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​Stairway to Heaven

The project of a hotel in the settlement of Yantarny is an example of a new recreational complex typology, and a new format that unites the hotel, the business, and the cultural functions. All of this is complemented by 100% integration with nature.

14 May 2020
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In the end of 2019, the town planning council of Kaliningrad Oblast approved the architectural project of Amber Residence hotel designed by ASADOV Bureau. The new hotel complex will be built in the settlement of Yantarny, located on the shore of the Baltic Sea, west of Kaliningrad, an hour’s drive away from the Khrabrovo Airport.

This is not the first time that the ASADOV team works in Kaliningrad Oblast. In 2018, it was a housing project named “Russian Europe”. Still earlier, a competition project for the Kaliningrad Music Theater. And here is a new project – the picturesque Baltic shore, marked by the world-renowned eco-label, UNESCO blue flag, a long wooden promenade running along the sea shore, and the Sinyavinskoe Lake behind it – a haunt of the local divers. This beautiful scenery will surround the hotel complex with green terraces, a swimming pool, and a park ensemble.

The request of developing the concept of a hotel complex was forwarded to ASADOV Bureau by the communication agency ARS MEDIA GROUP (A.M.G.), who at that moment was already working with the client on that project. The architects were given an ambitious task of not just designing a seaside hotel but coming up with a new format of a recreational complex, considering the complex historical background and natural surroundings.

Amber Residence hotel complex in Yantarny
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


The settlement of Yantarny is quite small; it stretches along the sea shore. The place is known for the cleanest and widest beaches in the region, and, of course, its amber mines. Amber has been mined here since the XVII century, when the settlement was called Palmnicken, and the amber mining is still going on.

The hotel was to be built on a 1.3-hectare land site. It occupies the entire slope from the derelict amber mine Anna down to the active “Galera” restaurant built as a wooden ship with a large parking lot and a wide strip of sand next to it.

Amber Residence hotel complex. Master plan
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


The mine Anna borders the land site from the north. In January 2011, they installed a memorial on the territory of the former mine in memory of Palmnicken massacre when thousands of prisoners of concentration camps were shot here in the winter of 1945. Designed by the Israel sculptor Frank Meisler, the monument – composed of hands reaching up in the air and holding numbers, which the prisoners were assigned instead of their names – was created on the funds sponsored by the local Jewish community. Today, each year, Yantarny witnesses a mourning march commemorating those tragic events.

When the project was considered by the regional town planning council, one of the main questions that arose was about incompatibility of the entertainment function and the tragic historical background. However, come to think of it, currently the territory around the monument is a haunt of the local residents and tourists – a beach, a promenade, a restaurant, and a scatter of summer cafes. The new complex, as the designers hope, will enhance the cultural significance of this place. Andrey Asadov shares that together with the Jewish community they are discussing the idea of creating a Jewish center of culture and tolerance that will present not only the history of this nation but also the pictures by the modern painters from all over the world. Next to the memorial, there will appear an amphitheater. And the seaside zone with its sand dunes will get an art park in the stead of the former parking lot for staging regular shows and festivals. The task of organizing such activities will be readily tackled by A.M.G, the curator of such events as “Circle of Light” and “Perm, the Cultural Capital”.

Amber Residence hotel complex in Yantarny
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


At the current design stage, ASADOV Bureau, in collaboration with A.M.G, is searching for the optimum format. So far, all parties are leaning toward the idea of a back office, the venue for visiting working sessions and conferences. It must be said that both location and transport accessibility (about a 50-minutes’ drive from Kaliningrad) are quite conducive to that idea.

The search for the solution of developing the Yantarny territory even brought about the launch of a new research project Development 2.0. According to Andrey Asadov, the project already conducted a series of Instagram live streams, devoted to “development and architecture of tomorrow”. Mind, all of these things sprang from this single project of a local scale.

Amber Residence hotel complex in Yantarny
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


The history of the place defined the functional content of the building. The natural surroundings made the basis for the historical solution. As a rule, a hotel claims the role of a centerpiece – in the city, oftentimes, these are multistory, high-profile buildings. In the case of the Yantarny hotel complex, it is exactly the other way around. The land site occupies a steep slope with a relief drop of about 20 meters. And the entire seven-story complex hides in this slope, masked by green roofs, and becoming a part of nature itself.

