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Raising the Yard

The housing complex Renome consists of two buildings: a modern stone house and a red-brick factory building of the end of the XIX century, reconstructed by measurements and original drafts. The two buildings are connected by an “inclined” yard – a rare, by Moscow standards, version of geoplastics that smoothly ascends to the roof of the stores lined up along a pedestrian street.

Natalia Koriakovskaia

Written by:
Natalia Koriakovskaia, Arina Strigova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

19 March 2021
Object
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The housing complex Renome, about the project of which we wrote in 2016, is situated inside the blocks between three streets: Novoslobodskaya, Palikha, and Sushchevskaya – and one in-block pedestrian passageway that connects the exit from the Mendeleevskaya Metro Station and the Sushchevskaya Street. In our particular case, the passageway, winding amongst a conglomerate of old Moscow houses, is more attention worthy than all the surrounding streets because recently it has turned into a cozy urban hangout with lots of bars and small shops, colorful signs and lights hanging on strings – in a word, this something like Moscow’s Covent Garden. Making a turn underneath the arch, the pedestrian way, starting from the metro station, leads past the restaurants of the Atmosphere business center, an office complex built by ADM Architects in 2011-2013, and presenting a result of painstaking reconstruction of a fragment of city development of the XIX century, consisting of low-rise buildings of a weaving factory. There are grounds to believe that the public bottom floors of Atmosphere, its cozy little yards, and the end-to-end passage to Palikha became one of the drivers for the development of the pleasant “go-for-a-stroll” environment near the Mendeleevskaya metro station.

Renome was designed three years after Atmosphere was completed – by the same architectural company ADM Architects, and on commission of the same developer, Simex. One of the most important tasks was to capitalize on the success of the public floors and the pedestrian street, creating yet another “shopping passage” a hundred meters away from it. Hence, the new housing complex consists of two buildings: a large L-shaped one with light-colored facades of Jurassic stone, and a small red-brick one. Between them, running along the pedestrian passage from Novoslobodskaya to Sushchevskaya, there is a 5-meter high link volume with a tall stained glass window and round concrete columns visible through the glass: it will be occupied by cafes and shops.



The retail “link” building closes the courtyard of the complex from the south side and becomes the basis for the most interesting – well, at least, rare by Moscow standards – part of the spatial and volumetric solution. Considering the fact that the shop buildings will turned to the yard with their dull technical side, a “cold wall”, which will be casting an almost permanent shadow, the architects proposed to raise the landscaped yard on one side, designing it as a gently sloping “mountain” – a kind of green amphitheater that leads to the operated roof of the shops.



The inclined surface of the yard is structured by a diagonal grid of trails with a slight tilt, comfortable to ascend. Its flexible shape looks a little bit like paper garlands with slits. The rhombuses, appearing between the ramps, host flowerbeds and recreation areas – the architects made the most out of the surface, making each of its fragments useful; the geometric pattern of the garden looks great from the apartment windows. The upper part is paved with wood, and in the summer there are wicker chairs and umbrellas: a small resort oasis that smoothly grows out of the garden on the slope.

The artificial relief here turns out to be something more significant and interesting than the usual geoplastics of the hills. In addition, the upper part is well lit by the rays of the southern sun, and the plants of the slide get the light in full – this unconventional move made it possible to completely avoid the “shadow pocket” effect. And we will also note here the urban space itself turned out to be delicately, yet clearly, zoned: on the one side, there is a private courtyard, on the other side, there is city retail – they exist in the same space, but almost without touching each other, except that the tops of green bushes on the roof can arrest the gaze of some passer-by.



This solution is also interesting from the typological standpoint because, although it was implemented on flat relief, one can nevertheless trace typical Moscow features in it: Moscow is known to be a hilly city, at least in some places, and somewhere, especially in the neighborhood of Maroseyka or Serebryaniki, you do come across inclined yards and terraces.

