По-русски

Agility of the Modular

In the Discovery housing complex that they designed, ADM architects proposed a modern version of structuralism: the form is based on modular cells, which, smoothly protruding and deepening, make the volumes display a kind of restrained flexibility, differentiated element by element. The lamellar and ledged facades are “stitched” with golden threads – they unite the volumes, emphasizing the textured character of the architectural solution.

22 January 2021
Object
mainImg
The residential complex in Moscow’s Khovrino, with the name of Discovery, ringing pleasant to the ear of the traveler and the motorist, is located at the intersection of Belomorskaya and Dybenko streets, surrounded by standard mass development of the 1980’s. The land site is an irregular rectangle with one strongly beveled side. The developer, MR Group, decided to split the project between two architectural teams: ADM architects, headed by Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova, and “Tsimailo, Lyashenko, and Partners”. The architects did not immediately decide on the choice of areas of responsibility; they discussed and passed tasks to each other, and, at some point, they even tossed a coin during a telephone conversation. It was at that moment that all the stakeholders of the project reached an understanding, as the architects are reminiscing. Ultimately, ADM designed two tall buildings standing alongside the streets, an underground parking garage, and did the yard landscaping project, while Tsimailo, Lyashenko, and Partners designed the three towers in the depth of the yard, whose side walls face the beveled edge of the land site.

As for the overall composition, we did it together because we had to mutually agree on the layouts and insolation. Further on, however, when the overall composition was settled, the plastique of the facades was individually designed by each team, and we saw the final version developed by our partners in the very end. Our colleagues came up with more laconic buildings, we – with ones that were richer in plastique.


The master plan. Discovery housing complex
Copyright: © ADM


Thus, the task that was posed before ADM consisted, among other things, in accentuating the “façade” contour of the complex overlooking the city and consisting of two houses: the corner one (light) 31 stories high, and the other one (dark) – 23 stories high.

ADM architects proposed a dynamic technique: the volumes seem to be composed of two-tier cells, which become “mobile” at accent points, i.e. at the corners. It seems as though the architects took the cells, securely linked to one another by the force of inner stability, and slightly “tugged them at the corners”, giving extra plastique to the contour. The structure of these “agile” or “mobile” or “flexible”” cells looks like either a spread-out fan, or the stretched bellows of the accordion or a pleated fabric stretched over the frame.

Discovery housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Alesya Malomuzh / provided by ADM architects


The side ends of both volumes became prominently diagonal, while the “light” corner house – which in this case occupies the main position – got a “waist” ledge on its elongated sides, so its floor plan began to look like an hourglass, and its volume – viewed both from the yard and from the road junction (which is more important from the town-planning standpoint) – began to look like an open book.

The “open book” house, which only remotely resembles the famous “open book” COMECON tower on New Arbat, is the main façade of the complex that draws everybody’s attention. The developer’s representatives share that the form luckily coincided with the develop-given name of “Discovery” – according to the brand book, the resident complex is positioned as a home for people who are “open to the world”, which is echoed by the open book shape and the large panoramic windows.

  • zooming
    Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
  • zooming
    Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: © ADM


The “slab” house is completely subjugated to a diagonal motion – as if it “strides” along the drive – and its dark tone serves as a transition to the brown color of the towers designed by the colleagues in the yard – in combination with them, the building forms a “backdrop” that highlights the light color of the corner building, visually moving it to the foreground as the leader of the entire composition.

  • zooming
    Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
  • zooming
    Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects


The two houses, virtually perpendicular to one another, similar in structure and patterns, but different in height and silhouette, form a couple, echoing each other contrastively, like light and dark, vertical and horizontal, or, maybe, even yin and yang.