The building has sophisticated geometry that almost exactly follows the natural topography. The stories follow horizontals of the terrain, ascending the slope in broad ledges. The flat operated roof of each lower tier becomes the terrace for the ensuing upper floor, striving to recreate the character of a sea cliff, green and hilly.

Amber Residence hotel complex in Yantarny
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


Generally speaking, terraced buildings are one of the oldest types of construction. Since the days of the Ancient Rome, humanity has not yet invented a technique as efficient that would make it possible to make the most out of complex terrain without having to make significant changes to it.

The whole complex consists of six single and double-story lines of construction and seven floors, counting which could be quite tricky – because they are arranged on the slope in such a sophisticated way. The widest line – situated above the third floor – conditionally divides the zones of the hotel and the apartments: 47 hotel rooms are situated on the first three floors, and 50 long-stay apartments occupy the remaining part of the building up the hill.

Amber Residence hotel complex. Section view
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


The broad terrace between the third and fourth floors has a real park on it with full-size trees and shrubs. There is a whole system of lawns, courtyards, walking trails, boardwalks, flowerbeds, and hotel rooms, packed into several separate volumes underneath sloping green roofs that serve as the continuation of the park space. One can ascend them like a hill, sit on a lawn in solitude, and admire the sea panorama from this height.

Amidst the lush vegetation, one will have a hard time spotting the stained glass windows of the facades, playing with reflections of sunlight – all of the hotel rooms and apartments are turned to the water with their panoramic windows. From the side of the sea, and when viewed from above, the complex looks more like a terraced garden in the spirit of park ensembles of Italian Renaissance than like a seven-story building with a total area of 13700 square meters.

Amber Residence hotel complex
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


Amber Residence hotel complex
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


Approximately in the middle of the building, an elongated glass atrium descends down to the sea, looking from a distance like a waterfall, with a grand staircase that connects all the tiers of the complex.

Amber Residence hotel complex. The functional arrangement
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


The first floor of the complex will include a restaurant opened not only for the guests at the hotel but also to everybody, a swimming pool, a fitness area, a conference hall, and a culture center. The latter will have an individual entrance from the side of the memorial. In front of the entrance, there will be an open air amphitheater for 200 people.

Amber Residence hotel complex. The townhouses
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


In addition to the main volume of the building, along the shore line, and close to one of the creeks that dissect the sand surface of the beach, there will appear nine three-story townhouses. Each of them will contain six individual apartments. The townhouses are turned to the sea with their laconic reserved facades and large stained glass windows under gable roofs. In front of them, there are also small green terraces. The proximity to the water, the transparency of architecture, and the scale of construction make one instantly think that they are at some Mediterranean seaside resort. However, let’s get back to the reality: the Baltic Sea can be tough even in summer. Hence the easily readable Scandinavian features of a warm and reliable dwelling.

Amber Residence hotel complex. The townhouses
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


Amber Residence hotel complex. The townhouses
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


Amber Residence hotel complex. The townhouses
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


We must note that so far the functional program of the complex has not yet received its final approval, and will probably be subject to change in the course of further development. We can only be sure about the architectural part – a peculiar manifesto of eco-architecture, supported by the professional community of the region and general public as well. The authors of the project hope that the complex will not become a thing in itself, but, thanks to the input from the Jewish Center and the art park will give a momentum to the cultural develop of this place, becoming a new center of attraction in the Kaliningrad Oblast.
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    Amber Residence hotel complex. Plans of the 1st and 2nd floors
    Copyright: © ASADOV architects
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    Amber Residence hotel complex. Plans of the 3rd and 4th floors
    Copyright: © ASADOV architects
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    Amber Residence hotel complex. Plans of the 5th, 6th, 7th floors
    Copyright: © ASADOV architects