Back to the residential buildings, though! While the string of shops in the link building continues the Atmosphere business center function-wise, the L-shaped building picks up its light tone and texture, only in a more expensive material – stone as opposed to the ceramic tiles of the business center. Stone verticals with striped grooves vary in width and frequency, interspersed with thin lintels, the lintels being light stone on the outside, and mostly dark wood on the side of the courtyard. Panels of the same “wood-like” time appear in the entrance portals, and in the finish of the lower surface of cantilever above the pedestrian walkway at the western end – in all cases, wood adds to a homely feel of the place.



The floors are vertically grouped in twos, the pairs dissected by the flat horizontals of the friezes. However, the intermediate floor is masked not by dark tinted glass, as is often done nowadays, but by glass with silk-screen printing of a white raster gradient – their whiteness makes the house brighter and softens the tension of the vertical rhythm. In addition, some of the windows are actually windows, and some of them are glazed recessed balconies (Andrey Romanov calls them winter gardens); they are sunk in the facade plane at different depths, which is why there is a surface oscillation barely noticeable to a superficial glance. This way, when viewed from a certain angle, the line of the white glass forms a zigzagging horizontal, as if some kind of thread was running through the facade.



Thin strips of corrugation on the stone are complemented by carvings of graceful rectangular flower pots, as well as plastic forged fences and “smoker’s balconies”; in every case, the ornament is built on a single flowing plant motif.

The small open balconies are semicircular on the plan and – the architects especially emphasize this – are fundamentally different from the decorative baskets without a bottom for air conditioners that are now commonly accepted in Moscow construction. These balconies have a sturdy base made of a cast iron plate about 5 cm thick, which can support the weight of more than one person. In a word, what we are seeing are distant relatives of the cast iron balconies of Moscow of the XIX century, which gracefully resonate with the surrounding context: they liven up the facade not only with their rounded plastique and lacy shadows but also functionally because the architects indeed designed them with people in mind.



The other building of the complex, made of red brick, square on the plan, and situated closer to Novoslobodskaya Street, was inherited from the weaving factory. In the process of working on the project, the architects planned to preserve two of its surviving facades of the late XIX century and to complete the other two walls, which had been depersonalized by restructuring during the Soviet era. However, due to the fact that the there was an underground parking garage occupying the whole space underneath the complex, preserving the walls of the building, which did not even have a protected status turned out to be rather problematic, and ultimately the architects and the client came up with the idea of restoring the factory building according to measurements , using artificially aged Belgian bricks, reminiscent of the historical ones.



Which they did, and rather carefully, too – preserving the types of historical brickwork: all-stretcher bond on the walls and alternation of all-stretcher and header bonds on the blades, they also restored the figured cantilevers and metalwork, for example, decorative fastening of internal ties, according to measurements and archival drawings. The bearing structure of the house is monolithic concrete; moreover, it bears the upper floor penthouse, which echoes in color with its stone neighbor. However, the brick facades correspond to the historical ones, adjusted to correct the microscopic difference in the size of the windows and the slight curvature of the lines. “There were no inaccuracies on the historical drawings; the windows were designed to be exactly alike. The minor discrepancies appeared in the XIX century on the construction site; we corrected them. The proportions, the eaves, and other details – we were meticulous” – Andrey Romanov emphasizes.



The red-brick building is called Héritage; the L-shaped one is called Nouveau, both names are French. The main name Renome literally means in French “famous” or “well-known” but somehow in Russian it is perceived more like “reputation”. Curiously, Héritage and Nouveau are written on the signs in French, but Реномэ is written in Russian: it appears that the marketing logic is loosely based on the idea that preserving (or restoring) heritage and buildings new things are two main components of a good reputation. Even though here it is rooted in reality, generally it is not always the case.



Thanks to the brick house, the new residential complex, inscribed in the space of this Moscow neighborhood, acquires a quite palpable “difference in time” on the level of emotions, a variety of styles, appropriate in the local environment and looking as if it was exactly what this environment needed. It is difficult to say which texture – red or white is more interesting and: a varied masonry made of aged bricks or an airy ensemble of carved light stone. But then again, considering the fact that both are within an arm’s reach if you just walk in the yard, being that close, the house has no right to remain indifferent – both parts are equally responsive to the demand for tactility and variety of impressions.

