По-русски

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.

28 October 2022
Object
mainImg
The judging panel of the Zodchestvo festival awarded the housing complex Veren Village, designed and built by Ostozhenka in Strelna, the highest possible award – the Crystal Daedalus. As we already said, one of the interesting facts is that three years ago the project was already honored by another high prize – the Tatlin award. Generally speaking, every year lots of awards are given at the festival, but there are only two main prizes: one for an implemented building and one for a project. The Veren Village won both. For all we know, this is the first case of such full recognition. We decided to take advantage of the news break to examine the project in detail.

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


View of the opposite bank of the creek. Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


The first thing about the complex is that it is a low-rise one. The reason for that is a 10-meter height restriction that has to do with the neighboring federal heritage site, the Konstantinovsky Palace. Literally across the road, you can already build up to 15 meters, but here it is only 10, which yields no more than three stories.

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


However, “low rise” in this case is just a starting characteristic. One must admit that we have a stereotype of low-rise housing as something unassuming and inexpensive, whose main advantages are low construction density, low height… that’s about it. Here it is not the case, and we will explain to you why.

We were lucky to get into a zone where human regulations apply. Restrictions are a very positive thing, thanks to them there is an “architecture below the trees.” I must say that you don’t get a chance to work with low-rise buildings very often. For us, this has been the first implemented low-rise complex in years. Therefore, the task seemed particularly interesting.

On the one hand, we took it as an opportunity to reflect on a comfortable urban environment for a person – so much has been said about it lately. On the other hand, the format allowed us to apply some unconventional solutions.


It’s not that this project is mega-experimental and totally groundbreaking. The set of modern solutions here is as predictable as recognizable: hand-molded brick of different tones and black folded metal, terraces and fireplaces, shops and cafes, an open-air amphitheater, a fitness center with a swimming pool, landscaped yards and river banks; the yards, of course, are vehicle-free. All these are habitual components of a “correct” modern housing complex, packed with things attractive for the future residents. What matters here are seemingly insignificant tiny details. These are pretty numerous, and we don’t even know where to start. Let’s start from the inside.

The architects focused on the structure of communication units in each of the sections. First, this has to do with the fact that there are only three floors, and it was possible to light the staircases by day through skylights. Second, the client wanted each landing to have no more than five apartments, and the architects responded to this challenge by a very unconventional staircase design: on either side of the elevator vertical. The elevators also open on both sides, which means that the residents will meet a limited circle of neighbors. This solution is rare, not to say unique by the standards of these latitudes; it can be traced to the avant-garde urge to optimize as much as possible the organization of inner spaces.

Veren Village housing complex. Project, 2017
Copyright: © Ostozhenka


The skylights produce a very fresh impression: walking upstairs, we literally ascend to light. In the biggest halls, the left and right staircases are separated by a “rain” of suspensions that zones the space and partially serves as an art object.

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


The white slender staircases framed by black metal grilles sometimes diverge to the sides and sometimes form a baroque “sweep” running forward and up to the third floor. The space takes on an intriguing multilayered quality, and the staircase, from a purely utilitarian element, grows to a means of organizing the impression and emotion components. Its stripped casing rhymes with the texture of the walls; my personal favorite, however, were the white marbles before the first staircase – you instantly feel like letting your kids have fun in them.

Summing this part up, you can say that this technique is indeed groundbreaking because the staircases are no longer placed next to glass walls, but are moved deeper into the building, which saves up a lot of natural light for the apartments.

  • zooming
    1 / 8
    The entrance group. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    2 / 8
    The entrance group. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    3 / 8
    The entrance group. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    4 / 8
    The entrance group. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    5 / 8
    The entrance group. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    6 / 8
    The entrance group. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    7 / 8
    The entrance group. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    8 / 8
    The entrance group. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Just as important is the structure of the complex in its entirety. The main idea is that it develops in a gradient fashion: from straight, closed-door, and predominantly “urban” building in the north – to the open “natural” contour in the south, where the territory borders on the flooded creek named Strelka. Rais Baishev defines this version of the composition as a “comb”. The difference from a real comb is that the rows of its “prongs” – the residential buildings that stretch meridian-wise from north to south – are shifted three times in a checkered pattern, which allows the architects to maintain the balance between the openness and closeness of the space. The houses form little parks of the yards, yet do not close then, leaving plenty of “airy” passages. Speaking of air – one must note it is really fresh here.

