По-русски

​A Shell by the Sea

Designing the Sports Palace that will determine the development of the entire northern part of Derbent, ASADOV Architects turned to the architectural legacy of Dagestan, local lore, and ancient layers of history.

Alyona Kuznetsova

Written by:
Alyona Kuznetsova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

10 January 2022
Object
mainImg
Architect:
Alexander Asadov
Andrey Asadov
Firm:
ASADOV architects http://www.asadov.ru/
Derbent is a small city by Russian standards, with a population of just over 100 thousand people, but outstanding in many other respects. This is one of the oldest cities not only in Russia, but also in the world – recently it formally turned 2,000 years old, but archeological finds indicate that the first settlements arose here at least 5,000 years ago. The convenient location of Derbent – in a strip where the mountains of the Greater Caucasus come close to the Caspian Sea – made it the most important point of the Great Silk Road: the “Caspian Gate” connected Eastern Europe and Near Asia. The old part of Derbent is included in the UNESCO Heritage List.

Today, Derbent is actively developing as a tourist center. In 2019, an international competition for the master plan of the city was organized, and this fall a comprehensive development plan for Derbent until 2025 was approved, under which the city will receive new infrastructure and social facilities. The biggest of them are: the embankment, a ropeway to the Naryn-Kala fortress, as well as the Sports Palace.

zooming
Sports Palace in Derbent
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


The land site for the Sports Palace was chosen in the north part of the city, containing predominantly private houses – this is the place where the 12-kilometer embankment will end, which will connect the pedestrian spaces and the parks situated along the seashore. Google panoramas of 2019 give a somewhat depressing picture of the area: broken roads without sidewalks, littered roadsides, foam blocks and roofing material lying around – an environment far from the image of an ancient city.

However, this picture is likely to change after the landmark of the Sports Palace appears – a building that is large and modern, yet at the same time rooted in the local culture.

The Sports Palace will occupy only a part of the vast wasteland, which, according to the maps, was once intended for the construction of a housing project. The part that is closest to the Caspian Sea will host a park with open-air sports fields for various kinds of sports: big and table tennis, beach football and volleyball, basketball, yoga, and dancing. In the northern part, which was not included in the design boundaries, since it belongs to another investor, the architects, as part of the client’s recommendation, propose to place a hotel with a water park – currently, the tourists can only use guest houses in this area.

  • zooming
    1 / 3
    Sports Palace in Derbent. The layout of functional zoning of the territory
    Copyright: © ASADOV architects
  • zooming
    2 / 3
    The Sports palace in the city of Derbent. A simplified master plan of the territory
    Copyright: © ASADOV architects
  • zooming
    3 / 3
    The Sports palace in the city of Derbent. A simplified master plan of the Sports Palace
    Copyright: © ASADOV architects


The Palace is turned with its main entrance to the Khandadash Tagiev Street: the building, with a plan resembling a water drop, is linked to this street with a two-level bridge, which continues in a ray into the atrium, where it finally gets “broken” by the amphitheater staircase. Under the bridge, there is a parking lot, and on this side there are technical premises: locker rooms, bathrooms, and medical facilities. The rounded side of the Palace overlooks the park and the waterfront, and thus, like an ancient sports arena, ends up being included in the landscape.

zooming
Sports Palace in Derbent
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


zooming
Sports Palace in Derbent
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


It must be mentioned that the shape of the palace did not come about at once, and was conditioned by its functional content. The program of the building turned out to be indeed comprehensive: it is expected that on the inside, in addition to the conventional gyms and a swimming pool with all the related facilities, there will be a few restaurants, offices, a hotel for the guest athletes, a fitness hall, as well as a lounge zone on the roof and a rock-climbing wall. Having packed all the rooms into a square first, the architects were not satisfied with the resulting shape, and inscribed them in a circle, adding a curl of the bridge, which gave the volume a resemblance to ammonite, further enhanced by the edges of the lamellae. The volumetric pylons gradually change the slanting angle, and, thanks to this parametric effect, the building again takes on the sufficient degree of dynamics, generally inherent to sports facilities.

zooming
Sports Palace in Derbent
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


The fossil found at the bottom of the Caspian Sea is an allusion supported by the location of the palace on a lowered part of the terrain, which at the same time helps to make the scale of the building more commensurate with the surroundings. The architects intended to use local materials in the façade elements and finishing materials, but the local tuff turned out to be too soft, and the choice fell on a more durable marble-like limestone, also available in the region. The glass with stone inclusions of a yellowish/rosy hue echoes the local colors and Derbent’s main tourist attraction – the Naryn-Kala fortress.

zooming
Sports Palace in Derbent
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


zooming
Sports Palace in Derbent
Copyright: © ASADOV architects


The arena of the Sports Palace is designed for 2,270 seats. The complex can host both competitions and practices for adults and children, as well as exhibitions, forums and concerts. The building will include a conference hall with a stage for presentations, a meeting room, and a restaurant for 180 seats.