14 May 2020

Headlines now
Daring Brilliance
In this article, we are exploring “New Vision”, the first school built in the past 25 years in Moscow’s Khamovniki. The building has three main features: it is designed in accordance with the universal principles of modern education, fostering learning through interaction and more; second, the façades combine structural molded glass and metallic glazed ceramics – expensive and technologically advanced materials. Third, this is the school of Garden Quarters, the latest addition to Moscow’s iconic Khamovniki district. Both a costly and, in its way, audacious acquisition, it carries a youthful boldness in its statement. Let’s explore how the school is designed and where the contrasts lie.
A Twist of the Core
A clever and concise sculptural solution – rotating each floor by N degrees – has created an ensemble of “dancing” towers: similar yet different, simple yet complex. The designers meticulously refined a single structural node and spent considerable effort on the column construction – after that, “everything else was easy”. The architects also rotated the core walls on each floor to maximize the efficiency of the office spaces.
The Sculpting of Spring Forest Matter
We’ve been observing this building for a couple of years now: seemingly simple, perhaps even unassuming, it fits in remarkably well with the micro-district context shaped by the Moscow MCD road junctions. This building sticks in the memory of everyone who drives along the highway, even occasionally. In our opinion, Sergey Nikeshkin, by blending popular architectural techniques and approaches of the 2010s, managed to turn a seemingly simple structure into a statement “on the theme of a house as such”. Let’s figure out how this happened.
Water and Wind Whet the Stone
The Arisha Terraces residential complex, designed by Asadov Architects, will be built in a district of Dubai dedicated to film and television production. To create shaded spaces and an intriguing silhouette, the architects opted for a funnel-shaped composition and nature-inspired forms of erosion and weathering. The roofs, podium, and underground spaces extend leisure opportunities within the boundaries of a man-made “oasis”.
Elevation 5642
The Genplan Institute of Moscow has developed a comprehensive development project for three ski resorts in the Caucasus, which have been designated as special economic zones of the tourism and recreation type. The first of these zones is Elbrus. The project includes the construction of new ski runs, cable cars, and hotels, as well as the modernization of stations and improvements to the Azau tourist meadow. To expand the audience and enhance year-round appeal, a network of eco-trails is also being developed. In this article, we provide a detailed breakdown of each stage.
The IT Town
Taking the example of the first completed phase of the “U” district, we examine how the new neighborhood in Innopolis will be organized. T+T Architects and HADAA formed a well-balanced and ingenious master plan with different types of housing, a green artery, a system of squares, and a park in the town’s central part.
The Heart Lies Within
The second-phase building of the Evgeny Primakov School already won multiple awards while still in the design stage. Now that it’s completed, some unfinished nuances remain – most notably, the exposed ceiling structures, which ideally should have been concealed. However, given the priority placed on the building’s volumetric composition, this does not seem critical. What matters more is the “Wow!” effect created by the space itself.
Magnetic Forces
“Krylatskaya 33” is the first large-scale residential complex to appear amidst the 1980s “micro-districts” that harmoniously coexist with the forests, the river, the slopes, and the sports infrastructure. Despite its imposing scale, the architects of Ostozhenka managed to turn the complex into something that can be best described as a “graceful dominant”. First, they designed the complex with consideration for the style and height of the surrounding micro-districts. Second, by introducing a pause in its tallest section, they created compositional tension – right along the urban planning axis of the area.
Orion’s Belt
The Stone Khodynka 2 office complex, designed by Kleinewelt Architekten for the company Stone, is built with an ergonomic layout following “healthy building” principles: natural light, ventilation, and all the necessary features for an efficient office environment. On the outside, it resembles – like many contemporary buildings – an iPhone: sleek, glowing, glass-and-metal, edges elegantly rounded. Yet, it responds sensitively to the Khodynka context, where the main theme is the contrast between vertical and horizontal lines. The key intrigue lies in the design of the “stylobate” as a suspended passage, leaving the space beneath it open for free pedestrian movement.
Grigory Revzin: “It Was a Bold Statement Made on the Sly. Something Won”
In this article, we discuss the debates surrounding the circus competition and the demolition of the CMEA building with the most renowned architectural critic of our time. A paradox emerges in the process: while nostalgia for the Brezhnev era seems to be in vogue in Russia, a landmark building – the “axis” of the Warsaw Pact – has been sentenced to demolition. Isn’t that strange? We also find out that wow-architecture has made a comeback as a post-COVID trend. However, to make a truly powerful statement, professionals still remain indispensable.