Location plan. Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: © Ostozhenka


The north longitudinal building is drawn by the ruler. On this side, one can see the tracks of an old, once “dacha”, tram, which you can ride down here from St. Petersburg. Parallel to the tracks, Veren Village formed a new street – of an urban type, with premises for cafes and shops: a tram, a street, and shop windows are a truly “urban” combination.

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


The retail is grouped at the outer border of the north building, which can generally be defined as the only one possessing a stylobate here: its “backbone” is composed of a single tier of the underground parking garage. The garage is sunk a few steps into the ground; it has a tall ceiling and an elegant black space, the slender flat supports almost do not oust it.

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Plan at the 1st floor elevation. Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: © Ostozhenka


Rhythmically, at regular intervals, the housing sections are inserted into the long “beam” of the stylobate. Between them, there are yards on the roof of the parking garage – patios of sorts, accessed by the apartments on the 2nd floor. From the outer street in the north, they are covered by a wall of the maintenance buildings of the stores and the car park; from the south side, the side ends of the next row of residential houses step up – but they do not obscure the whole of the patio outlines, just as the north sections do not obscure the whole of the side ends of the large “park” yards.

Plan at the 2nd floor elevation. Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: © Ostozhenka


Top view of a part of the north building. Viewable are the yards on the roof of the car park and the wall of the maitenance premises. Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Veren / provided by Ostozhenka


The patio on the roof of the car park. Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, archi.ru


Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


The inner contour of the stylobate has a row of storage boxes for the residents.

The entrances to the north row of the houses are situated here as well – they all are interpreted as recessed balconies with colonnades, about five meters deep – and you can easily hide underneath them from rain, snow, and sun, and this is one more kind of space, semi-open, backlit at night.

  • zooming
    Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


We will note that such galleries, which can be typologically traced to antique porticos and the yards of monasteries and palazzos, are a favorite technique with Ostozhenka in general and with Rais Baishev in particular, and it is always present, in this or that form, in many housing complexes designed by them, big and small. It is there in different forms, sometimes as an asymmetric inclusion, sometimes as a fragment before the entrance, sometimes on the outside, but more often on the inside, enriching the yard space.

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


In this specific case, the solution is rather regular, “antique”, and it can be regarded as something in the middle between a house portico and a “torn” city gallery. The latter is felt particularly acutely where the colonnade of the eastern section forms a mini-plaza at the entrance with an amphitheater at the hypotenuse of a triangular lawn with a large fir tree in the middle that will come in handy on Christmas. There is something from the De Chirico metaphysics about this plaza.

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph: provided by Veren Group


Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


The entrance plaza with an amphitheater, top view. Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Veren / provided by Ostozhenka


  • zooming
    Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Thus, the northern “stylobate” building really forms the “urban” narrative, yet in two different ways: on the outside facade it is done by the shop windows, and in the inner facades it is done by the pylons.

What comes next is defined by Rais Baishev as “gradual dissolution”. For example, in the second row of houses, more elongated and multi-sectional, the entrances are marked not by colonnades but by ledges underneath cantilevered risalits.

  • zooming
    Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


There is an inner street running across the strings of housing sections – its bend is drawn as “arithmetic average” between the straight line of the northern building and the contour of the creek bank: the street makes a slight turn, thus forming viewing angles very much like those that intrigue us in small European towns. 

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Plan at the elevation of the 3rd floor. Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: © Ostozhenka


At the same time, the architects make an accent on the “slice” narrative: while the inner facades of the north sections look complete and even “grand” to a certain degree, at least thanks to the symmetry of the risalits, then the strings of sections standing along the street look as if they were sliced – the houses stand with their silhouettes turned to the observer, which look like firewalls (for example, on Moscow’s Borovitskaya Square you can see a house with a similar firewall with chamfered corners, currently, the firewall displays the portrait of Kutuzov).