  • zooming
    1 / 8
    Sports Palace in Derbent. Plan of the 1st floor
    Copyright: © ASADOV architects
  • zooming
    2 / 8
    The Sports palace in the city of Derbent. The plan of the 2nd floor
    Copyright: © ASADOV architects
  • zooming
    3 / 8
    The Sports palace in the city of Derbent. The plan of the 3rd floor
    Copyright: © ASADOV architects
  • zooming
    4 / 8
    The Sports palace in the city of Derbent. The plan of the 4th floor
    Copyright: © ASADOV architects
  • zooming
    5 / 8
    The Sports palace in the city of Derbent. The plan of the 5th floor
    Copyright: © ASADOV architects
  • zooming
    6 / 8
    The Sports palace in the city of Derbent. The plan of the roof
    Copyright: © ASADOV architects
  • zooming
    7 / 8
    The Sports palace in the city of Derbent. Cross-section views
    Copyright: © ASADOV architects
  • zooming
    8 / 8
    The Sports palace in the city of Derbent. Cross-section views
    Copyright: © ASADOV architects


This way, this area, which currently does not have a single chain supermarket, and whose greatest engineering facility can be considered to be the gas station, is receiving a grand-scale center providing jobs and leisure activities for many people. Not only its visual appearance, but also its town planning significance makes the Sports palace similar to ancient fortresses – the multifunctional centers of those days. 

The construction of the Sports Palace in Derbent began in August 2021.


Architect:
Alexander Asadov
Andrey Asadov
Firm:
ASADOV architects http://www.asadov.ru/

10 January 2022

Alyona Kuznetsova

Written by:

