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On the Bank of a Very Quiet River

The project of landscaping the territory of the residential complex NOW in Moscow’s Nagatinskaya Valley goes beyond the limits of its task and looks more like a modern park: with viewing platforms, an embankment, spaces different in their moods, and thought-out scenarios for visitors aged between 0 and 80.

Alyona Kuznetsova

Written by:
Alyona Kuznetsova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

22 July 2021
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The housing complex NOW is being built in the eastern part of the “ZIL Peninsula” – a territory, with which the biggest and most popular projects of reconstructing former industrial estates are associated. The city is planning to build here more than 6M square meters of real property accommodating for a brave new life: with pedestrian embankments, streets named after artists and architects, a technology park, a “Disneyland”, and many other infrastructure projects that will allow you to describe this place as “a city within a city” with traits of a utopia. One should hardly say that the status of this territory raises the bar sky-high.

The land site of the housing complex NOW stretches along the east bank of the Novinka backwater, which was the bed of the Moskva River before the construction of the rectifier canal. Its immediate neighbors on the opposite side of Drive 7024 are a group of business centers that together constitute the aforementioned techno park next to the namesake metro station (NOW is a ten minutes’ walk away), the already completed Technopark housing complex, designed by SPEECH, and the Nagatino i-Land complex, designed by Aleksey Ginzburg. On the opposite, western bank of the lake, “the biggest housing complex in Europe”, named Chagall, the first stage of which was designed by buromoscow.

All of the above-mentioned complexes are rather modernist architecture, and this is why when ATRIUM, headed by Vera Budko and Anton Nadtochiy, won the closed-door competition for the concept of NOW with a project quite characteristic for the style of these architects, the client asked the authors to redesign the visual appearance of the complex in a more traditional key, interpreted nowadays as “Art Deco”, which they did. The second stage was designed by the APEX project bureau. The complex consists of 16 buildings forming large city blocks with public stylobates. Each one has a facade of its own; the first line of houses is situated 30 meters away from the water’s edge.



The GAFA architects, which did the improvement of the NOW public zones, were to solve quite a large number of tasks: linking the territory of the complex to the surrounding territories, turning the embankment into the local center of attraction, which, considering the bar raised by ZIL, was quite a chore, making the yards cozy and “human-friendly”, and breathing life into this new little piece of the city by using thought-out scenarios. This whole project started from designing the sales office.



When GAFA landed the commission for designing the sales office, the developer already had two landscaping projects ready. But, as is known, “there are no small roles”: designing this little project, GAFA perfected import principles, demonstrating their approach and competences, the client got inspired by their work, and then he proposed to spread the solutions over to the last stage, and then to the entire complex. 



The whole space between the buildings is dissected into “cabinets”, which makes the yards look like a regular park. On the inside, each of the urban blocks features a similar set of functions – playgrounds and sports fields, quiet and noisy streets, flowerbeds and city “balconies”. However, no two single cabinets are exactly alike, which is meant to motivate the residents to move around inside the complex in search of new viewing angles and favorite locations, as well as forming neighbor communities – this last thing is particularly important for GAFA. For this reason, each yard received a unique “bonus” of its own: a community table, a large “meadow” or a “city balcony” that commands the embankment views on the one side and the dynamic city street on the other.



The landscape solutions are aimed first of all at compensating for the rather large construction density, an excessive amount of shade that it produces, and the inevitable prevalence of hard surfaces, necessary for the emergency vehicles.



According to the architects, what makes GAFA’s approach to landscaping different is the fact that they do not seek to stuff the yards with “activities”, thereby imposing scenarios, but offer spaces that are “empty”, and, hence, multifunctional, easily adaptable to the user’s needs and moods: a lawn with a picturesque snag, a birch grove, a flower garden, and a plaza. Emptiness is a place that does not imply pragmatic benefits, but in return it gives air and a different level of experience. Free space is increasingly associated with luxury – like a weekday, in which there are no duties, and you can do whatever you have wanted for a long time. In this courtyard, you are not forced to warm up on a simulator or get bored on the playground – you can lie on the grass, smell flowers or play badminton with your children.



Each point commands beautiful views, which is yet another achievement by GAFA, making the yard look like a garden. The emergency drives are masked as plazas with elegant paving. Victoria Barkalova, the chief architect of the project, believes that “the brickwork retrieves people’s attention to detail, which allows us to speak about the human-friendly character of the project and the quality of manual work.” The species diversity of perennials and trees in the composition of landscaping is counted in hundreds of names-needless to say that they are distributed in picturesque groups and are designed to bloom continuously.

Such a yard not only invites you to spend more time outdoors, but also will not bore you for a long time. It is interesting to be in for people of any age and throughout the year.