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


The south row of the houses stands with a “saw” of triangular prongs pointed towards the river, thus giving the side-end apartment blocks as many river views as possible. The terraces, of course, are also there.

There is a public “trail” running along the river; the axis of each “boulevard” yard is continued in a wooden pier hovering above the water.

  • zooming
    1 / 4
    Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    2 / 4
    Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    3 / 4
    Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    4 / 4
    Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


The architectural “fabric” of the residential houses gradually changes – it “dissolves” from a city street towards the pond banks, following the same logic as the town-planning one. The northern row of the houses is arranged in a stiff, to the point of brutal, row: the silhouette of the outer street resembles large battlements; the metallic mansards of the third floors, overhanging in large cantilevers, also have a “prong-like” quality about them. One can even think that they reflect the planning “comb” on a volumetric scale – the plastique here, on the north side, looks serious to the point of harshness.

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


In this photo taken at the southern position of the sun, the three-dimensional prongs of the mansards cast a jagged shadow to the right, while the planning “comb” goes to the left. They seem to mirror each other. Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph: provided by Veren Group


Sweep drawings: at the top – along the outer northern facade, at the bottom – along the southern facade of the inner street. Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: © Ostozhenka


The rows of sections that go deeper into the block, are characterized by a greater amount of asymmetry, complexity, and seemingly unpredictable alternation of ledges and depressions, three colors of brick, and glass recessed balconies framed with black metal. Another thing that is asymmetric is the metallic frames of the bay windows where they appear on the facade chamfers along the inner street. Thus, while the northern volume is all about symmetry and rhythmic repetition, all the other houses in the inner yard of the complex look as if they were “swinging” a little – they are less tense, and this is another plastique (and emotional) nuance.

Plan of the roof. Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: © Ostozhenka


Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


All these picturesque subtleties that do not even meet the eye at first are carefully thought-out and calculated.

Elena Kopylova, the Chief Architect of Veren Village, Ostozhenka

This is one of our favorite projects, and we worked on it carefully, in several stages: therefore, there are three lists in the author’s team. We asked a lot of questions, and we did a lot of meticulous drawing.

The variety of impressions was one of our tasks. We carefully alternated the shades of brick – at first it was planned that the brick would be brighter – red, white and black – but then we settled on more restrained natural shades and man-made texture. For example, if one yard is closed with a light-beige house, then the other is red, terracotta, the next is dark, and so on. On the facades of the extended sections, the colors also alternate.

A lot of attention has been paid to landscaping: we have different playgrounds in all yards – and different trees. Trees do not repeat themselves, so you can say “maple yard”, “pine yard”, “birch yard”, and so on.


The trees here are indeed different, even though they are still to grow up to a full size. But then again, the landscape design is also carefully drawn and is aesthetically pleasing. The landscaping project, incidentally, is characterized by the absence of winding trails, while the trails that cross at a right angle are pretty numerous.

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph: provided by Veren Group


Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


The playgrounds are also different, which provides an opportunity to walk between the yards because the residents have full access. But the “Elephant” slide in the yard with chestnut trees is above all praise… 

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


I want to share two more details. The first one is the balconies and terraces – something like transition spaces that complement the apartment as such. These are unexpectedly numerous, of all kinds. Nowadays, front gardens are popular for ground-floor apartments, but as a rule, if they are made, then only fragmentary, and not everywhere. In Veren Village, however, the front gardens have turned into terraces slightly raised above the courtyard level, that is, apartment residents will not need to cut their grass or plant flowers. But such terraces are virtually everywhere where you can get out of the first floor. Their wooden fences are interspersed with gabions, they frame courtyards, significantly affecting the perception of space. The apartments on the second floors, which overlook the patio on the roof of the stylobate, also have such private terraces.

Next on the list: the glass verticals of the “Finnish balconies” are pushed a meter and a half forward; the stop against the grilles of the open balconies, large on the second floor and tiny on the third.

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Any of the apartments provides access to this or that place, and at the same time the glass verticals – sometimes the reach down to the ground and sometimes don’t, sometimes they are marked by a sidewall, and sometimes aren’t – form, acting together with the “cantilever” risalits, active facades: their matter almost completely consists of ledges and depressions, as if it were constantly preparing “to make the next step”.