Alyona Kuznetsova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov
Headlines now
News
A Ringlet Bridge
The project of a pedestrian bridge, proposed by the architectural company ATRIUM, headed by Vera Butko and Anton Nadtochiy, for the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan, became the winner of the A+A Awards organized by the Architizer portal in the “Unbuilt Transportation” nomination. The bridge is indeed a stunner: a “hanging garden” in concrete tubs of columns, suspended over a city highway, is fitted with ringlets of wooden ramps, which in the bridge’s key point form an element of national ornament.
Interview
​Consistency of the Method
Marking its 35th anniversary, Reserve Union (officially named OOO TPO Reserve in Russia) used the venue of the Arch Moscow convention to showcase its hitherto unannounced projects. We asked Vladimir Plotkin a few questions, and we are showing a few pictures – without any captions yet.
Interview
Vladimir Plotkin: “Our profession is complex, vulnerable, and sometimes defenseless against...
As part of the editorial project devoted to the high-rise and high-density construction that Moscow is seeing in recent years, we spoke to the leading architect of CU Reserve Vladimir Plotkin, the author of many grand-scale – and high-profile – buildings of this city. We spoke about an architect’s role and his tasks in the mega-construction process, about the drive of the megalopolis, about the strong sides of mixed and multifunctional construction, and about the methods of organizing big forms.
Object
Upping the Stakes
The concept of a housing complex in Samara from T+T Architects: a new landmark in the cityscape, view of the Zhiguli Mountains, and VR technologies.
Object
The Book Sanctuary
Reconstructed and renovated by Studio 44, the building of Vladimir Mayakovsky Public Library received modern technical content, at the same time becoming closer to its authentic image from the times when it was part of the compound of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
Object
In Tune with Mendelsohn
The “Kersten House” standing next to the “Krasnoye Znamya” (“Red Banner”) factory fits in with the tactful course adopted by Anatoly Stolyarchuk studio: it allows of no historical stylization, yet at the same time is quite respectful of the surrounding context.
Object
​Foothills and Peaks
Developed by OSA, the concept of revitalization of the territory of Stankoagregat plant combines two scales: extreme-high towers and relatively “human-friendly” urban villas. In the conditions of ultra-dense construction, this solution makes it possible to vacate territories for public spaces and trees, as well as adapt the project for the conditions of the changing market.
Review
City in the Stream
The books by Genplan Institute of Moscow, published for the Institute’s 70th anniversary and for the coinciding exhibition, are the most amazing three-volume edition that I ever saw: the books are totally different, yet packed in one box. This, on the other hand, is justified by the specifics of each of the volumes, the diversity of approaches to processing information used in them, and the complexity of the material as such: town planning is a multifaceted science, bordering on art.
Stop the [special operetion]!
The collective letter Russian architects was published here the 26.02.2022. Now, 04.03.2022, it's text is edited according the new law of the Russian Federation. All the signatures, more than 6800, are deleted, as well as weblinks. But we coserved the edited text for the history.
Object
​Shape of the Winery
In this article, we are telling you more about the development of the shape and the implementation of the “Skalisty Bereg” (“Rocky Shore”) winery, designed by Alexander Balabin and his company “Severin-Project” in the Krasnodar Territory, and one of the finalists of WAF 2021.
Video
​An Architectural Reality Show
Roman Leonidov, the well-known architect of luxury countryside residences, about which Archi.ru repeatedly wrote, launched a new online project called “Build YOUR House” on his YouTube channel.
View
​Buyan and the Court Quarter
The news about cancellation of the Tuchkov Buyan park has been stirring the minds of people of St. Petersburg for a week already. In the absence of any verified specific information, we discussed the situation with the architects of the park and the Court Quarter: Nikita Yavein and Evgeny Gerasimov.
Object
​The Possibility of Flight
The project of the airport, which ASADOV Architects developed for the city of Tobolsk, and which won in the architectural competition, was not implemented. However, it is interesting as an example of designing an airport building of a very small scale, where the main challenge is the optimal organization of space and infrastructure without compromising the imagery component.
Object
​The Wavelength
Built in the town of Pushkino in the Moscow area, the “Turgeneva 13” housing complex, while fitting in with the surrounding context, differs from it with the rhythmic austerity of its dual composition, a slight wave of the façade, and the color design, in which one can see two images, winter and summer, both “growing” from the specifics of the place.
Object
​A Shell by the Sea
Designing the Sports Palace that will determine the development of the entire northern part of Derbent, ASADOV Architects turned to the architectural legacy of Dagestan, local lore, and ancient layers of history.
Overview
​Christmas Skyscrapers
Karen Saprichyan is wishing everyone a merry Christmas, presenting a series of letter-shaped skyscrapers. The architect has long since been working on this theme, and has calendars of various years in stock. His latest development is a group of towers designed for the city of NEOM, which will be built in Saudi Arabia.
Object
​Parade Order
The three brick blocks of the “River Park” housing complex gaze at the water with their terraces. Each block forms a backdrop and two wings, while the residents-only yards turn into “stages” perceived from the river. The landscaped embankment, accessible to all the city people, complements the hierarchy of private, semi-private and public city life that is formed here.
View
Pompidou Inside Out
Renzo Piano and his GES-2 have already been compared to Ridolfo Aristotele Fioravanti and his Cathedral of the Assumption. And for a good reason: GES-2 also stuns you with its grace and loftiness, but ultimately turns out to be the richest collection of recognizable motifs from an early masterpiece by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, the George Pompidou Center in Paris. These motifs are fused into the grid of Shukhov-esque structures, painted white, and they create a dialogue between 1910, 1971, and 2021, built on references (not devoid of a poster-like quality) to the main masterpiece. The basilica-shaped space of the former power station is taken apart virtually just like the museum, in accordance with the concept by Teresa Mavica.
Object
​Next to Lidval and Nobel
The housing complex designed by Anatoly Stolyarchuk in Neishlotsky Alley: tactful change of scale, tribute to the memory of the place, Finnish additions to the functional typology – specifically, saunas in the apartments – and plans for receiving a BREEAM certificate.
Overview
​And stabbed it with a knife
The leader of Coop Himmelb(l)au, Wolf D. Prix, presented three projects that he is currently doing in Russia: a complex in Sevastopol, Crimea, which, as it turned out, a western architect could build bypassing the sanctions, because this is a cultural project; a museum and theater center in Kemerovo, and the “SKA Arena”, which is built in the stead of the destroyed Sports and Concert Complex in St. Petersburg – during the presentation the latter was symbolized by a round cake that the architect eventually cut.
Object
​The Thin Matter
The house named “Medny 3.14” (“Copper 3.14”) is composed of two textures, each of which resembles in its own way some kind of precious fabric, and of three units, each of which is oriented towards one cardinal point. The architecture of the house absorbs the nuances of the context, summing them up and turning them into a single rhythmic structure. In this article, we are examining the new, just-completed, house designed by Sergey Skuratov in Donskaya Street.
Object
​Super Pergola
The new business center built in Moscow’s district of Presnya in the 1st Zemelny Lane is all about technology and sustainability. Its streamlined shapes and white facade grid are combined with a new version of vertical greenery: the green of wild grapes, placed at a distance from the facade, instead of arguing with the “pergola” grid, sets it off by contrast.
Object
​Lightness of Being
Blooming Sakura, a campfire party, kids splashing in a swimming pool – no, these are not pictures from a vacation, but everyday life going on in the yards of Kiev’s housing complex “Fayna Town”. In this issue, we are examining how the utopia designed by the architects is wired, and what they did to make it a reality.