The cells, which form the shape, are reminiscent of the structuralism stylistic device of the 1970’s, the only difference being that they change not so much their pattern as – gradually – their size. This ingenious kinetic fan-like shape is connected with the configuration of the apartments, albeit not directly. “Every developer wants their apartments to gradually grow from small to large with a small pitch. And they also want bigger apartments at the top, and smaller ones at the bottom. So, what it ends up being is that you design a single-room apartment, then with each next floor it grows a little bit bigger, and then it turns into a small two-room apartment. Then the two-room apartment, gradually growing, turns into a small three-room apartment after a few floors. In Discovery, this increase in size goes not just vertically, but also from center to periphery, with the windows growing wider. Of course, this is not a direct reflection of the apartment layout – we had to tweak a few things and bend a few rules to achieve that. Of course, we could have done this in the straight building but we preferred a more interesting option” – Andrey Romanov says.

  • zooming
    1 / 3
    Section view 1-1. Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: © ADM
  • zooming
    2 / 3
    Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: © ADM
  • zooming
    3 / 3
    Section view A-A. Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: © ADM


The two-story cells are articulated with brick frames (faced with ceramic tiles, visually indistinguishable from bricks). The cells look like construction blocks, already put by the crane in place, yet not assembled completely – as if they live this “modular idea” in front of our eyes, forming the image of the modular house – while in actuality the structures are, of course, monolithic. The modular cells create the form and give it a feel of movement. The human eye perceives them as being identical, which further works to create this “stretching” effect, a truly plastique paradox.

Discovery housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects


Semantic allusions to the idea of a “prefabricated block house”, which may arise when studying the shape of both houses, are more than offset by the “precious” golden decoration – this anything but a cheap prefab project. Rather, these are the drawers of some precious antique piece of furniture. This theme is first of all supported by the ornamented frames of the windows, combined with the cases of the air conditioning units – made of spray-painted steel, golden window frames, and the color of inserts between the floors – all of this creates the effect of a precious “lining”, shading the main brick surface. The lattice pattern resembles some kind of dense, barely readable italics, as if the building were partly a letter written in gold ink.

Discovery housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects


Discovery housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects


All the golden elements, the lattices, and the “lining” come together to form “threads” that to an equal degree run through both facades, demonstrating their kinship with each other and emphasizing the relief; endowing the form with glitter and glow. The golden color works not just the sign of value and expensiveness, but also in a broader sense – as a color that unites everything, a visual analogue of a “force field”, which seems to hold this entire deconstructivism form on the edge of slight teetering of the matter.

  • zooming
    1 / 5
    Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
  • zooming
    2 / 5
    Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Alesya Malomuzh / provided by ADM architects
  • zooming
    3 / 5
    Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Alesya Malomuzh / provided by ADM architects
  • zooming
    4 / 5
    Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
  • zooming
    5 / 5
    Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects


The yard, delineated from two sides by a white and a black residential slabs, and from a third side by the three towers designed by the partner company, is landscaped by the ADM architects project. It is covered with grassy hills with trees growing from them, whose red and yellow foliage will become in fall a perfect match to the golden patterns of the facades. The coverage of the playgrounds has smooth forms, as if flowing in between the hills. Forms just as flowing are given to the climbing construction, compound and multilevel, yet at the same time a single whole and following the playground blueprint.

  • zooming
    1 / 4
    Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
  • zooming
    2 / 4
    Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
  • zooming
    3 / 4
    Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
  • zooming
    4 / 4
    Discovery housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects


Back to the architecture, though: ADM architects are particularly expert at designing the plastique of the wall. Starting from the house on Berzarina Street, where the noble, old-brickwork-imitating, surface of brick tiles and French windows were complemented by curious wooden “shutters”, and ending with the dramatic composition of the housing  complex “Malaya Ordynka 19”, where the architects created not just one, but three kinds of textured surface: Klinker pleated texture with intricate lattices, stone with wooden inserts, and glass waves. The architects have considerable experience in this area. Solutions just as interesting were used in the façade tectonics of the Vitality housing complex.