We will also note here that the restoration of a historic building involving the completion of its walls is the only such case in the portfolio of ADM architects. The architects are vocal critics of stylization – they still seem to be second-guessing the righteousness of this solution. Indeed, one could argue: perhaps it would have made more sense at the moment – when the impossibility of preserving the original building of the XIX century became obvious – to remake the project altogether, completely abandon reconstruction and build something modern instead of the lost one? Because making an opposition of new and old, the east they did in the Wine House residential complex in Sadovniki, was something that they would not be able to do here anyway. And, upon closer inspection, the dents on the bricks give away artificial aging. And the hue of the real XIX century brick is generally redder, while this has too much brown about it – the dark bricks that occasionally pop up in the masonry also give away a modern approach. But then again, such critical attitude reeks of “Venetian” purism. After all, the actual authenticity of the factory building may interest one or two researchers, but they must be knowledgeable about the history of old buildings in any case.

On the other hand, if we are to speak about the atmosphere of this place, it definitely benefited from this project: the building is interesting, and the contrast is exciting. Furthermore, the historical building to a certain degree became the starting point and the prototype for further development of the ensemble: after a while, another pair was added to it, a counterweight, another house, whose modern architecture nevertheless echoes the “factory” building and even “grows” out of it in compositional terms. More about that in our next article.

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    Renome housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
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    Plan of the first floor. Renome housing complex
    Copyright: © ADM
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    Renome housing complex / ADM architects
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
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    Renome housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
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    Renome housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
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    Renome housing complex / ADM architects
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
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    Renome housing complex / ADM architects
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
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    Renome housing complex / ADM architects
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
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    Renome housing complex / ADM architects
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
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    Renome housing complex / ADM architects
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
Renome housing complex / ADM architects
Copyright: Photograph: Archi.ru
Renome housing complex / ADM architects
Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
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    Renome housing complex / ADM architects
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
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    Renome housing complex / ADM architects
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
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    Renome housing complex / ADM architects
    Copyright: Photograph © Ярослав Лукьянченко / provided ADM architects
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    Renome housing complex / ADM architects
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
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    Renome housing complex / ADM architects
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
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    Renome housing complex / ADM architects
    Copyright: Photograph © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / provided by ADM architects
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    Plan of the standard floor. Renome housing complex
    Copyright: © ADM
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    The master plan. Renome housing complex
    Copyright: © ADM


19 March 2021

Natalia Koriakovskaia

Written by:

