По-русски

​Steamer at the Pier

An apartment hotel that looks like a ship with wide decks has been designed for a land plot on a lake shore in Moscow’s South Tushino. This “steamer” house, overlooking the lake and the river port, does indeed look as if it were ready to sail away.

25 December 2020
Object
mainImg
The apartment hotel will be built on the left bank of the Moscow Canal, alongside the Dosflot Drive. The land site is situated on the first line, with an access to the city beach, and is separated from the water only by a broad parkland strip. The L-shaped land site stretches along the bank. Formerly, it was occupied by a brick hotel building, long derelict, and now to be torn down.

The “Steamer” house
Copyright: © Mezonproekt


The surrounding context is of the “micro-district” kind: housing projects, two schools, and a kindergarten – all enshrouded in an abundance of deciduous trees. It is expected that all the construction will be done on the other side of the Dosflot Drive. The new house, however, will be least connected to it; what it will interact with is the Moscow Canal and opposite bank, upon which one can see the dominant-looking spire of the recently-renovated North River Port. From May to October, tens of cruise ships sail away from it – a mesmerizing sight. Probably, this what became the primary source of inspiration for the new project – a “ship” house.

The “Steamer” house. The simplified location plan
Copyright: © Mezonproekt


The project was developed by Mezonproekt at the commission of Capital Invest in 2017. One of the tasks that the architects set for themselves was to preserve the existing trees, tightly surrounding the site from all sides, but at the same time to maximize the view of the water and the opposite bank of the canal. Hence the clear and crisp composition that follows the outline of the land site and the house that stood here before. A small indent from the borders was made only from the side of the courtyard in order to organize a landscaped area in front of the entrance to the hotel lobby.

The “Steamer” house. Planning organization of the land plot
Copyright: © Mezonproekt


The complex consists of two individual buildings that stand perpendicular to one another and are connected by a single podium on the level of the first floor. As the leader of the company, Ilia Mashkov, shares, originally the architects considered the option that included a single building that traced the shape of the land site, but later on an idea appeared to divide the single whole into two independent sections in order to lighten up the visual perception. One building, elongated and five stories high, marks the boundary from the side of the Dosflot Drive, yet it overlooks the water area. It also creates the artistic and the conceptual image of the entire complex. 

The “Steamer” house
Copyright: © Mezonproekt


The outline of the complex – if we are to look at it en face – is rather simple, without a noticeable height difference, with a broad clearance between the two buildings. However, if we look at it at an angle, we will at once see a chamfers in the silhouette – the “decks” of the terraces, the masts, and the chimneys, the “ladders” of the staircases, which look as if sailors are about to climb them. The chimneys, large and tall, like on the very first steamers, are in fact the ventilation shafts; while commonly hidden in most projects, here they are accentuated as if ready to sport a “Jolly Roger”. The terraces, provided on every floor, are also quite functional – from them the guests of the hotel will be able to admire the sweeping views of the Khimki Lake.

  • zooming
    1 / 9
    The “Steamer” house
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    2 / 9
    The “Steamer” house
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    3 / 9
    The “Steamer” house
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    4 / 9
    The “Steamer” house.
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    5 / 9
    The “Steamer” house
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    6 / 9
    The “Steamer” house
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    7 / 9
    The “Steamer” house
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    8 / 9
    The “Steamer” house.
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    9 / 9
    The “Steamer” house
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt


Moreover, this is not quite a “ship” house in the sense of the modernist cliché – even though the chimneys of the ventilation system proceed from that idea – but in the sense that here the “ship” has been subjected to deconstruction: it can be a ship or it can be a pier. In any case, we do not see here any hint at an aerodynamic shape, stern and bow, or a feeling that the ship is about to sail: rather, the architects show us a set of elements of a steamboat, offering us to appreciate the somewhat brutal plastique of the deck terraces that look like shoreline sprouts of some wandering Titanic. But only in a fragment or a decoration, a claim for a discourse, and not direct likeness.

“The idea of a “steamer” house came about after we drew the terraces and the chimneys.
After that, we decided to enhance the emerging image, adding some recognizable element, and tried to make the pipes sculptural, making the terraces look like the decks of a sea vessel.”


Such a solution with broad stairs of the terraces ascending from the water to the shore is more characteristic of the southern resort architecture. However, even here, in the northwest of Moscow, due to the proximity of water and the picturesque surroundings it looks appropriate. One must say that the association with a seaside resort is fleeting, and is gone completely once you examine the facades in detail. The choice of materials, the proportions of the windows, and the height of the floors – everything refers to industrial architecture. Even the chimneys, which originally reminded us about the steamer, easily become part of the narrative about a factory of the early XX century.