The composition of the Discovery housing complex is reminiscent of Vitality, because it is also based on the counterpoint of two buildings, long and vertical, dark and light, and is endowed with accented plastique that reveals the depth and relief of the façade. Discovery, however – in full accordance with its name – goes a little bit further: it bends and molds its surfaces, embellishing and adding visual kinetics with discrete stylistic techniques,, balancing on the verge of a simple, restrained, yet appropriate and agile form. Which, doubtlessly, in combination with the “golden lining” adds to visual value the facades of the main high-profile buildings – just in accordance with the well-known maxim that an architectural solution can significantly increase the value of a project.

22 January 2021

Headlines now
A Roadside Picnic of Urban Planning Theorists
Marina Egorova, head of Empate Architectural Bureau, brought together urban planning theorists – the successors of Alexey Gutnov and Vyacheslav Glazychev – to revive the substance and depth of professional discourse. At the first meeting, much ground was covered: the participants revisited the theoretical foundations, aligned their values, examined a cutting-edge case of the Kazan agglomeration, and concluded with the unfathomable intricacies of Russian land demarcation. Below, we present key takeaways from all the presentations.
Perspective View
CNTR Architects has designed a business center for a new district in Yekaterinburg, aiming to reduce the need for commuting and make the residential environment more diverse. The architectural solutions are equally focused on creating spatial flexibility, comfortable working conditions, and a memorable image that could allow the building to become a spatial landmark of the district.
Malevich and Bathhouses, Nature and High-Tech
The Malevich Bathhouse complex is scheduled to open in the fall of 2025 on the Rublyovo-Uspenskoye Highway. The project, designed by DBA-GROUP under the leadership of Vladislav Andreev, is an example of an unconventional approach to the image of a spa in general and of a bathhouse in particular. Deliberately avoiding any kind of allusion, the architects opted for streamlined forms with characteristic rounded corners, a combination of wood with bent glass, and restrained contemporary shapes – both inside and out. Let’s take a closer look at the project.
Rather, a Tablecloth and a Glass!
After many years, the long-abandoned Horse Guards Department building in St. Petersburg has finally received the attention it deserves: according to a design by Studio 44, the first restoration and adaptation works are scheduled to begin this year. Both the intended function and the general scope of works imply minimal alteration to the complex, which has preserved traces of its three-century history. All solutions are reversible and aimed, above all, at opening the monument to the city and immersing it in a lively social scene – hence the choice of a cultural center scenario with a strong gastronomic component.
​Materialization of Airflows
The Nikolai Kamov International Airport in Tomsk opened at the end of August last year. We have already written about the project – now we are taking a look at the completed building. Its functionality is reinforced by symbolic undertones: the architects at ASADOV sought to reflect local identity in the architecture as fully as possible.
The City as a Narrative
Sergey Skuratov’s approach to large urban plots could best be described as a “total design code”. The architect pays equal attention to the overall composition and the smallest of details, striving to ensure that every aspect is thoroughly thought out and subordinated to the original vision. It’s a Renaissance-like approach, really – a titanic effort demanding remarkable willpower and perseverance. The results are likewise grand – architecture that makes a statement. This article looks at the revived concept for the central section of the Seventh Heaven residential district in Kazan, a composition so thoroughly considered that even the “gradient of visual emphasis” (sic!) across the facades has been carefully worked out. It also touches on the narrative idea behind the project – and even the architect’s own doubts about it.
A Garden of Hope for Freedom
In October, at the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery in Suzdal, the Prison Yard Garden opened on the site that had served as a prison from the 18th century until the Khrushchev Thaw. The architectural concept was developed by NOῨD Short Film, and the landscape design by the MOX landscape bureau. In fact, there are two gardens here – very different ones. We try to understand whether they evoke the right emotions in visitors, while also showing the beauty of June’s ruderal plants in bloom.
A Laconic Image of Time