  • zooming
    Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


The fact that a balcony is a dramatic means of plastique expression is something that the architects have long since understood. But it seems that this is the first time that they were used to their full potential. 

The mansards, however, are a different matter. They are known to be loved by developers, but not so much by architects, due to their resemblance to Haussmannien Biedermeier. Another commonly known fact is that for the last ten years it has been a common practice to decorate the bottom floors of low-rise houses with bricks, and the upper ones with folded metal, predominantly black, or, as the only variation, copper green. Those architects that are not afraid of the Biedermeier style, or even purposefully aim at its effect, make the mansard shape quite regular: at the bottom there is a steep, almost vertical slope, at the top there is a sloping gable roof, like in Paris. Others decorate the attic part vertically, like a wall, only it is made of metal.

In this instance, the architects proposed a third option, based upon three prerequisites: 1. One of the conditions stipulated in the brief was gable roofs; 2. The third floors command better views. They also have fireplaces in them, and they are generally better, so it would make sense to make them larger; 3. Ostozhenka does not really like gable roofs. 

The combination of these circumstances yielded the following result. The third floors in some sections, particularly in the north, are designed as cantilevered structures. They are metallic black, with an austere outline, and look like curious fungi on the respectable bodies of the brick buildings. The “mansard” windows are also shifted forward: in the north building they are moved in the direction of the common cantilever, and in the other houses they are moved forward together with the ledges of the glass volumes; in all other places, their surface is on a level with the facades. In all of the cases, the level differences between the gable roofs abs the cantilevers of the “mansard windows” are very dramatic, they yield the same “volumetric comb”, and they are completely alien to the Haussmannien “cuteness”. It seems to me that a somewhat new, sculptural and brutal approach to the attic floors has been found here, and it is based not so much on historical prototypes, but on a more rigid imagery that is provided by the folded metal.

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


In addition, the metal behaves differently, following the same idea of gradual dissolution: in the north, it overhangs in cantilevers; in the central part, it sometimes creeps on the facades in spots, and sometimes shows through in the form of bay windows; in the south near the creek it steps back in the form of balconies.

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


And, finally, the land site of a skewed shape, formed by the bend of the creek in combination with a chiefly orthogonal plan of the residential blocks, is occupied by a fitness center with a swimming pool, a gym, a stadium on the roof, and children’s sports clubs. It is expected that it will be opened not just for the local residents. Its building definitely takes on the role of a “unique landmark” – it is strikingly different from all the housing blocks. These are fractured by balconies and risalits; two thirds of them are clad in hand-molded bricks of natural tones – the volume of the fitness center is formed by broad planned standing at angles, and is subjugated to vertical lamellae. Rais Baishev once called it a “Stealth House”.

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


The main thing here is the integral sculptural form. It is contrastive to the residential houses, it highlights them, accentuating the difference of the function and the content of the environment, both impression-wise and typologically. You at once feel that the space is not rural but highly urban, if such an object can be present in it.

  • zooming
    1 / 7
    The fitness center. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    2 / 7
    Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    3 / 7
    Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    4 / 7
    Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    5 / 7
    The fitness center. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    6 / 7
    The facade of the fitness center. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    7 / 7
    The fitness center. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Naroditsky / provided by Ostozhenka


The Corten facades were a solution proposed not by the architects but by the developer. Initially, it was planned that the surface of the fitness center would imitate wood and echo both wooden little fences of the terraces and the facade inserts. Eventually, the fences remained but the Corten cladding was agreed. The wooden inserts of the facades, however – again, at the developer’s decision – were replaced by cement with a textured wood effect. The authors like this solution less than the originally planned composite panels – but in my opinion this solution is also OK, it even slightly resembles the reliefs of Soviet modernism.

