Three in One

The house on Telezhnaya Street, designed by Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners, located just a couple of steps away from the Nevsky Prospect, can be visually divided into three independent entities. By doing this, the architects keep up the scale of the historical street and overcome the challenges posed by a stretching land site.

Written by:
Alyona Kuznetsova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

30 August 2022

Object

Architect:

Firm:

Evgeniy Gerasimov & partners http://www.egp.spb.ru/

The “Novy Nevsky” house is situated literally two steps away from the city’s main thoroughfare, yet in its less reputed and “tread-upon” part lying around the “Alexander Nevsky Square” metro station. The city environment is tangibly diverse here: deluxe boutiques stand next to Belarus Jersey discounters here, elite restaurants next to inexpensive bakeries, and high-end real property next to hazardous buildings. The closer to the Neva, the more industrial parks are hidden behind the grand facades.

zooming — “Novy Nevsky” housing complex

Copyright: © Photograph © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin / photo courtesy by Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners

The address of the house is Telezhnaya Street. In the 18th century it could have become the continuation of the Nevsky Prospect, and in the Soviet time its parallel relief road, had it not been for the fact that the town planners finally made a decision to combine it with the Goncharnaya Street, treating down a couple of 19th century buildings standing between the Poltavskaya and Kharkovskaya Streets. This, however, did not come to pass, and the street ended up being slightly distanced from the center of the city and the area of the Moskovsky Railway Station. Possibly, for this reason, or, possibly, due to the proximity to the infection Botkin Clinic and a sawmill, or, possibly, because of the mostly shabby facades of the historical tenements standing here, over the past few decades the Telezhnaya Street has been perceived as one that belongs more with the outskirts than with the city center. Until recently, its southeast part, leading in the direction of the metro station and the gardens of the Alexander Nevsky monastery, lay virtually undeveloped: garages and a tire service on the left, and the industrial park of the sawmill on the right.

Designed by Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners, the Novy Nevsky house stretches 130 meters on the left side of the street. It picks up the rhythm and morphology of its historical front – “builds up” on it on a slightly bigger scale, but in a modern quality, hinting in this way at the prospects for its development.

Designing this house is something that the company started a long time ago – back in 2009. The number of versions allows you to track how the client’s preferences shifted – the architects gradually moved from colorful facades to more laconic ones. In one of the first drawings, the house is designed in an Art Nouveau key, and looks very much like another work by the architects – the house at Nevsky 137, built in 2004. The next interpretation is very brutal-looking, with large volumes and aggressive-looking cantilevered structures. Then the house begins to look more and more like the current version, but it is characterized by more ornaments. One of the visualizations displays a facade clad in red brick, where small details of exposed concrete look like snowflakes – this technique echoes the company’s project on Mirgorodskaya Street.

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A version of the “Novy Nevsky” house

Copyright: © photo courtesy by Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners
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A version of the “Novy Nevsky” house

Copyright: © photo courtesy by Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners
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A version of the “Novy Nevsky” house

Copyright: © photo courtesy by Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners
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A version of the “Novy Nevsky” house

Copyright: © photo courtesy by Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners
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A version of the “Novy Nevsky” house

Copyright: © photo courtesy by Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners
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A version of the “Novy Nevsky” house

Copyright: © photo courtesy by Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners

Despite the tangible differences, all the versions have in common the technique of simulating firewall construction: a volume that stretches alongside the street’s redline, is composed of a few different facades. This parceling is also preserved in the final project – the street part of the Novy Nevsky includes five sections and one arch passage leading into the yard, while its facade wall is interpreted as three different “houses” drawn within the framework of the common logic, but “by different hands”. The street building is complemented by the yard one: it is twice as short, and the facades are designed in a neutral way.

One thing that all the three street facades of the main buildings have in common is hand-molded brick, as well as the structure: the first “commercial” floor forming the basis, the five upper floors forming the “body” of the house. The sixth “residential” tier of the penthouses steps back deeper from the facades, forming open terraces before the apartments; it is all but invisible from the street below.

The architectural design of the facades and the scale of the units are adapted to the surrounding historical construction. The house fits into the context and at the same time offers a new statement on the development of this part of the city. Then the differences follow.

The closest to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery stands a “house” composed of light bricks of slightly different colors. It is designed in a symmetrical way; the center of the axis is the tower that reaches up to the terraces, crowned with a semblance of battlements. The rhythmic pattern of the facade is adorned by charming details of exposed concrete – diamonds and “pleats” – echoed by the wrought iron grilles on the windows. The wind brings to Telezhnaya Street the smell of bread from the nearby “Karavay” (“Loaf”) bakery, and then it seems that the “pleats” appeared precisely because of this circumstance. However, the architects claim that they focused on Art Nouveau. In any case, this part of “Novy Nevsky” turned out to be elegant and even somewhat romantic.