The Time Square residential complex, built on the northern edge of St. Petersburg, appears more concise and efficient than its neighbor and predecessor, the New Time complex. Nevertheless, the architect’s hand is clearly felt: themes of “black and white”, “inside and outside”, and most notably, the “lamellar” quality of the facades that seems to visibly “eat away” at the buildings’ mass – everything is played out like a well-written score. One is reminded of both classical modernism and the so-called “post-constructivism”.
The Flower of the Lake
The prototype for the building of the Kamal Theater in Kazan is an ice flower: a rare and fragile natural phenomenon of Lake Kaban “froze” in the large, soaring outlines of the glass screens enclosing the main volume, shaping its silhouette and shielding the stained-glass windows from the sun. The project, led by the Wowhaus consortium and including global architecture “star” Kengo Kuma, won the 2021/2022 competition and was realized close to the original concept in a short – very short – period of time. The theater opened in early 2025. It was Kengo Kuma who proposed the image of an ice flower and the contraposition of cold on the outside and warmth on the inside. Between 2022 and 2024, Wowhaus did everything possible to bring this vision to life, practically living on-site. Now we are taking a closer look at this landmark building and its captivating story.
Peaceful Integration on Mira Avenue
The MIRA residential complex (the word mir means “peace” in Russian), perched above the steep banks of the Yauza River and Mira Avenue, lives up to its name not only technically, but also visually and conceptually. Sleek, high-rise, and glass-clad, it responds both to Zholtovsky’s classicism and to the modernism of the nearby “House on Stilts”. Drawing on features from its neighbors, it reconciles them within a shared architectural language rooted in contemporary façade design. Let’s take a closer look at how this is done.
An Interior for a New Format of Education
The design of the new building for Tyumen State University (TyumSU) was initially developed before the pandemic but later revised to meet new educational requirements. The university has adopted a “2+2+2” system, which eliminates traditional divisions into groups and academic streams in favor of individualized study programs. These changes were implemented swiftly – right at the start of construction. Now that the building is complete, we are taking a closer look.
Penthouses and Kokoshniks
A new residential complex designed by ASADOV Architects for the Krasnaya Roza business district responds to its proximity to 17th-century landmarks – the chambers of the Hamovny Dvor and St. Nicholas Church – as well as to the need to preserve valuable façades of a historic rental house built in the Russian Revival style. The architects proposed a set of buildings of varying heights, whose façades reference ecclesiastical architecture. But we were also able to detect other associations.
Centipede Town
The new school campus designed by ATRIUM Architects, located on the shores of a protected lake in the Imeretian Lowland Ornithological Reserve, represents an important and ambitious undertaking for the team: this is not just a school, but a Presidential Lyceum for the comprehensive development of gifted children – 2,500 students from age 3 through high school. At the same time, it is also envisioned as a new civic hub for the entire Sirius territory. In this article, we unpack the structure and architecture of this “lyceum town”.
Warm Black and White
The second phase of “Quarter 31”, designed by KPLN and built in the Moscow suburb town of Pushkino, reveals a multifaceted character. At first glance, the complex appears to be defined by geometry and a monochrome palette. But a closer look reveals a number of “irregular” details: a gradient of glazing and flared window frames, a hierarchy of façades, volumetric brickwork, and even architectural references to natural phenomena. We explore all the rules – and exceptions – that we were able to discover here.
​Skylights and Staircase
Photos from March show the nearly completed headquarters of FSK Group on Shenogina Street. The building’s exterior is calm and minimalist; the interior is engaging and multi-layered. The conical skylights of the executive office, cast in raw concrete, and the sweeping spiral staircase leading to it, are particularly striking. In fact, there’s more than one spiral staircase here, and the first two floors effectively form a small shopping center. More below.
The Whale of Future Identity
Or is it a veil? Or a snow-covered plain? Vera Butko, Anton Nadtochy, and the architects of ATRIUM faced a complex and momentous task: to propose a design for the “Russia” National Center. It had to be contemporary, yet firmly rooted in cultural codes. Unique, and yet subtly reminiscent of many things at once. It must be said – the task found the right authors. Let’s explore in detail the image they envisioned.
Greater Altai: A Systemic Development Plan
