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From Foundation to Teaspoon

Based on the taste of their friendly clients, the architects Olga Budennaya and Roman Leonidov designed and built a house in the Moscow metropolitan area playing Art Nouveau. At the same time, they enriched the typology of a private house with modern functions of a garage loft and a children’s art studio.

Written by:
Oleg Guichar
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

20 August 2020
News
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Usually, Olga Budennaya and Roman Leonidov – an architectural as well as a family duo – design houses in a modernist style. For their friends, however, they made an exception. The clients of this house are very open-minded people, who are into fine arts and theater. The mistress of the house is also a very creative person in love with Art Nouveau. The style of the house was chosen at the client’s request; she took part in the design process as the decorating coauthor, and, taking into account all of these constructive and creative solutions, the architects finally decided to “play Art Nouveau”, and this is how they defined their creative task. The house does not have any verbatim quotes in it, but it does have a lot of recognizable motifs: arched windows, stained glass windows with characteristic “flattened” tops, a bent roof, and decorative ceramic elements of the facade. Another interesting fact is that alongside the figured stained glass windows the architects also use simple rectangular windows with grid glazing pattern in the spirit of modernist factory architecture. A combination of red brick and white stucco details is not the most frequent technique to be encountered in historical Art Nouveau buildings, yet it does pop up here and there in Riga and Kharkov; or in Shekhtel Mansion in the Ermolaevsky Lane. In other words, when the architects were creating the image for the new house, Art Nouveau was not a dogma for them, but rather a starting point.


 
The design process consisted of a few stages. The key event was the fact that the clients got inspired by the interior of the VILLA KÉRYLOS (1902) that is situated in the French Riviera in a small town of Beaulieu-sur-Mer near Nice. This villa was built by the architect Emmanuel Pontremoli for the archaeologist and patron of the arts Theodore Reinach, combining Ancient Greek aesthetics and modernist style. The villa made such a great impression on our architects that they decided to quote some of its elements in their project, such as the chandelier in the hall or some decoration motifs from the bathrooms. Such interpretation of Art-Nouveau and the method of introducing classical elements into it became a technique that the architects made full use of. 
 
The distribution of the creative responsibility areas was traditional: Roman Leonidov did the volumetric composition and the structure of the house. The two tall volumes linked by a single-story overpass did not come around by accident. Originally, the house was designed for two friends and business partners and their families. Then their plans changed, and now the house is occupied by one family, yet it was decided to keep the two individual blocks, each with a character and form-making logic of its own. All the more so, because asymmetry of the volume is one of the characteristic features of Art Nouveau.


 
Now the structure with two elevated parts found a new functional rationale. This way, the unit with an Art Nouveau “hat” roof contains the parents’ rooms, while the lower unit, with a less sophisticated top is the children’s half. The tall volume (the one with a “hat”) is placed in the center of the composition; there is a spacious garage to the right of it, whose roof supports an open-air terrace with a wrought-iron barrier and green plants.


 
The public space of the second floor is designed as a classic enfilade with lateral branches. From the anteroom, situated on the central axis of the house, the visitor gets into the central hall with a staircase that features wrought-iron railings, and the aforementioned chandelier – the kind that is there in the French Kerylos Villa, executed by Saint Petersburg artisans.


 
Left of the hall, there is an area that consists of a few zones bleeding into one another: a kitchen, then a dining room, then the room with a fireplace (plays the role of the main living room), and still another, “winter garden” living room, essentially a fully-glazed bay window, decorated by tropical plants.



Right of the hall, there is the mistress’s study with a library, a desk, and a sofa area, adorned by a designer magazine table, executed by a Moscow-area artisan by the authors’ drafts. From the study, one can exit into a garage loft. This special space – with high ceilings and an area of 60 Sqm, one of whose walls is slit by seven tall windows with a very characteristic glazing pattern – looks like an old factory workshop. Strictly speaking, this is not just a garage but an atmospheric loft that can be used for taking guests in and for giving parties.


 
From the “loft” garage, we get down to the basement with a home theater, and further on – to the workroom. The latter is equipped with a large work table, where children and adults get together to make artistic things with their hands. It is a curious chain of creative spaces: mistress’s study – loft – home cinema – workroom.


 
The second floor and the attic contain private rooms of the members of the family: a parents’ block and two children’s rooms. They all consist of two levels: the lower one is occupied by little living rooms and working areas, the attic floor has two bedrooms in it; two of them are accessed by spiral staircases. The parents’ living room exits to a large terrace with a garden, which is formed by an alley of ball-trimmed maples, planted into a “vase” on the roof, specially designed for growing large trees in it. This detail brings up associations with a “hanging garden”, certainly adding to the beauty of the architectural composition. One of the children’s rooms also has a balcony of its own, while a large recessed balcony, situated in the center of the house, between the two main volumes, joins them both visually and functionally. In the children’s rooms, color is extensively used – they are painted green and yellow, while the walls of the mistress’s bedroom are decorated with designer ornament panels. The vaulted ceilings are made from wood.


 
The bedrooms, just as many other things here, are inspired by the interior design of Kerylos Villa: they are adorned with exquisite mosaic with a fish-scale pattern, and stenciled ornaments, filled with colors and aesthetic-looking metalwork. In the bathrooms, just like in many other places around the house, many things are custom-designed.


 
As we already said, the mistress took an active part in the creative process, proposing her own insights, coming up with interesting solutions, and selecting the decor: sculptures and antique vases, chandeliers, and door handles. Many of these things were bought at European antique shops; others were made to order by the analogs of things from days past. Thanks to the mistress’s ideas, the house got romantic details like inner balconies on intricate custom-designed beams, and a hamam with Morocco mosaic.


 
The modern customers from many countries, including Russia and the US, quite often have a soft spot for Art Nouveau. I will even venture a guess why: out of all modern styles, Art Nouveau is probably the most emotional one. The architects, on the other hand, have a more controversial attitude to it. When asked about the reasons for the popularity of Art Nouveau, Olga Budennaya and Roman Leonidov described the features of that style that appealed specifically to them. Olga Budennaya said that people loved Art Nouveau for really beautiful things, for the possibility to decorate and present them in a subtle manner, and at the same time for being highly contemporary and functional. Roman Leonidov believes that “the main characteristic feature of Art Nouveau is total control over the entire life of the house: from the foundation and down to the last teaspoon. This trend is also observed in Art-Deco. Both Mackintosh and Wright did everything in their products: architecture, furniture, and object design.” In this specific case one could say that total control was executed by the authors: Olga Budennaya, Roman Leonidov, Xenia Volkova, and the mistress of the house, Nadezhda Fomenko. The result turned out to be quite stunning, up to the owners’ creative message and public temperament. 
The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
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    Plan of the 1st floor with furniture.
    Copyright: © Studio of Roman Leonidov
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
Plan of the basement floor. The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
Copyright: © Studio of Roman Leonidov
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: © Studio of Roman Leonidov
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    Plan of the 2nd floor with furniture. The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: © Studio of Roman Leonidov
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    Plan of the attic floor. The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: © Studio of Roman Leonidov
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
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    The house in the Moscow metropolitan area
    Copyright: Photograph © Sophia Leonidova


20 August 2020

Written by:

Oleg Guichar
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov
Headlines now
​Streamline for City Canyons
Stepan Liphart has designed two houses for two small land sites situated in the area surrounding the Varshavsky Railway Station, which is being intensively developed now. The sites are situated close but not next to each other, and they are different, yet similar: the theme is the same but it is interpreted in different ways. In this issue, we are examining and comparing both projects.
​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.