In Three Voices

The high-rise – 41 stories high – housing complex HIDE is being built on the bank of the Setun River, near the Poklonnaya Mountain. It consists of three towers of equal height, yet interpreted in three different ways. One of the towers, the most conspicuous one looks as if it was twisted in a spiral, composed of a multitude of golden bay windows.

Written by:
Alla Pavlikova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

12 January 2021

Object

Just a decade ago, high-rise projects in Moscow were relatively rare, the Moscow City complex being one of a kind, and there were only occasional conversations about building the “Big City” on the grounds of former industrial parks at a certain radius around it. Today, residential towers over 150 meters high are sprouting nearly in every part of the city, slowly but surely changing its skyline.

The residential complex HIDE is a vivid example of that: 41 stories high, about 150 meters tall. Designed by ADM architects, it is built by MR Group on the bank of the Setun River, in the part of Moscow that can probably be described as the zone of influence of the “Big City”: not far away from Kutuzovskaya and Studencheskaya metro stations, and from the park of the Poklonnaya Mountain, near the Moscow Central Circle and the Third Transport Ring running parallel to it. This proximity is contrastive, with a major city highway and a major city railroad on the one side, which, at the same time ensure good accessibility, and with the parkland of the Setun bank on the other. To get down to the Setun valley, the residents of the new complex will just have to cross the street.

The leader of ADM architects Andrey Romanov shared that the composition and the height of the project were defined by the sweeping panoramas opening from the land site.

Andrey Romanov, «ADM»

We at once decided that these will be skyscrapers. The very land site itself suggested such a solution because its main competitive advantage are the sweeping views that the apartment windows command.
What turned out to be the most challenging and responsible task in this case, was the search for the architectural imagery because the towers are 150 meters high, and they are visible from numerous vantage points. This is why our main task was to make this new complex fit in with the panorama of the surrounding city.

Still before the architects got down to the actual design process, they made a visual analysis of the grounds using drone footage, which showed that the future apartments will command breathtaking views. The windows gazing northwest will overlook the entire Presnya area and the already-mentioned Moscow City business center. From the east side, it will be the Berezhkovsky Bridge and the Novodevichy Monastery. The views in the southwestern direction from a height of 100-150 meters will include the green panorama of Luzhniki complex, Kosygina and Mosfilmovskaya streets, the high-rise building of the Moscow State University, the Sparrow Hills, and the picturesque bend of the Moskva River. Both the architects and the developer deemed this view to be the most valuable one, and this is why one of the two longer facades of each tower gazes southwest.

zooming — HIDE Housing Complex

Copyright: © ADM

The land site is a compact spot with an overall area of about 2 hectares, a jagged contour, and a height difference about 5 meters from north to south. In the north and in the east, it borders on the Moscow Central Circle and a flyover junction of the Third Transport Ring, while its south border adjoins the 1st Setunsky Drive, from the opposite side of which the green riverbank starts. Farther east, almost coming up against HIDE, a small Soviet microdistrict begins: houses 9, 14, and 25 stories high, a large school, and a few kindergartens. The district is not really large, and is naturally curbed by the roads and the river, yet it does include an educational complex. In addition, one can notice that the construction of the towers began here a while ago – as early as in 1975 this place got a 25-story house on its western border, quite high for its time; in the late 1990’s, two more 25-story towers were built. The new housing complex is nearly twice their height, which means that in a sense it continues the town planning tradition that was started some time ago in this part of Moscow.

The stylobate of HIDE includes an underground parking garage and occupied almost the entire construction blueprint, leveling out the height difference. The stylobate roof is a bit higher than the lines of the Moscow Central Circle, which puts some distance between the inner yard and the city’s transport arteries. The north and the east contours of the stylobate descend in the direction of the roads in a smooth green slope, and, if we are to look from this vantage point, the stylobate looks more like a natural mount – the idea is that the towers look as if they were sprouting from the hill and the trees, and not from some man-made construction. From the side of the drive, the stylobate stands back from the redline, leaving room for the overland parking lot for guests’ cars, a taxi alighting zone, and a small pedestrian street running along the facade of the complex.

As for the towers themselves, rectangular on the plan and equal in height, 41 floors each, they are positioned along the driveway: two in the contour of the city street with a two-level public tier between them. The third one stands symmetrically between them pushed into the depth of the site. This arrangement of the towers in the south part is explained by the insolation requirements of the neighboring buildings: if you move the composition just a little bit to the left or to the right, a whole city block will end up covered by a huge shadow, as Andrey Romanov explained. Besides, arranged this way, the houses are huddled in the part that is closer to the city street, with the residents-only private yard situated behind them. The public and private grounds are zoned and unobtrusively separated; the yard, rich in vegetation, also provides extra noise protection for the lower floors of the towers.