Natalia Koriakovskaia, Arina Strigova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov
Headlines now
​Streamline for City Canyons
Stepan Liphart has designed two houses for two small land sites situated in the area surrounding the Varshavsky Railway Station, which is being intensively developed now. The sites are situated close but not next to each other, and they are different, yet similar: the theme is the same but it is interpreted in different ways. In this issue, we are examining and comparing both projects.
​The Eastern Frontier
“The Eastern Arc” is one of the main land resources of Kazan’s development, concentrated in the hands of a single owner. The Genplan Institute of Moscow has developed a concept for the integrated development of this territory based on an analytical transport model that will create a comfortable living environment, new centers of attraction, and new workplaces as well.
A School of Our Time
On the eve of the presentation of the new book by ATRIUM, dedicated to the design of schools and other educational facilities, based on the architects’ considerable experience, as well as expert judgments, we are examining the Quantum STEM school building, constructed according to their project in Astana. Furthermore, this building is planned to be the first one to start a new chain. The architects designed it in full accordance with modern standards but sometimes they did break away from them – only to confirm the general development rules. For example, there are two amphitheaters in the atrium, and there is an artificial hill in the yard that is meant to make the flat terrain of the Kazakhstan steppe more eventful.
The Fluffy Space
Designing the passenger terminal of the Orenburg airport, ASADOV architects continue to explore the space theme that they first introduced in Saratov and Kemerovo airports. At the same time, the architects again combine the global and the local, reflecting topics inspired by the local conceptual context. In this case, the building is “covered” by an Orenburg downy shawl – an analogy that is recognizable enough, yet not literal; some will see the reference and some won’t.
The White Fitness Center
The white health and fitness center, designed by Futura Architects at the entrance to St. Petersburg’s New Piter residential complex, provides the developing area not only with functional but also with sculptural diversity, livening up the rows of the brick city blocks with the whiteness of its seamless facades, cantilevered structures, and dynamic inclined lines.
The New Dawn
In their project of a technology park to be built on the grounds of “Integrated Home-Building Factory 500” in Tyumen Oblast – the biggest in Russia – the HADAA architects preserve not just the industrial function of the giant hangar built in the late 1980s and 90% of its structures, but also respond to its imagery. They also propose a “gradient” approach to developing the available areas: from open public ones to staff-only professional spaces. The goal of this approach is to turn the technology park into the driver for developing the business function between the industrial zones and the future residential area in accordance with the Integrated Land Development program.
​Tame Hills for New Residents
T+T Architects have reported that they have completed the landscaping project for the yard of the first stage of Alexandrovsky Garden housing complex in Ekaterinburg – the landscape complements the contextual architecture, tailored for the buyers’ preferences and downtown standards, with bold neo modernist master strokes and lush and diverse vegetation.
The Crystal of the City Block
The typology and plastique of large housing complexes move with the times, and you can sometimes find new subtleties in the scope of seemingly familiar solutions. The Sky Garden complex combines two well-known themes, forming a giant residential area consisting of tall slender towers, placed at the perimeter of a large yard, in which a crossroads of two pedestrian promenades is “dissolved”.
Sunshine, Air, and Water
The construction of the “Solnechny” (“Sunny”) summer camp, designed by ARENA project institute, has been completed, the largest summer camp within the legendary Artek seaside resort for children. It was conceived still in Soviet time, but it was not implemented. The modern version surprises you with sophisticated engineering solutions that are combined with a clear-cut structure: together, they generate Asher-esque spaces.
​Art Deco at the Edge of Space
The competition project by Stepan Liphart – a high-end residential complex executed in a reserved classicist style in close proximity to the Kaluga Space Museum – responds equally well to the context and to the client’s brief. It is moderately respectable, moderately mobile and transparent, and it even digs a little into the ground to comply with strict height restrictions, without losing proportions and scale.
Going, Going, Gone!
The housing complex “Composers’ Residences” has been built in accordance with the project by Sergey Skuratov, who won the international competition back in 2011. It all began from the image search and “cutting off all spare”, and then implementing the recognizable Skuratov architecture. It all ended, however, in tearing down the buildings of the Schlichterman factory, whose conservation was stipulated by all the appropriate agencies prior to approving Skuratov’s project. This story seems to be educational and important for understanding the history of all the eleven years, during which the complex was designed and built.
The Life of Iron
The building of the Vyksa Metallurgy Museum, designed by Nikita Yavein and Sergey Padalko, provides for the natural aging of metal – it is planned that the iron will gradually rust – at the same time utilizing the advanced type of construction, based on metal’s ability to stretch. The building will be constructed from pipes and rolled steel supplied by OMK company, as well as from recycled bricks.
​And the Brook is Flowing