The middle “house” of classic red brick possesses the same character: here, lavish cascades of ornaments are replaced by bay windows, standing at attention; the loose-looking masonry gives way to a high-gloss surface, and that open shop windows of the first floor to more narrow “introvert” ones. Despite the clear boundary, the second “house” bleeds into the first one thanks to the decoration of the bay windows with light natural stone and light-colored masonry mortar.

The third “house” is the only one that does not have a symmetry axis, and the most “loft” one thanks to the large window pattern and the brick of a wine-red “factory” hue, the depth of which is accentuated by a checkered pattern. At the joint with the neighboring five-story house built in 1961, the redline of the street changes, which allowed the architects to add a rather massive accentuated tower that steps slightly forward. According to the architects, this facade is stylistically connected with the austere functionalist architecture of Europe of the 20th century.

From the yard side, the house keeps up the decoration and the main facade solutions, while the second unit is designed in a rather neutral way: three walls ended up being blind ones because the house stands with its “back” turned to the pre-revolution wing. All the windows of this house overlook the little yard of the complex. The buildings are united by an underground level, in which there is an underground parking garage for 89 cars. The main building of the “Novy Nevsky” includes 120 apartments ranging from 47 to 180 square meters.

Architect:

Firm:

Evgeniy Gerasimov & partners http://www.egp.spb.ru/

30 August 2022

Headlines now

The Big Twelve

Yesterday, the winners of the Moscow Mayor’s Architecture Award were announced and honored. Let’s take a look at what was awarded and, in some cases, even critique this esteemed award. After all, there is always room for improvement, right?

Object

Above the Golden Horn

The residential complex “Philosophy” designed by T+T architects in Vladivostok, is one of the new projects in the “Golubinaya Pad” area, changing its development philosophy (pun intended) from single houses to a comprehensive approach. The buildings are organized along public streets, varying in height and format, with one house even executed in gallery typology, featuring a cantilever leaning on an art object.

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Nuanced Alternative

How can you rhyme a square and space? Easily! But to do so, you need to rhyme everything you can possibly think of: weave everything together, like in a tensegrity structure, and find your own optics too. The new exhibition at GES-2 does just that, offering its visitor a new perspective on the history of art spanning 150 years, infused with the hope for endless multiplicity of worlds and art histories. Read on to see how this is achieved and how the exhibition design by Evgeny Ace contributes to it.

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Blinds for Ice

An ice arena has been constructed in Domodedovo based on a project by Yuri Vissarionov Architects. To prevent the long façade, a technical requirement for winter sports facilities, from appearing monotonous, the architects proposed the use of suspended structures with multidirectional slats. This design protects the ice from direct sunlight while giving the wall texture and detail.

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Campus within a Day

In this article, we talk about what the participants of Genplan Institute of Moscow’s hackathon were doing at the MosComArchitecture booth at the “ArchMoscow” exhibition. We also discuss who won the prize and why, and what can be done with the territory of a small university on the outskirts of Moscow.

Overview

Vertical Civilization

Genpro considered the development of the vertical city concept and made it the theme of their pavilion at the “ArchMoscow” exhibition.

Interview

Marina Yegorova: “We think in terms of hectares, not square meters”

The career path of architect Marina Yegorova is quite impressive: MARHI, SPEECH, MosComArchitectura, the Genplan Institute of Moscow, and then her own architectural company. Its name Empate, which refers to the words “to draw” in Portuguese and “to empathize” in English, should not be misleading with its softness, as the firm freely works on different scales, including Integrated Territorial Development projects. We talked with Marina about various topics: urban planning experience, female leadership style, and even the love of architects for yachting.

Interview

Andrey Chuikov: “Optimum balance is achieved through economics”

The Yekaterinburg-based architectural company CNTR is in its mature stage: crystallization of principles, systematization, and standardization helped it make a qualitative leap, enhance competencies, and secure large contracts without sacrificing the aesthetic component. The head of the company, Andrey Chuikov, told us about building a business model and the bonuses that additional education in financial management provides for an architect.

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The Fulcrum

Ostozhenka Architects have designed two astonishing towers practically on the edge of a slope above the Oka River in Nizhny Novgorod. These towers stand on 10-meter-tall weathered steel “legs”, with each floor offering panoramic views of the river and the city; all public spaces, including corridors, receive plenty of natural light. Here, we see a multitude of solutions that are unconventional for the residential routine of our day and age. Meanwhile, although these towers hark back to the typological explorations of the seventies, they are completely reinvented in a contemporary key. We admire Veren Group as the client – this is exactly how a “unique product” should be made – and we tell you exactly how our towers are arranged.