Unlike the volumetric and spatial solution, the architectural image was slow to come: the architects developed a lot of versions, which included both identical and totally different towers. However, the creative search did the project a lot of good, the authors believe.

HIDE Housing Complex

Copyright: © ADM
HIDE Housing Complex

Copyright: © ADM

Ultimately, each of the high-rises got a unique image of its own, yet within a single concept they rather complement than compete with one another. The south tower, situated closer than the other two to the Moskva River and designed, among other things, to be viewed from the water and from the Sparrow Hills, is a particular highlight. Its plan is composed of three slabs, shifted with an equal pitch. The plastique of the facades is based on the checkered alternation of bay windows, encased in frames of golden anodized aluminum, and balconies with transparent barriers. Each element is situated with a slight shift on each floor – and this way the entire volume takes on an S-shaped contour – a diagonal contrapposto – a silhouette, distantly resembling a giant figure walking towards the river. We will note here that the ledges vary from not very deep at the top and bottom to very prominent “at the waist”, creating an effect of composite and even “undulating” matter, which seemingly transforms right in front of our eyes, which is felt particularly strongly when you view the complex from different vantage points. When you look from the front, the diagonal bend folds into a curved golden “profile”.

HIDE Housing Complex

Copyright: © ADM
The facades. HIDE Housing Complex

Copyright: © ADM

The tower on the left gravitates towards the Setun valley, enters into a dialogue with the river. Looking to emphasize its natural character, in one of the versions the architects proposed to design its facades in red brick. Later on, however, for the sake of the integrity of the approach, the architects adopted hi-tech facades for all of the towers, based on glass and aluminum, characteristic for skyscrapers. The brick had to go – as a material but not as a texture.

The volume of the tower, sturdy and robust at the bottom, looks totally weightless at the top thanks to the wide vertical “ribs”, composed of tiny aluminum cassettes, which imitate brick both in color and texture. As they climb up the glass facade, the “ribs” grow thinner, and then dissolve completely against the background of the sky, together with the glass “crown” of the top of the skyscraper.

HIDE Housing Complex

Copyright: © ADM
HIDE Housing Complex

Copyright: © ADM

The central tower is the most material, robust, and static. It emphasizes its status with the grid of the cellular facade and its clear structure. Here the architects made the most out of the contrast, thus attracting as much attention as possible to the volume that has been moved into the background. Probably, this is the reason for its dark color. While in the case of the two other high-rises the golden and silver aluminum details merely complement the image, creating accents, here the metal dominates. The tower is all glass but all of the stained glass windows frames are made from dark metal. The window apertures are framed by aluminum frames of a rich bronze hue. The piers between them are pitch-black. And they look darker still due to their concave shape.

HIDE Housing Complex

Copyright: © ADM
HIDE Housing Complex

Copyright: © ADM

The architects emphasized the combination of different textures. Using for the facades of the towers only two active materials, they achieve a stunning diversity. You can see here lots of shades of color – golden, silver, brass, bronze, pitch-black – and an abundance of textures – from satin to high gloss – as well as various kinds of architectural stylistic devices, such as niches, ledges, and volumetric patterns. At the same time, this whole diversity of details virtually disappears in the upper floors, giving way to fine facets of glass and a small “attic” of penthouses, whose ceiling height is 5.2 meters, as opposed to the 3.5 meters in all the other stories.

HIDE Housing Complex

Copyright: © ADM
HIDE Housing Complex

Copyright: © ADM

The range of apartments is rather diverse – from studios to four-room apartments and penthouses on the 41st floor. The windows are panoramic, reaching down to the floor. The two-story entrance unit includes a central hall, a concierge service, lounges, cafes, and a restaurant with an outdoor terrace in front of the complex. In addition, it is planned that the bottom floors will include a supermarket, a bakery, a drugstore, a beauty salon, a fitness center, a preschool educational center, a co-working space, and meeting rooms. This way, the developer is planning to implement the trendy “vertical city” idea, when everything necessary for life and work is available within one building.

The central hall exits to the residents-only grounds of the complex, where ADM architects designed a veritable landscape park. For all the expressiveness of the facades, this park can be arguably considered to be one of the key advantages of the project. The park territory borrowed a lot of traits from the natural landscape – probably, due to the proximity to the Setun River – yet, at the same time, it has the orderly nature and the harmony of the traditional English park.

The yard, just as the entire architectural ensemble, rests on top of the stylobate and is visually raised above the carriageway of the Third Transport Ring. The place includes a large rectangular park, a “secret garden” with gazebos designed for solitary recreation, green lawns, yoga spots, a workout area, and an amphitheater with a view of a spreading oak, which is planned to be planted already perennial.