The “Steamer” house
Copyright: © Mezonproekt


Connecting the two seemingly totally different narratives – the steamer and the factory – was something that the architects decided to do in order to “calm down” the facades and make them look more austere and reserved. “The first versions were more “ship-like” – Ilia Mashkov shares – with white buildings and colorful chimneys. Then we decided to depart from such direct interpretation towards the image of a factory. This is how the red brick, tall windows, and metallic decoration elements came about”.

The “Steamer” house
Copyright: © Mezonproekt


As for the main coating material, the architects chose ceramic tiles with a red-brick texture. Brick surfaces are combined with metallic ones. Metal was also used to make the grates of the air conditioning units, decorative panels near the windows, railings of the French balconies, the coating of the ventilation chimneys, as well as the emergency staircases, painted black and running on the facade. The latter technique makes you remember not just the Russian factories of the early XX century but also the residential blocks of New York, for which the steel fire escape stairs became one of the main characteristic features. Oh, and by the way, the brownstone walls and the large windows coupled with openwork stair spans are also the classic of New York architecture.

The “Steamer” house
Copyright: © Mezonproekt


While turning to recognizable and traditional images of the past, the house remembers to pay tribute to modern stylistic devices: hence the syncopated rhythm of the facade grid, which is created by the differently sized windows, and colored inserts from a profiled sheet. As for the latter, the authors form real artistic panels with it, boasting a rainbow of colors, from dark earthy to lavender. All this is spiced with plastique – volumetric and concave vertical panels give rise to an additional play of light and shadows. It looks as though this way the house responds to the sunset colors of the Khimki Lake, because only the facades overlooking the water have these inclusions. 

The “Steamer” house
Copyright: © Mezonproekt


The Dosflot Drive is a quiet and green place; it follows the trajectory of the canal bend, and could easily pass for a path in the wilderness, if it weren’t for the asphalt pavement. The facade of the complex, calm and reserved plastique-wise, also overlooks this place. It maintains the character of the surroundings and matches the context in terms of its gradually lowering towards the water. The biggest highlight of the complex, when viewed from this angle, is the decorative metallic pergola on the roof, painted in the tone of the facade tiles. It is expected that in this part the roof will be an operated one. This landscaped zone with an awning will become yet another recreational place for the residents, which is relevant, considering the lack of yard space. 

The pergola top of the building is echoed by the stylobate part, designed in the same “lattice” style. The bottom floors will host a large lobby for the residents, offices, and cafes. The cafes will overlook the street with large stained glass windows, inviting the residents of the neighboring blocks to look in. There will be a green alley stretching along the entire street facade.

The “Steamer” house
Copyright: © Mezonproekt


On the level of the yard and the river, on the first floor, there are apartments with glazed terraces framed light-colored slender frames.

The building, with an overall area of about 6,000 square meters will offer apartments of various configurations and sizes – from single-room to four-room apartments. Each of the apartments will have a fully-fledged kitchen. The underground floor will be occupied by a 27-place parking garage.

  • zooming
    1 / 9
    The “Steamer” house. Plan of the -1st floor
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    2 / 9
    The “Steamer” house. Plan of the 1st floor
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    3 / 9
    The “Steamer” house. Plan of the 2nd floor
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    4 / 9
    The “Steamer” house. Plan of the 3rd floor
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    5 / 9
    The “Steamer” house. Plan of the 4th floor
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    6 / 9
    The “Steamer” house. Plan of the 5th floor
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    7 / 9
    The “Steamer” house. Plan of the 6th floor
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    8 / 9
    The “Steamer” house. Section view 1-1
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt
  • zooming
    9 / 9
    The “Steamer” house. Section views 2-2 and 3-3
    Copyright: © Mezonproekt


In 2020, the apartment hotel project made the shortlist of the Moscow prize in the field of architecture and urban planning. Previously, it received the approval of the state examination and is now waiting to be implemented.

