and, as was already said, a new kindergarten will appear. There is almost no doubt that this house of a higher class will give this area some extra momentum for development, as well as will set of the already existing high-rises. 

A couple of years back, infill development as a positive factor was talked about by the Saint Petersburg office of MLA+: according to estimates, about 77 million dollars’ worth of apartments can be built within the “body” of the city. If this potential is to be used, Saint Petersburg can stay within its boundaries for another ten years. This infill development thing, must be, of course, organized in a smart way: the architects must carefully select and match the new functions, making sure that they correspond to the construction norms and the surrounding context. And in this particular instance we are seeing a fine example of such humane work: a considerate to its context, and doubtlessly well-balanced house, whose height is not much of a drawback, really.
The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
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    Multifunctional housing project “Megalit”. Construction, 2016
    Copyright: © Eugene Gerasimov and Partners
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    The left bank of the Neva River. The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
    Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
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    The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
    Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
3-star mixed-use hotel complex
Copyright: © ​Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
The housing project on the Prilukskaya Street
Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
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    Plan of the parking lot. The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
    Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
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    Plan of the 1st floor. The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
    Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
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    Plan of the 2nd floor. The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
    Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
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    Plan of the 3rd floor. The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
    Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
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    Plans of the 4th, 5th, and 6th floors. The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
    Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
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    Plans of the 7th, 8th, and 9th floors. The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
    Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
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    Plan of the 10th floor. The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
    Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
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    Section view #1. The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
    Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio
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    Section view #2. The housing complex on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment
    Copyright: © Anatoly Stolyarchuk Architectural Studio


30 March 2020

Alyona Kuznetsova

Written by:

Alyona Kuznetsova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov
Headlines now
​The Eastern Frontier
“The Eastern Arc” is one of the main land resources of Kazan’s development, concentrated in the hands of a single owner. The Genplan Institute of Moscow has developed a concept for the integrated development of this territory based on an analytical transport model that will create a comfortable living environment, new centers of attraction, and new workplaces as well.
A School of Our Time
On the eve of the presentation of the new book by ATRIUM, dedicated to the design of schools and other educational facilities, based on the architects’ considerable experience, as well as expert judgments, we are examining the Quantum STEM school building, constructed according to their project in Astana. Furthermore, this building is planned to be the first one to start a new chain. The architects designed it in full accordance with modern standards but sometimes they did break away from them – only to confirm the general development rules. For example, there are two amphitheaters in the atrium, and there is an artificial hill in the yard that is meant to make the flat terrain of the Kazakhstan steppe more eventful.
The Fluffy Space
Designing the passenger terminal of the Orenburg airport, ASADOV architects continue to explore the space theme that they first introduced in Saratov and Kemerovo airports. At the same time, the architects again combine the global and the local, reflecting topics inspired by the local conceptual context. In this case, the building is “covered” by an Orenburg downy shawl – an analogy that is recognizable enough, yet not literal; some will see the reference and some won’t.
The White Fitness Center
The white health and fitness center, designed by Futura Architects at the entrance to St. Petersburg’s New Piter residential complex, provides the developing area not only with functional but also with sculptural diversity, livening up the rows of the brick city blocks with the whiteness of its seamless facades, cantilevered structures, and dynamic inclined lines.
The New Dawn
In their project of a technology park to be built on the grounds of “Integrated Home-Building Factory 500” in Tyumen Oblast – the biggest in Russia – the HADAA architects preserve not just the industrial function of the giant hangar built in the late 1980s and 90% of its structures, but also respond to its imagery. They also propose a “gradient” approach to developing the available areas: from open public ones to staff-only professional spaces. The goal of this approach is to turn the technology park into the driver for developing the business function between the industrial zones and the future residential area in accordance with the Integrated Land Development program.
​Tame Hills for New Residents
T+T Architects have reported that they have completed the landscaping project for the yard of the first stage of Alexandrovsky Garden housing complex in Ekaterinburg – the landscape complements the contextual architecture, tailored for the buyers’ preferences and downtown standards, with bold neo modernist master strokes and lush and diverse vegetation.
The Crystal of the City Block
The typology and plastique of large housing complexes move with the times, and you can sometimes find new subtleties in the scope of seemingly familiar solutions. The Sky Garden complex combines two well-known themes, forming a giant residential area consisting of tall slender towers, placed at the perimeter of a large yard, in which a crossroads of two pedestrian promenades is “dissolved”.
Sunshine, Air, and Water
The construction of the “Solnechny” (“Sunny”) summer camp, designed by ARENA project institute, has been completed, the largest summer camp within the legendary Artek seaside resort for children. It was conceived still in Soviet time, but it was not implemented. The modern version surprises you with sophisticated engineering solutions that are combined with a clear-cut structure: together, they generate Asher-esque spaces.
​Art Deco at the Edge of Space
The competition project by Stepan Liphart – a high-end residential complex executed in a reserved classicist style in close proximity to the Kaluga Space Museum – responds equally well to the context and to the client’s brief. It is moderately respectable, moderately mobile and transparent, and it even digs a little into the ground to comply with strict height restrictions, without losing proportions and scale.
Going, Going, Gone!
The housing complex “Composers’ Residences” has been built in accordance with the project by Sergey Skuratov, who won the international competition back in 2011. It all began from the image search and “cutting off all spare”, and then implementing the recognizable Skuratov architecture. It all ended, however, in tearing down the buildings of the Schlichterman factory, whose conservation was stipulated by all the appropriate agencies prior to approving Skuratov’s project. This story seems to be educational and important for understanding the history of all the eleven years, during which the complex was designed and built.
The Life of Iron
The building of the Vyksa Metallurgy Museum, designed by Nikita Yavein and Sergey Padalko, provides for the natural aging of metal – it is planned that the iron will gradually rust – at the same time utilizing the advanced type of construction, based on metal’s ability to stretch. The building will be constructed from pipes and rolled steel supplied by OMK company, as well as from recycled bricks.
​And the Brook is Flowing
ASADOV Architects have designed a master plan for developing a residential area at the outskirts of Kaliningrad: a regular grid of housing blocks is enriched by large-scale public facilities, the main “artery” of the new area being the fortification channel that regains its original function.
Off We Go!
The new terminal of the Tomsk airport is being designed by ASADOV bureau. The architects keep on developing its identity, building the imagery upon the inventions of Nikolai Kamov, whose name the airport bears. The result is laconic, light, and, as always, levitating.
Maximum Flexibility
The Multispace Dinamo, which recently opened within the Arena business center, is an example of a project that is entirely based upon cutting-edge approaches and technologies. It is managed via a mobile application, special software was created for it, and the spaces are not just multifunctional but carefully mixed up, like some kind of jigsaw puzzle that allows the office workers to mix their working routine for better efficiency.
A Factory’s Path
Last week, the new center for constructivist studies “Zotov” hosted its first exhibition named “1922. Constructivism. The Inception”. The idea of creating this center belongs to Sergey Tchoban, while the project of the nearest houses and adjusting the building of the bread factory for the new museum function was done by the architect in collaboration with his colleagues from SPEECH. We decided that such a complex project should be examined in its entirety – and this is how we came up with this long-read about constructivism on Presnya, conservation, innovation, multilayered approach, and hope.
The Savelovsky Axis
The business center, situated right in the middle of a large city junction next to the Savelovsky Railway Station takes on the role of a spatial axis, upon which the entire place hinges: it spins like a spiral, alternating perfect glass of the tiers and deep recessions of inter-tier floors that conceal little windows invented by the architects. It is sculptural, and it claims the role of a new city landmark, in spite of its relatively small height of nine floors.
Parametric Waves
In the housing complex Sydney City, which FSK Group is building in the area of Shelepikhinskaya Embankment, Genpro designed the central city block, combining parametric facades and modular technology within its architecture.
The Multitone
The new interior of the Action Development headquarters can be regarded as an attempt to design the perfect “home” for the company – not just comfortable but broadcasting the values of modern development. It responds to the context, yet it is built on contrast, it is fresh but cozy, it is dynamic, yet it invites you to relax – everything of this coexists here quite harmoniously, probably because the architects found an appropriate place for each of the themes.
Refinement No Longer Relevant
A few days ago journalists were shown the building of Bread Factory #5, renovated upon the project by Sergey Tchoban. In this issue, we are publishing Grigory Revzin’s thoughts about this project.
The Comb of Strelna
In this issue, we are taking a close look at the project that won the “Crystal Daedalus” award – the “Veren Village” housing complex in Strelna, designed by Ostozhenka. Its low-rise format became a trigger for typological and morphological experiments – seemingly, we are seeing recognizable trends, yet at the same time there are a multitude of subtleties that are a pleasure to go into. Having studied this project in detail, we think that the award is well-deserved.
A Tectonic Shift
For several years now, Futura Architects have been working with the “New Peter” residential area in the south of St. Petersburg. In this article, we are covering their most recent project – a house, in which the architects’ architectural ideas peacefully coexist with the limitations of comfort-class housing, producing a “multilayered” effect that looks very attractive for this typology.
Three “Green” Stories
In this issue, we are examining three environmental urban projects showcased by the Genplan Institute of Moscow at the Zodchestvo festival. The scale of the projects is really diverse: from gathering information and suggestions from the residents on a city scale to growing meadow grass between houses to paintings, which, as it turned out, possess power to cure trees, healing their wounded bark. + a list of kinds of plants natural for Moscow to help the developer.
​The Slabs of Bagration
The construction of a new skyscraper designed by SPEECH within the complex of Moscow City has been announced. A keen observer may see in it: Moscow high-rises, Chicago architecture, Malevich architecton, and an attempt of deconstruction of the integral image of the Moscow skyscraper – a technique that has been actively employed by the architects in their recent works.
​Preserving the History of Clean Ponds
How do you make a comfortable high-end residential complex that meets the modern requirements for expensive downtown housing, and keep as much of the original 1915 building as possible? Ilia Utkin, together with Sminex, solved this charade for Potapovsky Lane, 5 – here is how.
​Living in a Forest
The apartment complex in Roshchino, designed by GAFA architects, looks very much like a glamping: the residents enjoy the untouched nature of the Karelian isthmus, while having urban amenities and opportunities for social life.
A Laboratory for Life
The building of the Laboratory of Oncomorphology and Molecular Genetics, designed by the author team headed by Ilya Mashkov (Mezonproject) uses the benefits of the natural context and offers space for cutting-edge research, both doctor- and patient-friendly.
The Logic of Life
The light installation, designed by Andrey Perlach in the atrium of Moscow's Federation Tower, balances on the edge between a mathematical order of construction and the diversity of perception when viewed from different angles.
An Architect in a Metaverse
In this interview, we talked to the participants of the festival of creative industries G8 about why metaverses are our tomorrow’s everyday routine, and how architects can already influence it today.
Three in One
The house on Telezhnaya Street, designed by Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners, located just a couple of steps away from the Nevsky Prospect, can be visually divided into three independent entities. By doing this, the architects keep up the scale of the historical street and overcome the challenges posed by a stretching land site.