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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.

Written by:
Darya Gorelova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

10 October 2022
Report
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At the Zodchestvo festival, the Genplan Institute of Moscow conducted a discussion named “The city’s environmental well-being: a path to sustainable development”. Making a recap, one can say: it was about how to (a) help wildlife and some of its specific representatives to survive within the city boundaries and (b) raise the city people’s spirits. Or how the city people can learn to preserve and reproduce wildlife in the context of a man-made environment and be happy to live next to it. Here is the thing – the wildlife that you can see in a megalopolis is by no means limited by cats and pigeons.

Arseniy Penkin, Head of the Marketing Department of Genplan Institute of Moscow

Today, ecology is usually talked about from the perspective of ESG (analytical index that stands for environmental, social, governance, – ed.) However, this is more of a commercial approach. We invited the experts to talk about some applied and more understandable things as part of the discussion: how to preserve and multiply the natural resources that already exist in the city.

Moscow is one of the world’s greenest megalopolises; almost all kinds of natural territories are represented here. In this city, you can meet not just pets, but also representatives of wildlife as well. The question is how to preserve these riches, how to handle them, how to take them into account in the new design, when creating comfortable territories. In general, how to protect those participants in biological life who cannot say anything for themselves.


We picked the three most interesting projects and we are sharing with you about them.

A Lawn by the House 

Arkhitektory Luga (“Meadow Architects”)
Nadezhda Astanina, Anna Antokhina,
Nadezhda Kiyatkina, Aleksey Levchenko


Ecopark Sacred Meadow in the Academichesky District. Project, 2017
Copyright: © Meadow Architects


The team, which formed in 2017, when the architects were working on a landscaping project for a large site in Moscow’s Akademichesky district, was represented by Anna Antokhina. The landscape architects position themselves as “Russia’s first nature-focused design team”. This, however, is something that is hard to believe because such bold statements need proof. But the showcased examples are really inspiring, even if painfully small.

Number one: a little park – let’s call it that – with an area of 3 hectares, on Ivana Babushkina Street, situated behind the Darwin Museum. According to the architects, the land site got vacated because it was cleared of old garages standing on it, and the city proposed to make a boulevard here. Instead of the habitual urban plants, Meadow Architects proposed to foster natural meadow plants here, which is how the name of the team came about. In addition, the architects design low curbs, which tiny animals could climb over, and “wedging seams”, through which insects could travel across “extensively paved areas” – yes, there are paved areas in the project too. However, when it comes to the presence of human beings, the authors try to minimize it, limiting it to sightseeing terraces, so as to make sure that the human factor gets as little as possible in the way of natural development of the ecosystem.

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    Ecopark Sacred Meadow in the Academichesky District. Project, 2017
    Copyright: © Meadow Architects
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    Ecopark Sacred Meadow in the Academichesky District. Project, 2017
    Copyright: © Meadow Architects
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    Ecopark Sacred Meadow in the Academichesky District. Project, 2017
    Copyright: © Meadow Architects
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    Ecopark Sacred Meadow in the Academichesky District. Project, 2017
    Copyright: © Meadow Architects
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    Ecopark Sacred Meadow in the Academichesky District. Project, 2017
    Copyright: © Meadow Architects


The project was not implemented. However, the Yandex maps display the specific name of Zapovedny Lug (“Sacred Meadow”). The architects collected 3000 signatures from the residents who backed up their proposal. They also received a few awards, and showcased their project in Sorbonne. More remarkably, however, over the recent time, biocoenosis has developed all on its own. On the territory, the biologists discovered up to 600 species, 20 of which are considered to be endangered.

Another example – also located in the Akademichesky district – has been implemented. It is smaller, though. The architects offered the residents to turn their rank-and-file lawn into a meadow, and not just any meadow but one with a year-round flourish. What it ended up being is essentially a mini park with an educational potential because there are signs with the name of the plants. This is a typical “small deeds” approach at the junction of landscape, biology, and participating.

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    Mini-garden in the Academichesky District. Implemented, 2017
    Copyright: © Meadow Architects
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    Mini-garden in the Academichesky District. Implemented, 2017
    Copyright: © Meadow Architects
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    Mini-garden in the Academichesky District. Implemented, 2017
    Copyright: © Meadow Architects


The main message from Meadow Architects is that you can and even must cultivate the plant species natural for these latitudes in a big city: they also take root better, they should be allowed to grow, they should not be mown ahead of time (July 15), they are stable, diverse and attract friendly small animals and insects to symbiosis.