Exposed Concrete
One of the stages of improving a small square in the town of Lermontov was the construction of a skatepark. Entrusting this part of the project to the XSA team, the city gained a 250-meter trick track whose features resemble those of land art objects – unparalleled in Russia in both scale and design. Here’s a look at how the experimental snake run in the foothills of the Caucasus was built.
One Step Closer To the Dream
The challenges of getting all the mandatory approvals, an insufficient budget, and construction site difficulties did not prevent ASADOV Bureau from achieving its main goal in the realization of the school project in the town of Troitsk – taking another step away from outdated notions of educational spaces toward creating a fundamentally new academic environment.
Chalet on the Rock
An Accor hotel in Arkhyz, designed by A.Len, will be situated at the gateway to the resort’s main tourist hubs. The architects reinterpreted the widely popular chalet style while adding an unexpected twist – an unfinished structure preserved on the site. The design team transformed this remnant into an exciting space featuring an open-air pool and a restaurant with panoramic views of the region’s highest mountain ridges.
Sergey Skuratov: “By and large, the project has been realized in line with the original ideas”
In this issue, we talk to the chief architect of Garden Quarters, looking back at the history and key moments of a project that took 18 years to develop and has now finally been completed. What interests us most are the transformations that the project underwent during construction, and the way the “necessary void” of public space was formed, which turned this remarkable complex into a fragment of a whole new type of urban fabric – not just at the horizontal “street” level but in its vertical structure as well.
A Unique Representative
The recently concluded year 2024 can be considered the year of completion for the “Garden Quarters” residential complex in Moscow’s Khamovniki. This project is well-known and, in many ways, iconic. Rarely does one manage to preserve such a number of original ideas, achieving in the end a kind of urban planning Gesamtkunstwerk. Here is a subjective view from an architecture journalist, with an interview with Sergey Skuratov soon to follow.
Field of Life
The new project by the architectural company PNKB (an acronym for “Design, Research, and Advisory Bureau”), led by Sergey Gnedovsky and Anton Lyubimkin, for the Kulikovo Field Museum is dedicated to the field as a concept in its own right. The field has long been a focus of the museum’s thorough and successful research. Accordingly, the exterior of the new museum building is gentler than that of its predecessor, which was also designed by PNKB and dedicated specifically to the historic battle. Inside, however, the building confidently guides the visitor from a luminous atrium along a spiral path to the field – interpreted here as a field of life.
A Paper Clip above the River
In this article, we talk with Vitaly Lutz from the Genplan Institute of Moscow about the design and unique features of the pedestrian bridge that now links the two banks of the Yauza River in the new cluster of Bauman Moscow State Technical University (MSTU). The bridge’s form and functionality – particularly the inclusion of an amphitheater suspended over the river – were conceived during the planning phase of the territory’s development. Typically, this approach is not standard practice, but the architects advocate for it, referring to this intermediate project phase as the “pre-AGR” stage (AGR stands for Architectural and Urban Planning Approval). Such a practice, they argue, helps define key parameters of future projects and bridge the gap between urban planning and architectural design.
Living in the Architecture of One’s Own Making
Do architects design houses for themselves? You bet! In this article, we are examining a new book by TATLIN publishing house. This book – unprecedented for Russia – features 52 private homes designed and built by contemporary architects for themselves. It includes houses that are famous, even iconic, as well as lesser-known ones; large and small, stylish and eccentric. To some extent, the book reflects the history of Russian architecture over the past 30 years.
A City Block Isoline
Another competition project for a residential complex on the banks of the Volga in Nizhny Novgorod has been prepared by Studio 44. A team of architects led by Ivan Kozhin concluded that using a regular block layout in such a location would be inappropriate and developed a “custom design” approach: a chain of parceled multi-section buildings stretching along the entire embankment. Let’s explore the features and advantages of this unconventional method.
Competition: The Price of Creativity?