ASADOV Architects have designed a master plan for developing a residential area at the outskirts of Kaliningrad: a regular grid of housing blocks is enriched by large-scale public facilities, the main “artery” of the new area being the fortification channel that regains its original function.
Off We Go!
The new terminal of the Tomsk airport is being designed by ASADOV bureau. The architects keep on developing its identity, building the imagery upon the inventions of Nikolai Kamov, whose name the airport bears. The result is laconic, light, and, as always, levitating.
Maximum Flexibility
The Multispace Dinamo, which recently opened within the Arena business center, is an example of a project that is entirely based upon cutting-edge approaches and technologies. It is managed via a mobile application, special software was created for it, and the spaces are not just multifunctional but carefully mixed up, like some kind of jigsaw puzzle that allows the office workers to mix their working routine for better efficiency.
A Factory’s Path
Last week, the new center for constructivist studies “Zotov” hosted its first exhibition named “1922. Constructivism. The Inception”. The idea of creating this center belongs to Sergey Tchoban, while the project of the nearest houses and adjusting the building of the bread factory for the new museum function was done by the architect in collaboration with his colleagues from SPEECH. We decided that such a complex project should be examined in its entirety – and this is how we came up with this long-read about constructivism on Presnya, conservation, innovation, multilayered approach, and hope.
The Savelovsky Axis
The business center, situated right in the middle of a large city junction next to the Savelovsky Railway Station takes on the role of a spatial axis, upon which the entire place hinges: it spins like a spiral, alternating perfect glass of the tiers and deep recessions of inter-tier floors that conceal little windows invented by the architects. It is sculptural, and it claims the role of a new city landmark, in spite of its relatively small height of nine floors.
Parametric Waves
In the housing complex Sydney City, which FSK Group is building in the area of Shelepikhinskaya Embankment, Genpro designed the central city block, combining parametric facades and modular technology within its architecture.
The Multitone
The new interior of the Action Development headquarters can be regarded as an attempt to design the perfect “home” for the company – not just comfortable but broadcasting the values of modern development. It responds to the context, yet it is built on contrast, it is fresh but cozy, it is dynamic, yet it invites you to relax – everything of this coexists here quite harmoniously, probably because the architects found an appropriate place for each of the themes.
Refinement No Longer Relevant
A few days ago journalists were shown the building of Bread Factory #5, renovated upon the project by Sergey Tchoban. In this issue, we are publishing Grigory Revzin’s thoughts about this project.
The Comb of Strelna
In this issue, we are taking a close look at the project that won the “Crystal Daedalus” award – the “Veren Village” housing complex in Strelna, designed by Ostozhenka. Its low-rise format became a trigger for typological and morphological experiments – seemingly, we are seeing recognizable trends, yet at the same time there are a multitude of subtleties that are a pleasure to go into. Having studied this project in detail, we think that the award is well-deserved.
A Tectonic Shift
For several years now, Futura Architects have been working with the “New Peter” residential area in the south of St. Petersburg. In this article, we are covering their most recent project – a house, in which the architects’ architectural ideas peacefully coexist with the limitations of comfort-class housing, producing a “multilayered” effect that looks very attractive for this typology.
Three “Green” Stories
In this issue, we are examining three environmental urban projects showcased by the Genplan Institute of Moscow at the Zodchestvo festival. The scale of the projects is really diverse: from gathering information and suggestions from the residents on a city scale to growing meadow grass between houses to paintings, which, as it turned out, possess power to cure trees, healing their wounded bark. + a list of kinds of plants natural for Moscow to help the developer.
​The Slabs of Bagration
The construction of a new skyscraper designed by SPEECH within the complex of Moscow City has been announced. A keen observer may see in it: Moscow high-rises, Chicago architecture, Malevich architecton, and an attempt of deconstruction of the integral image of the Moscow skyscraper – a technique that has been actively employed by the architects in their recent works.
​Preserving the History of Clean Ponds
How do you make a comfortable high-end residential complex that meets the modern requirements for expensive downtown housing, and keep as much of the original 1915 building as possible? Ilia Utkin, together with Sminex, solved this charade for Potapovsky Lane, 5 – here is how.
​Living in a Forest
The apartment complex in Roshchino, designed by GAFA architects, looks very much like a glamping: the residents enjoy the untouched nature of the Karelian isthmus, while having urban amenities and opportunities for social life.
A Laboratory for Life
The building of the Laboratory of Oncomorphology and Molecular Genetics, designed by the author team headed by Ilya Mashkov (Mezonproject) uses the benefits of the natural context and offers space for cutting-edge research, both doctor- and patient-friendly.
The Logic of Life
The light installation, designed by Andrey Perlach in the atrium of Moscow's Federation Tower, balances on the edge between a mathematical order of construction and the diversity of perception when viewed from different angles.
An Architect in a Metaverse
In this interview, we talked to the participants of the festival of creative industries G8 about why metaverses are our tomorrow’s everyday routine, and how architects can already influence it today.