The next level of land improvement is the boulevard between the complex and the river, the “upper embankment” – a transient city space supported by the retail of NOW’s first floor, as well as by bicycle and jogging trails.



And, finally, the embankment immediately next to the water – an indisputable genius loci. The GAFA architects tried to bring it back to its original natural appearance and turn it into a local center of attraction. 

The natural contour of the riverbank will be kept intact and reinforced with boulders and pebbles, specially selected plants, and “rain gardens” that stop the excess of rainwater, filtering it and making it penetrate the soil gradually.



The possibilities presented by the terrain are used for creating connections – trails, descents, an amphitheater, as well as functional projects, such as playgrounds and summer slides. The minor architectural forms will be interspersed with pine trees and herbs, as well as by picturesquely scattered boulders. Essentially, the architects are creating not just the landscape but also a beginning of forming a whole ecosystem and reviving the local biological diversity – the numerous plants and flowers will attract insects, insects will in turn attract birds, and fish will return to the purified water. There is an eco trail running throughout the embankment, walking by which is meant to give the city resident new impressions and make them feel at one with nature.





The architects tactfully included activity zones into the riverside space, they found space for amphitheaters, playgrounds, as well as a dog park, the “signature” community table, a picnic lawn, and a sports cluster that was positioned at the beginning of the embankment, closer to the Nagatino-i-Land technology park. Thus, the tiered embankment offers dozens of pastime scenarios.



In 2023, the construction of a road bridge across the backwater should be completed, the bridge should connect the Nagatinskaya floodplain with the ZIL-Yug / Shagal quarters, and two pedestrian bridges will also be built. In addition, the city announced the emergence of a water attraction platform, a floating spa complex and a garden with aquatic plants in the water area of the backwater. All this allows us to say that the NOW residential complex embankment will become a part of the recreational framework of the ZIL peninsula – together with the Marc Chagall embankment, the Tyuffel grove, and the Dream Island landscape parks.
View of the promenade near Buildings 1.1, 1.4. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
Copyright: © GAFA Architects
The entrance groups. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
Copyright: © GAFA Architects
The sales office of the NOW housing complex, a project
Copyright: © GAFA Architects
The master plan of the yard. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    Urban block 2.3-2.6, an overview. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    Urban block 2.3-2.6, an overview. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    Urban block 2.3-2.6, an overview. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    Urban block 4, the city balconies. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    Stage 3. View of the birch garden and the city balcony. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    Stage 3, view of the lawn and amphitheter. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    Stage 3, view of the city balcony. THe yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    Stage 3, view of the alley with shadow awnings. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    View of the plazas. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    Plaza. A landscape slide. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    The paving pattern. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    The public spaces for the residents. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
The master plan. The embankment. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    NOW housing complex. The rain gardens
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    NOW housing complex. The rain gardens
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    NOW housing complex. The rain gardens
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
The recreation place. The embankment. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
Copyright: © GAFA Architects
A mini-plaza with a pergola. The embankment. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    The fuctional diagram. The yards. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
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    The routes. The embankment. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    The “natural plaza”. The embankment. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    The plaza with an amphitheater. The embankment. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    The playground. The embankment. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects
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    The sports cluster. THe embankment. The improvement of the territory of the NOW housing complex
    Copyright: © GAFA Architects


22 July 2021

Alyona Kuznetsova

Written by:

Alyona Kuznetsova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov
Headlines now
Julius Borisov: “The “Island” housing complex is a unique project – we took it on with...
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The residential complex “Balance” on Moscow’s Ryazansky Prospekt is one of the large-scale, and relatively economical (again, by Moscow standards) housing projects. Its first phase has already been built and landscaped; the work on the others is in progress. Nevertheless, it has an integral internal logic, which is based on the balance of functions, height, and even image and space composition. The proposed solutions are recognizable and laconic, so that each of them was reduced by the authors to a graphic “logo”. To see everything, you have to flip through the pages and look through to the end.
Horror Vacui
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A Multi-Faced Grotto
This building, seemingly small, unremarkable, semi-ruined, and not even very ancient – the Grotto in the Bauman Garden – was restored by the “People’s Architect” architectural company with all the care applicable to a heritage monument. They preserved the romantic appeal of the ruins, added multimedia content, and explored the cascading fountain, which, as it turned out, was completely preserved. Brace yourself for a long story!
First among Equals
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Gustave Falconnier
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​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
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The Fluffy Space
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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.
​A Hill behind the Wall
The master plan of a new residential area in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, developed by the Genplan Institute of Moscow with the participation of Kengo Kuma & Associates, is based on the complexities and advantages of the relief of the foothills: the houses are arranged in cascades, and multi-level improvement penetrates all the blocks, continuing in forest trails.
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
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A Factory’s Path
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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
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Refinement No Longer Relevant
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The Comb of Strelna
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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.