Veren Village housing complex
Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, Archi.ru


Making a recap, we will repeat: at first sight, Veren Village may seem like “another low-rise housing project”, executed in accordance with the rules of the modern urbanism – in a conveniently quiet place, with the right set of functions and creature comforts, such as terraces, fireplaces, two-floor apartments, a river, piers, shops and cafes, and even a tram route; everything is within a walking distance. Meanwhile, in this project one can see a model example for developing the environment “from urban to suburban” – unobtrusive, transitional, but not as loud and large as we can see in most of the modern housing complexes. One of the problems with the modern suburban development lies in its extreme contrast, when instead of a rural scenery you suddenly see high-density blocks consisting of 14, or even 22-story houses, like crates dropped in a field. This problem was discussed still in Soviet time, when the edges of cities were built with standard prefab houses – but it is still relevant today. Veren Village provides an example of the opposite approach because this is an attempt to think through, draw and implement an example of a “smooth” merger between the village and the city.

This task has one very interesting consequence. The functional content, the landscaping, and other urbanist ideals have become so commonplace in recent times that you don’t even feel like mentioning them – we will just say that all of them have been implemented here. What is interesting is how this architectural task was solved in these, rather favorable, conditions. And it seems to me that, having set themselves the goal of creating a “gradient”, a kind of Gaussian transition between the urban and natural environment, the architects simultaneously formed a kind of fusion of the ideals of modernism and environmental historicism, relatively speaking, a garden city and a provincial Northern Italian town with its mix of Gothic and Renaissance. And what else can you expect from Ostozhenka, which began its career from researching the principles of parceling the historical city of the 19th century and gave us so many examples of pure modern form?
  • zooming
    1 / 6
    Facade. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    2 / 6
    Facade. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    3 / 6
    Facade. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    4 / 6
    Facade. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    5 / 6
    The facade nodes. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka
  • zooming
    6 / 6
    The facade nodes. Veren Village housing complex
    Copyright: © Ostozhenka