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HIDE Housing Complex

Copyright: © ADM
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HIDE Housing Complex

Copyright: © ADM
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Secret garden. HIDE Housing Complex

Copyright: © ADM
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The Amphitheater. HIDE Housing Complex

Copyright: © ADM

The whole territory is stitched with wide pedestrian roads. In the northernmost spot, there is a playground. The artificial green hills surround it from all sides, forming something like a shallow crater or a canyon, safely protected from the wind. The walking paths do not cross over to the playground but hand above it in beautiful loops of the bridges.

Surprisingly, the architects were able to find room for all of the elements of a modern park in this comparatively small land site. These are walking trails, sports facilities, playgrounds, quiet secluded corners for work and recreation, and, of course, lots of various green plants. There is also a bicycle trail – you can start your bicycle ride directly from the yard, exiting to the embankments of the Moskva River.

The construction of HIDE is already underway. And, judging by the project, it must become a prominent member in the family of the residential skyscrapers that are changing Moscow’s skyline.

We will note that such towers are the ultra-modern type of housing designed for high quality of execution and for panoramic views from up high, from where Moscow is perceived in a fundamentally different way, like some impressive grand-scale singularity. We will repeat here that until recently such “Manhattan” type of housing was almost the sole prerogative of the Moscow City – and now the city is actively developing new projects of high-rise towers, each of which is looking to create a special and memorable image – because the high-rise status obliges to have a form that has been carefully molded. However, what makes the new residential towers (Hide being one of them) different from Moscow City (where nobody really cared about landscaping the territory for a long time) is the careful attention to the public outdoor space. Due to the significant number of floors, the houses can afford, stretching up, not to occupy the entire land site, but to allocate the maximum area in the lower tier to create a courtyard, or even a mini-park. Thus, the towers combine a subtly designed diverse shape and highly developed infrastructure that will work, among other things, for the city – and the ability to live at a bird’s eye view.

12 January 2021

Headlines now

Inverted Fortress

This year, there has been no shortage of intriguing architectural ideas around the Omsk airport. The project developed by the architectural company KPLN appeals to Omsk’s history as a wooden fortress that it was back in the day, but transforms the concept of a fortress beyond recognition: it “shaves off” the conical ends of “wooden logs”, then enlarges them, and then flips them over. The result is a hypostyle – a forest of conical columns on point supports, with skylights on top.

The Paradox of the Temporary

The concept of the Russian pavilion for EXPO 2025 in Osaka, proposed by the Wowhaus architects, is the last of the six projects we gathered from the 2022 competition. It is again worth noting that the results of this competition were not finalized due to the cancellation of Russia’s participation in World Expo 2025. It should be mentioned that Wowhaus created three versions for this competition, but only one is being presented, and it can’t be said that this version is thoroughly developed – rather, it is done in the spirit of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, the project is interesting in its paradoxical nature: the architects emphasized the temporary character of the pavilion, and in its bubble-like forms sought to reflect the paradoxes of space and time.

The Forum of Time

The competition project for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025 in Osaka designed by Aleksey Orlov and Arena Project Institute consists of cones and conical funnels connected into a non-trivial composition, where one can feel the hand of architects who have worked extensively with stadiums and other sports facilities. It’s very interesting to delve into its logic, structurally built on the theme of clocks, hourglasses and even sundials. Additionally, the architects have turned the exhibition pavilion into a series of interconnected amphitheaters, which is also highly relevant for world exhibitions. We are reminding you that the competition results were never announced.

Mirrors Everywhere

The project by Sergey Nebotov, Anastasia Gritskova, and the architectural company “Novoe” was created for the Russian pavilion at EXPO 2025, but within the framework of another competition, which, as we learned, took place even earlier, in 2021. At that time, the competition theme was “digital twins”, and there was minimal time for work, so the project, according to the architect himself, was more of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, this project is interesting for its plan bordering on similarity with Baroque projects and the emblem of the exhibition, as well as its diverse and comprehensive reflectiveness.

Report

The Steppe Is Full of Beauty and Freedom

The goal of the exhibition “Dikoe Pole” (“Wild Field”) at the State Historical Museum was to move away from the archaeological listing of valuable items and to create an image of the steppe and nomads that was multidirectional and emotional – in other words, artistic. To achieve this goal, it was important to include works of contemporary art. One such work is the scenography of the exhibition space developed by CHART studio.

The Snowstorm Fish

The next project from the unfinished competition for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025, which will be held in Osaka, Japan, is by Dashi Namdakov and Parsec Architects. The pavilion describes itself as an “architectural/sculptural” one, with its shape clearly reminiscent of abstract sculpture of the 1970s. It complements its program with a meditative hall named “Mendeleev’s Dreams”, and offers its visitors to slide from its roof at the end of the tour.

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.

​In Three Voices

Andrey Romanov, «ADM»

In Three Voices