25 December 2020

Headlines now
The Angle of String Tension
The House of Music, designed by Vladimir Plotkin and the architects of TPO Reserve, resembles a harp, and when seen from above, even a bass clef. But if only it were that simple! The architecture of the complex fuses two distinct expressive languages: the lattice-like, transparent, permeable vocabulary of “classical” modernism and the sculptural, ribbon-like volumes so beloved by today’s neo-modernism. How it all works – where the catharsis lies, which compositional axes underpin the design, where the project resembles Zaryadye Concert Hall and where it does not – read in the article below.
How Historic Tobolsk Becomes a Portal to the Future
Over the past decade, the architectural company Wowhaus has developed urban strategies for several Russian cities – Vyksa, Tula, and Nizhnekamsk, to name but a few. Against this backdrop, the Tobolsk master plan stands out both for its scale – the territory under transformation covers more than 220 square kilometers – and for its complexity.
St. Petersburg vs Rome
The center of St. Petersburg is, as we know, sacred – but few people can say with certainty where this “sacred place” actually begins and ends. It’s not about the formal boundaries, “from the Obvodny Canal to the Bolshaya Nevka”, but about the vibe that feels true to the city center. With the Nevskaya Ratusha complex – built to a design that won an international competition – Evgeny Gerasimov and Sergei Tchoban created an “image of the center” within its territory. And not so much the image of St. Petersburg itself, as that of a global metropolis. This is something new, something that hasn’t appeared in the city for a long time. In this article, we study the atmosphere, recall precedents, and even reflect on who and when first called St. Petersburg the “new Rome”. Clearly, the idea is alive for a reason.
On the Wave
The project of transforming the river port and embankment in the city of Cheboksary, developed by the ATRIUM Architects, involves one of the city’s key areas. The Volga embankment is to be turned into a riverside boulevard – a multifunctional, comfortable, and expressive space for work and leisure activities. The authors propose creating a new link with the city’s main Krasnaya (“Red”) Square, as well as erecting several residential towers inspired by the shape of the traditional national women’s headdress – these towers are likely to become striking accents on the Volga panorama.
Valery Kanyashin: “We Were Given a Free Hand”
The Headliner residential complex, the main part of which was recently completed just across from Moscow City, is a kind of neighbor to the MIBC that doesn’t “play along” with it. On the contrary, the new complex is entirely built on contrast: like a city of differently scaled buildings that seems to have emerged naturally over the past 20 years – which is a hugely popular trend nowadays! And yet here – perhaps only here – such a project has been realized to its full potential. Yes, high-rises dominate, but all these slender, delicate profiles, all these exciting perspectives! And most importantly – how everything is mixed and composed together... We spoke with the project’s leader Valery Kanyashin.
​The Keystone
Until quite recently, premium residential and office complexes in Moscow were seen as the exclusive privilege of the city center. Today the situation is changing: high-quality architecture is moving beyond the confines of the Third Ring Road and appearing on the outskirts. The STONE Kaluzhskaya business center is one such example. Projects like this help decentralize the megalopolis, making life and work prestigious in any part of the city.
Perpetuum Mobile
The interior of the headquarters of Natsproektstroy, created by the IND studio team, vividly and effectively reflects the client’s field of activity – it is one of Russia’s largest infrastructure companies, responsible for logistics and transport communications of every kind you can possibly think of.
Water and Light
Church art is full of symbolism, and part of it is truly canonical, while another part is shaped by tradition and is perceived by some as obligatory. Because of this kind of “false conservatism”, contemporary church architecture develops slowly compared to other genres, and rarely looks contemporary. Nevertheless, there are enthusiasts in this field out there: the cemetery church of Archangel Michael in Apatity, designed by Dmitry Ostroumov and Prokhram bureau, combines tradition and experiment. This is not an experiment for its own sake, however – rather, the considered work of a contemporary architect with the symbolism of space, volume, and, above all, light.
Champions’ Cup
At first glance, the Bell skyscraper on 1st Yamskogo Polya Street, 12, appears strict and laconic – though by no means modest. Its economical stereometry is built on a form close to an oval, one of UNK architects’ favorite themes. The streamlined surface of the main volume, clad in metal louvers, is sliced twice with glass incisions that graphically reveal the essence of the original shape: both its simplicity and its complexity. At the same time, dozens of highly complex engineering puzzles have been solved here.
Semi-Digital Environment
In the town of Innopolis, a satellite of Kazan, the first 4-star hotel designed by MAD Architects has opened. The interiors of the hotel combine elegance with irony, and technology with comfort, evoking the atmosphere of a computer game or maybe a sci-fi movie about the near future.
History never ends
The old railway station in Kapan, a city in southern Armenia, has been given new life by the Paris-based design firm Normal Studio. Today, it serves as a TUMO center.
A Deep, Crystal Shine
A new luxury residential development by ADM architects is set to rise in the Patriarch’s Ponds district, not far from Novopushkinsky Square. It will replace three buildings erected in the early 1990s. The project authors, Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova, have placed their bets on the variety among the three volumes, modern design solutions, and attention to detail: one of the buildings will feature smoothly curved balconies with a ceramic sheen on their undersides, while another will be accented by glass “sculpture” columns.
Grigory Revzin: “What we should do with the architecture of the seventies”
Soviet modernism came in two flavors: the good, author-driven kind, and the bad, standardized kind. The good kind was “on the periphery”, while the bad kind was in the center – geographically, in terms of attention, scale, and everything else. Can we demolish it? “That would be destroying public consensus out of thin air”. So what should we do? Preserve it, but creatively: “Bring architecture into places where it hasn’t yet appeared”. Treat these buildings not as monuments, but as urban landscape. Read our interview with Grigory Revzin on the pressing topic of saving modernism – where he proposes a controversial, yet really intriguing, way of preserving 1970s buildings.
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.