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Crystal is Watching You

Right now, Museum Night has kicked off at the Museum of Architecture, featuring a fresh new addition – the “Crystal of Perception”, an installation by Sergey Kuznetsov, Ivan Grekov, and the KROST company, set up in the courtyard. It shimmers with light, it sings, it reacts to the approach of people, and who knows what else it can do.

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The Secret Briton

The house is called “Little France”. Its composition follows the classical St. Petersburg style, with a palace-like courtyard. The decor is on the brink of Egyptian lotuses, neo-Greek acroteria, and classic 1930s “gears”; the recessed piers are Gothic, while the silhouette of the central part of the house is British. It’s quite interesting to examine all these details, attempting to understand which architectural direction they belong to. At the same time, however, the house fits like a glove in the context of the 20th line of St. Petersburg’s Vasilievsky Island; its elongated wings hold up the façade quite well.

The Wrap-Up

The competition project proposed by Treivas for the first 2021 competition for the Russian pavilion at EXPO 2025 concludes our series of publications on pavilion projects that will not be implemented. This particular proposal stands out for its detailed explanations and the idea of ecological responsibility: both the facades and the exhibition inside were intended to utilize recycled materials.

Birds and Streams

For the competition to design the Omsk airport, DNK ag formed a consortium, inviting VOX architects and Sila Sveta. Their project focuses on intersections, journeys, and flights – both of people and birds – as Omsk is known as a “transfer point” for bird migrations. The educational component is also carefully considered, and the building itself is filled with light, which seems to deconstruct the copper circle of the central entrance portal, spreading it into fantastic hyper-spatial “slices”.

Faraday Grid

The project of the Omsk airport by ASADOV Architects is another concept among the 14 finalists of a recent competition. It is called “The Bridge” and is inspired by both the West Siberian Exhibition of 1911 and the Trans-Siberian Railway bridge over the Irtysh River, built in 1896. On one hand, it carries a steampunk vibe, while on the other, there’s almost a sense of nostalgia for the heyday of 1913. However, the concept offers two variants, the second one devoid of nostalgia but featuring a parabola.

Review

Midway upon the Journey of Our Life

Recently, Tatlin Publishing House released a book entitled “Architect Sergey Oreshkin. Selected Projects”. This book is not just a traditional book of the architectural company’s achievements, but rather a monograph of a more personal nature. The book includes 43 buildings as well as a section with architectural drawings. In this article, we reflect on the book as a way to take stock of an architect’s accomplishments.

Inverted Fortress

This year, there has been no shortage of intriguing architectural ideas around the Omsk airport. The project developed by the architectural company KPLN appeals to Omsk’s history as a wooden fortress that it was back in the day, but transforms the concept of a fortress beyond recognition: it “shaves off” the conical ends of “wooden logs”, then enlarges them, and then flips them over. The result is a hypostyle – a forest of conical columns on point supports, with skylights on top.

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Transformation of Annenkirche

For Annenkirche (St. Anna Lutheran Church in St. Petersburg), Sergey Kuznetsov and the Kamen bureau have prepared a project that relies on the principles of the Venice Charter: the building is not restored to a specific date, historical layers are preserved, and modern elements do not mimic the authentic ones. Let’s delve into the details of these solutions.

The Paradox of the Temporary

The concept of the Russian pavilion for EXPO 2025 in Osaka, proposed by the Wowhaus architects, is the last of the six projects we gathered from the 2022 competition. It is again worth noting that the results of this competition were not finalized due to the cancellation of Russia’s participation in World Expo 2025. It should be mentioned that Wowhaus created three versions for this competition, but only one is being presented, and it can’t be said that this version is thoroughly developed – rather, it is done in the spirit of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, the project is interesting in its paradoxical nature: the architects emphasized the temporary character of the pavilion, and in its bubble-like forms sought to reflect the paradoxes of space and time.

The Forum of Time

The competition project for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025 in Osaka designed by Aleksey Orlov and Arena Project Institute consists of cones and conical funnels connected into a non-trivial composition, where one can feel the hand of architects who have worked extensively with stadiums and other sports facilities. It’s very interesting to delve into its logic, structurally built on the theme of clocks, hourglasses and even sundials. Additionally, the architects have turned the exhibition pavilion into a series of interconnected amphitheaters, which is also highly relevant for world exhibitions. We are reminding you that the competition results were never announced.