28 October 2022

Headlines now
Gold in the Sands
A new office for a transcontinental company specializing in resource extraction and processing has opened in Dubai. Designed by T+T Architects, masters of creating spaces that are contemporary, diverse, flexible, and original, this project exemplifies their expertise. On the executive floor, a massive brass-clad partition dominates, while layered textures of compressed earth create a contextually resonant backdrop.
Layers and Levels of Flight
This project goes way back – Reserve Union won this architectural competition at the end of 2011, and the building was completed in 2018, so it’s practically “archival”. However, despite being relatively unknown, the building can hardly be considered “dated” and remains a prime example of architectural expression, particularly in the headquarters genre. And it’s especially fitting for an aviation company office. In some ways, it resembles the Aeroflot headquarters at Sheremetyevo but with its own unique identity, following the signature style of Vladimir Plotkin. In this article, we take an in-depth look at the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) headquarters in the Moscow agglomeration town of Zhukovsky, supplemented by recent photographs from Alexey Naroditsky – a shoot that became only recently possible due to the fact that improvements were finally made in the surrounding area.
Light and Shadow
In this article, we delve into the architectural design of the “Chaika” house by DNK ag architects, which was recently completed in 2023 as part of the collection of signature designs at ZILArt. As is well-known, all the buildings in this complex follow a design code, yet each one is distinct. This particular building stands out not only for its whiteness and minimalism but also for the refined use of a limited number of techniques that, together, create what can confidently be called synergy.
Casus Novae
A master plan was developed for a large residential area with a name of “DNS City”, but now that its implementation began, the plan has been arbitrarily reformatted and replaced with something that, while similar on the surface, is actually quite different. This is not the first time such a thing happens, but it’s always frustrating. With permission from the author, we are sharing Maria Elkina’s post.
Treasure Hunting
The GAFA bureau, in collaboration with Tegola and Arkhitail, organized an expedition to the island of Kilpola in Karelia as part of Moskomarkhitektura’s “Open City” festival. There, amidst moss and rocks, the students sought answers to questions like: what is the sacred, where does it dwell, and what sustains it? Assisting the participants in this quest were landscape engineer Evgeny Levin, artist Nicholas Roerich, a moose, and the lack of cellular connection. Here’s how the story unfolded.
Depths of the Earth, Streams of Water
In the Malaya Okhta district, the Akzent building, designed by Stepan Liphart, was constructed. It follows a classic tripartite structure, yet it’s what you might call “hand-drawn”: each façade is unique in its form and details, some of which aren’t immediately noticeable. In this article, we explore the context and, together with the architect, delve into how the form was developed.
Fir Tree Dynamics
The “Airports of Region” holding is planning to build an airport in Karachay-Cherkessia, aiming to make the Arkhyz and Dombay resorts more accessible to travelers. The project that won in an invitation-only competition, submitted by Sergey Nikeshkin’s KPLN, blends natural imagery inspired by the shape of a conifer seed, open-air waiting spaces, majestic large trees, and a green roof elevated on needle-like columns. The result is both nature-inspired and WOW.
​A Brick Shell
In the process of designing a clubhouse situated among pine trees in a prestigious suburban area near Moscow, the architectural firm “A.Len” did the façade design part. The combination of different types of brick and masonry correlates with the volumetric and plastique solutions, further enhanced by the inclusion of wood-painted fragments and metal “glazing”.
Word Forms
ATRIUM architects love ambitious challenges, and for the firm’s thirtieth anniversary, they boldly play a game of words with an exhibition that dives deep into a self-created vocabulary. They immerse their projects – especially art installations – into this glossary, as if plunging into a current of their own. You feel as if you’re flowing through the veins of pure art, immersed in a universe of vertical cities, educational spaces – of which the architects are true masters – and the cultural codes of various locations. But what truly captivates is the bold statement that Vera Butko and Anton Nadtochy make, both through their work and this exhibition: architecture, above all, is art – the art of working with form and space.
Flexibility and Acuteness of Modernity
Luxurious, fluid, large “kokoshniks” and spiral barrel columns, as if made from colorful chewing gum: there seem to be no other mansion like this in Moscow, designed in the “Neo-Russian-Modern” style. And the “Teremok” on Malaya Kaluzhskaya, previously somewhat obscure, has “come alive with new colors” and gained visibility after its restoration for the office of the “architectural ecosystem” as the architects love to call themselves. It’s evident that Julius Borisov and the architects at UNK put their hearts into finding this new office and bringing it up to date. Let’s delve into the paradoxes of this mansion’s history and its plasticity. Spoiler: two versions of modernity meet here, both balancing on the razor’s edge of “what’s current”.
Yuri Vissarionov: “A modular house does not belong to the land”
It belongs to space, or to the air... It turns out that 3D printing is more effective when combined with a modular approach: the house is built in a workshop and then adapted to the site, including on uneven terrain. Yuri Vissarionov shares his latest experience in designing tourist complexes, both in central Russia and in the south. These include houseboats, homes printed from lightweight concrete using a 3D printer, and, of course, frame houses.
​Moscow’s First
“The quality of education largely depends on the quality of the educational environment”. This principle of the last decade has been realized by Sergey Skuratov in the project for the First Moscow Gymnasium on Rostovskaya Embankment in the Khamovniki district. The building seamlessly integrates into the complex urban landscape, responding both to the pedestrian flow of the city and the quiet alleyways. It skillfully takes advantage of the height differences and aligns with modern trends in educational space design. Let’s take a closer look.