The master plan for tourism development in Greater Altai encompasses three regions: Kuzbass, the Altai Republic, and Altai Krai. It is one of twelve projects developed as part of the large-scale state program bearing the simple name of “Tourism Development”. The project’s slogan reads: “Greater Altai – a place of strength, health, and spirit in the very heart of Siberia”. What are the proposed growth points, and how will the plan help increase the flow of both domestic and international tourists? Read on to find out.
The Colorful City
While working on a large-scale project in Moscow’s Kuntsevo district – one that has yet to be given a name – Kleinewelt Architekten proposed not only a diverse array of tower silhouettes in “Empire-style” hues and a thoughtful mix of building heights, creating a six-story “neo-urbanist” city with a block-based layout at ground level, but also rooted their design in historical and contextual reasoning. The project includes the reconstruction of several Stalin-era residential buildings that remain from the postwar town of Kuntsevo, as well as the reconstruction of a 1953 railway station that was demolished in 2017.
In Orbit of Moscow City
The Orbital business center is both simple and complex. Simple in its minimalist form and optimal office layout solution: a central core, a light-filled façade, plenty of glass; and from the unusual side – a technical floor cleverly placed at the building’s side ends. Complex – well, if only because it resembles a celestial body hovering on metallic legs near Magistralnaya Street. Why this specific shape, what it consists of, and what makes this “boutique” office building (purchased immediately after its completion) so unique – all of this and more is covered in our story.
The Altai Ornament
The architectural company Empate has developed the concept for an eco-settlement located on a remote site in Altai. The master plan, which resembles a traditional ornament or even a utopian city, forms a clear system of public and private spaces. The architects also designed six types of houses for the settlement, drawing inspiration from the region’s culture, folklore, and vernacular building practices.
Pro Forma
Photos have emerged of the newly completed whisky distillery in Chernyakhovsk, designed by TOTEMENT / PAPER – a continuation of their earlier work on the nearby Cognac Museum. From what is, in essence, a merely technical and utilitarian volume and space, the architects have created a fully-fledged theatre of impressions. Let’s take a closer look. We highly recommend a visit to what may look like a factory, but is in fact an experiment in theatricalizing the process of strong spirit production – and not only that, but also of “pure art”, capable of evolving anywhere.
The Arch and the Triangle
The new Stone Mnevniki business center by Kleinewelt Architekten – designed for the same client as their projects in Khodynka – bears certain similarities to those earlier developments, but not entirely. In Mnevniki, there are more angular elements, and the architects themselves describe the project as being built on contrast. Indeed, while the first phase contains subtle references to classical architecture – light touches like arches, both upright and inverted, evoking the spirit of the 1980s – the second phase draws more distantly on the modernism of the 1970s. What unites them is a boldly expressive public space design, a kaleidoscope of rays and triangles.
Health Factory
While working on a wellness and tourist complex on the banks of the Yenisei River, the architects at Vissarionov Studio set out to create healing spaces that would amplify the benefits of nature and medical treatments for both body and soul. The spatial solutions are designed to encourage interaction between the guests and the landscape, as well as each other.
The Blooming Mechanics of a Glass Forest
The Savvinskaya 27 apartment complex built by Level Group, currently nearing completion on an elongated riverfront site next to the Novodevichy Convent, boasts a form that’s daring even by modern Moscow standards. Visually, it resembles the collaborative creation of a glassblower and a sculptor: a kind of glass-and-concrete jungle, rhythmically structured yet growing energetically and vividly. Bringing such an idea to life was by no means an easy task. In this article, we discuss the concept by ODA and the methods used by APEX architects to implement it, along with a look at the building’s main units and detailing.
Grace and Unity
Villa “Grace”, designed by Roman Leonidov’s studio and built in the Moscow suburbs, strikes a balance between elegant minimalism and the expansive gestures of the Russian soul. The main house is conceived as a sequence of four self-contained volumes – each could exist independently, yet it chooses to be part of a whole. Unity is achieved through color and a system of shared spaces, while the rich plasticity of the forms – refined throughout the construction process – compensates for the near-total absence of decorative elements.
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”.