Any day now, we’re expecting the results of a competition held by the “Samolet” development group for a plot in Kommunarka. In the meantime, we share the impressions of Editor-in-Chief Julia Tarabarina, who managed to conduct a public talk. Though technically focused on the interaction between developers and architects, the public talk turned into a discussion about the pros and cons of architectural competitions.
Terraced Design
The “River Park” residential complex has confidently and securely shaped the Nagatinsky Backwater shoreline. Featuring a public embankment, elevated courtyards connected by pedestrian bridges, and brick façades, the development invites exploration of its nuanced response to the surrounding context, as well as hints of the architects’ megalithic design thinking.
A Kremlin’s Core and Meteorite Fragments
We continue our coverage of the competition projects for the residential district that the development company GloraX plans to build along the embankment of the Rowing Channel in Nizhny Novgorod. ASADOV Architects approached the concept through a deep dive into local identity, using storytelling to pinpoint a central idea for the design: the master plan and composition are imagined as if a meteorite had struck a “proto-Kremlin”. Sounds weird? Find more details below!
The Volga Regatta
GloraX plans to develop a residential complex spanning 14 hectares along the Volga River in Nizhny Novgorod. The winning design in a closed-door competition, created by GORA Architects, features housing typologies ranging from townhouses to terraced high-rise slabs, a balance of functions, diverse ways of engaging with the water, and even a dedicated island (no less!) for the city residents.
Life Plans
The master plan for the residential district “Prityazheniye” (“Gravity”) in Naberezhnye Chelny was developed by the architectural company A.Len, taking into account the specific urban planning context and partially implemented solutions of the first phase. However, the master plan prioritized its own values: a green framework, a system of focal points, a hierarchy of spaces, and pedestrian priority. After this, the question of what residents will do in their neighborhood simply doesn’t arise.
A New Track
We took a thorough look at D_Station, a railcar repair depot dating back to 1906, recently reconstructed while preserving its century-old industrial structure, upon the project by Sergey Trukhanov and T+T Architects. Though work on the interiors – set to house restaurants and public spaces – is still underway, the building’s exterior already offers plenty to see. Visitors can explore the blend of old and new brickwork, appreciate the architect’s unique interpretation of ruin aesthetics, and enjoy the newly built pedestrian route that connects the Citydel Business Center’s arches to Kazakova Street.
Four Different Surveys
The “Explore the City” competition, organized this year by the Genplan Institute of Moscow, stands out as a pretty unconventional one for the architectural field but aligns perfectly well with the character of urban planning work. The winning project analyzed contemporary residential complexes, combining urban planning insights with a realtor’s perspective to propose a hybrid approach. Other entries explored public centers, motivations for car ownership, and housing vacancy rates. A fifth participant withdrew. Here’s a closer look at the four completed works.
Scheduled Evolution
ASADOV Architects unveiled the EvyCenter pavilion, a microcultural hub for fostering personal growth, organizing workshops, and doing gymnastics. Additionally, this pavilion serves as a prototype for a scalable country house, drawing inspiration from the “Loskutok” project, and constructed from CLT panels in a factory. This marks the beginning of a developer project initiated by the architectural firm (sic!), which is seeking partners to expand both small Evy settlements and even larger Evy cities, which are, according to Andrey Asadov, aimed at fostering the “evolutionary” development of the people who will inhabit them.
The Golden Crown
The concept for a dental clinic in Yekaterinburg, developed by CNTR Studio, revolves around the idea of a “mouth full of gold”: pristine white porcelain stoneware walls are complemented by matte brass details. To avoid an overly literal interpretation, the architects focused on the building’s proportions, skillfully navigating between sunlight requirements and fire safety regulations.
Flexibility and Integration
Not long ago, we covered the project for the fourth phase of the ÁLIA residential complex, designed by APEX. Now, we’ve been shown different fence concepts they developed to enclose the complex’s private courtyards, incorporating a variety of public functions. We believe that the sheer fact that the complex’s architects were involved in such a detail as fencing speaks volumes.
A Step Forward
The HIDE residential complex represents a major milestone for ADM architects and their leaders Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova in their quest for a fresh high-rise aesthetic – one that is flexible and layered, capable of bringing vibrancy to mass and silhouette while shaping form. Over recent years, this approach has become ADM’s “signature style”, with the golden HIDE tower playing a pivotal role in its evolution. Here, we delve into the project’s story, explore the details of the complex’s design, and uncover its core essence.