Looking at the Water
The site of Villa Sonata stretches from the road to the water’s edge, offering its own shoreline, pier, and a picturesque river panorama. To reveal these sweeping views, Roman Leonidov “cut” the façade diagonally parallel to the river, thus getting two main axes for the house and, consequently, “two heads”. The internal core – two double-height spaces, a living room and a conservatory, with a “bridge” above them – makes the house both “transparent” and filled with light.
The White Wing
Well, it’s not exactly white. It’s more of a beige, white-stone structure that plays with the color of limestone – smoother surfaces are lighter, while rougher ones are darker. This wing unites various elements: it absorbs and interprets the surrounding themes. It responds to everything, yet maintains a cohesive expression – a challenging task! – while also incorporating recognizable features of its own, such as the dynamic cuts at the bottom, top, and middle.
Urban Dunes
The XSA Ramps team designed and built a three-part sports hub for a park in Rostov-on-Don, welcoming people of all ages and fitness levels. The skate plaza, pump track, and playground are all meticulously crafted with details that attract a diverse range of visitors. The technical execution of the shapes and slopes transforms this space into a kind of sculptural composition.
Proportional Growth
The project for the fourth phase of the ÁLIA residential area has been announced. The buildings are situated on an elongated plot – almost a “ray” that shoots out from the center of the area towards the river. Their layout reflects both a response to Moscow’s architectural preferences over the past 15 years, shifting “from blocks to towers”, and an interpretation of the neighboring business park designed by SOM. Additionally, the best apartments here are not located at the very top but closer to the middle, forming a glowing “waistline”.
The “Staircase” Building
In designing the “Details” residential complex in New Moscow, Rais Baishev spiced up the now-popular Moscow theme of a “courtyard” building with an idea drawn from the surrealist drawings by Maurits Escher. He envisioned the stepped silhouettes and descending slopes as a metaphysical mega-staircase, creating a key void within the courtyard that gave the project an internal “spine”. This concept is felt both in the building’s silhouette and on its façades.
Projection of the Quarter
No one doubted that the building that Vladimir Plotkin designed as part of the “Garden Quarters” would be the most modernist of all. And it turned out just that way: while adhering to the common design code, the building successfully combines brick and white stone, rhythmically responding to the neighboring building designed by Ostozhenka, yet tactfully and persistently making a few statements of its own. This includes the projection of the ideal urban development composition “14–9–6”, which can be found right next door, mathematical calculations, including those for various types of terraces (and perhaps the only reminder of the Soviet past of the Kauchuk rubber factory!), and the white “cross-stitch” pattern of the façade grid.
Domus Aurea
In this issue, we examine the “Tessinsky-1” house, designed by Sergey Skuratov and completed in 2023. Located in the middle of the Serebryanicheskaya Embankment district, at the intersection of its main streets, this house assumes a sort of “nodal” role: it not only responds to everything around it and preserves many memories of the former EMA factory within itself, but it weaves all this into a newly directed pattern, reconciling bright “gold” and dark-colored brick, largely with the help of the new, modern-yet-archaic Columba brick, which, come to think about it, is the most precious element here.
The Chimney of Nikola-Lenivets
In this issue, we are examining the “Obelisk House” designed by KATARSIS and built for the Arkhstoyanie 2023 festival. However, it was only finished later on, and this is why we are examining it now. It seems to us that after the “Obelisk House” appeared in Nikola-Lenivets, a dialogue and a few inner connections appeared between the temporary structures built here. These houses no longer look like “accidental neighbors”, more of which below.
​Periscope by the Bay
The jury awarded the second place in the competition for a public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the companies GORA (“Mountain”) and M4. In the consortium’s proposal, the building resembles a sperm whale with a calf swimming next to it or a periscope, whose lenses capture the most spectacular views from the surrounding landscape.
From Arcs to Dolmens
While working on the competition project for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, ASADOV Architects prioritized the value of the natural and urban environment, aiming to preserve the balance of the location while minimizing the resemblance of the volume that they designed to a “traditional building”. The task was challenging, and the architects created three versions, one of which having been developed after the competition, where their main proposal took third place. However, the point of interest here is not the competition result but the continuity of creative thinking.
Hide and Seek
The ID Moskovskiy house, designed by Stepan Liphart in St. Petersburg, in the courtyards near Moskovskiy Avenue beyond the Obvodny Canal and recently completed, is notable for several reasons. Firstly, it has been realized with considerable accuracy, which is particularly significant as this is the first building where the architect was responsible not only for the facades but also for the layouts, allowing for better integration between the two. On the other hand, this building is interesting as an example of the “germination” of new architecture in the city: it draws on the best examples from the neighborhood and becomes an improved and developed sum of ideas found by the architect in the surrounding context.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Frozen Magma
A competition for the creation of a public and cultural center was held in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Three architectural companies made it to the final, and we consider it important to share about the work of each. Let’s start with the winner – the consortium led by Wowhaus.
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.
Vertical Civilization
Genpro considered the development of the vertical city concept and made it the theme of their pavilion at the “ArchMoscow” exhibition.