Mirrors Everywhere

The project by Sergey Nebotov, Anastasia Gritskova, and the architectural company “Novoe” was created for the Russian pavilion at EXPO 2025, but within the framework of another competition, which, as we learned, took place even earlier, in 2021. At that time, the competition theme was “digital twins”, and there was minimal time for work, so the project, according to the architect himself, was more of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, this project is interesting for its plan bordering on similarity with Baroque projects and the emblem of the exhibition, as well as its diverse and comprehensive reflectiveness.

Report

The Steppe Is Full of Beauty and Freedom

The goal of the exhibition “Dikoe Pole” (“Wild Field”) at the State Historical Museum was to move away from the archaeological listing of valuable items and to create an image of the steppe and nomads that was multidirectional and emotional – in other words, artistic. To achieve this goal, it was important to include works of contemporary art. One such work is the scenography of the exhibition space developed by CHART studio.

The Snowstorm Fish

The next project from the unfinished competition for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025, which will be held in Osaka, Japan, is by Dashi Namdakov and Parsec Architects. The pavilion describes itself as an “architectural/sculptural” one, with its shape clearly reminiscent of abstract sculpture of the 1970s. It complements its program with a meditative hall named “Mendeleev’s Dreams”, and offers its visitors to slide from its roof at the end of the tour.

The Mirror of Your Soul

We continue to publish projects from the competition for the design of the Russian Pavilion at EXPO in Osaka 2025. We are reminding you that the results of the competition have not been announced, and hardly will ever be. The pavilion designed by ASADOV Architects combines a forest log cabin, the image of a hyper transition, and sculptures made of glowing threads – it focuses primarily on the scenography of the exhibition, which the pavilion builds sequentially like a string of impressions, dedicating it to the paradoxes of the Russian soul.

Part of the Ideal

In 2025, another World Expo will take place in Osaka, Japan, in which Russia will not participate. However, a competition for the Russian pavilion was indeed held, with six projects participating. The results were never announced as Russia’s participation was canceled; the competition has no winners. Nevertheless, Expo pavilion projects are typically designed for a bold and interesting architectural statement, so we’ve gathered all the six projects and will be publishing articles about them in random order. The first one is the project by Vladimir Plotkin and Reserve Union, which is distinguished by the clarity of its stereometric shape, the boldness of its structure, and the multiplicity of possible interpretations.

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The Fortress by the River

ASADOV Architects have developed a concept for a new residential district in the center of Kemerovo. To combat the harsh climate and monotonous everyday life, the architects proposed a block type of development with dominant towers, good insolation, facades detailed at eye level, and event programming.

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In the Rhombus Grid

Construction has begun on the building of the OMK (United Metallurgical Company) Corporate University in Nizhny Novgorod’s town of Vyksa, designed by Ostozhenka Architects. The most interesting aspect of the project is how the architects immersed it in the context: “extracting” a diagonal motif from the planning grid of Vyksa, they aligned the building, the square, and the park to match it. A truly masterful work with urban planning context on several different levels of perception has long since become the signature technique of Ostozhenka.

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Generational Connection

Another modern estate, designed by Roman Leonidov, is located in the Moscow region and brings together three generations of one family under one roof. To fit on a narrow plot without depriving anyone of personal space, the architects opted for a zigzag plan. The main volume in the house structure is accentuated by mezzanines with a reverse-sloped roof and ceilings featuring exposed beams.

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Three Dimensions of the City

We began to delve into the project by Sergey Skuratov, the residential complex “Depo” in Minsk, located at Victory Square, and it fascinated us completely. The project has at least several dimensions to it: historical – at some point, the developer decided to discontinue further collaboration with Sergey Skuratov Architects, but the concept was approved, and its implementation continues, mostly in accordance with the proposed ideas. The spatial and urban planning dimension – the architects both argue with the city and play along with it, deciphering nuances, and finding axes. And, finally, the tactile dimension – the constructed buildings also have their own intriguing features. Thus, this article also has two parts: it dwells on what has been built and what was conceived

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New “Flight”

Architects from “Mezonproject” have developed a project for the reconstruction of the regional youth center “Polyot”(“Flight”) in the city of Oryol. The summer youth center, built back in the late 1970s, will now become year-round and acquire many additional functions.

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The Yauza Towers

In Moscow, there aren’t that many buildings or projects designed by Nikita Yavein and Studio 44. In this article, we present to you the concept of a large multifunctional complex on the Yauza River, located between two parks, featuring a promenade, a crossroads of two pedestrian streets, a highly developed public space, and an original architectural solution. This solution combines a sophisticated, asymmetric façade grid, reminiscent of a game of fifteen puzzle, and bold protrusions of the upper parts of the buildings, completely masking the technical floors and sculpting the complex’s silhouette.