From the report we learned, among other things, that the Monarch Butterfly exists in symbiosis with silkweed, the Nettle Butterfly brings out its caterpillars on stinging nettles (big surprise), and the bee called Melita Dentata pollinates only “Sawtooth Grass” (another surprise).

Here is the most interesting thing, though: Meadow Architects created – to help the developers – a list of plants indigenous to Moscow and St. Petersburg. It is available online at greenzoom.ru (the Russian system of green certification). Developing local plants on their territories, the developers improve their chances of receiving the “green standard” certificate. 

Eco-diagnostics
Irina Ivashkina
Candidate of Geographical Sciences, ecologist, head of the sector for the informational and analytical support of territorial planning for the Genplan Institute of Moscow.

The vision presented in the Irina Ivashkina presentation is the most large-scale of the three, yet at the same time it is also participation-based, and is connected with working with the local population. Here it is not about a little park or a lawn but about planning the ecological well-being of large cities on the master plan level. Examples of this were: the environmental diagnostics of Moscow and Ufa 2009 – the analytic research that preceded the development of the city’s master plan. The latest project is quite recent – the master plan of Ufa was adopted in 2022.

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    Ecodiagnostics of the territory of Ufa. 2020-2021. Fragment of Irina Ivashkina′s presentation
    Copyright: © Genplan Institute of Moscow
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    Ecodiagnostics of the territory of Ufa. 2020-2021. Fragment of Irina Ivashkina′s presentation
    Copyright: © Genplan Institute of Moscow
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    Ecodiagnostics of the territory of Ufa. 2020-2021. Fragment of Irina Ivashkina′s presentation
    Copyright: © Genplan Institute of Moscow
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    Ecodiagnostics of the territory of Ufa. 2020-2021. Fragment of Irina Ivashkina′s presentation
    Copyright: © Genplan Institute of Moscow


An important part of working on the environmental assessment of territories – apart from “big data” and specialized archives is the actual gathering of “live” information and communication with local residents. However, since we are talking about large cities, this “pinpoint” work, although sometimes relevant, is not always effective.

This is why the Genplan Institute of Moscow – an organization that is focused on solving large-scale tasks by chiefly technology-based methods – developed an interactive map for interacting with the residents of those cities, the master plans for which are developed by the Genplan Institute of Moscow.

The map is available at gorod.genplanmos.ru and is used for the collection of data on relevant projects. Currently, the project involves Ekaterinburg, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and Ufa.

Interactive map of city development ideas
Copyright: © Genplan Institute of Moscow


Ufa. Interactive map of city development ideas
Copyright: © Genplan Institute of Moscow


Ufa. Interactive map of city development ideas
Copyright: © Genplan Institute of Moscow


A Painting on a Tree
Dmitry Voitovic, 
Head of the agency for environmental education and animal tracking of GBPU “Mospriroda”

Environmental action “ParkArt”
Copyright: © Mospriroda


In our opinion, the most interesting part of this story was the one about painted trees. Many of you have probably seen such paintings – executed in the naivety spirit, with different degrees of detailing, but bright and cute in their own way – in the city parks. Turned out, it was a centralized project staged by Mospriroda and called “ParkArt”: it started back in 2015 in Izmailovsky Park; over the 7 years that have elapsed l, about 250 pictures have been painted on trees.

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    Environmental action “ParkArt”
    Copyright: © Mospriroda
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    Environmental action “ParkArt”
    Copyright: © Mospriroda
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    Environmental action “ParkArt”
    Copyright: © Mospriroda
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    Environmental action “ParkArt”
    Copyright: © Mospriroda


All of this, as we said, is rather cute, but it is a different thing that matters: these paintings are not really about beauty – they cure the trees not in the figurative, but in the mist literal sense as can be. The “wound” – the place where the wood tissue is devoid of bark and is bare – is first treated with a special solution, and then is covered with acrylic paints. As a result, the tree starts gradually “healing” the bark damage: the process that took place within a couple of years, is quite tangible.

Environmental action “ParkArt”
Copyright: © Mospriroda


Environmental action “ParkArt”
Copyright: © Mospriroda


During the discussion, an opinion was voiced from the audience that originally this idea was proposed by a Moscow artist – somehow, nobody was able to recall her name- and then picked up by Mospriroda. Well, they did well to pick it up. Essentially, to heal the cracks in the bark, you can just treat them with a special solution and then cover them with paint – but the pictures do give them a lively look. The pictures get shortlisted and approved; the artists work on a voluntary basis but they are allowed to mark their work with links to their socials.

10 October 2022

Written by:

Darya Gorelova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov
Headlines now
The Chinese Symphony
The construction of the Chinese center “Huaming Park” has been a long story that came to fruition relatively recently. The building is adjacent to a traditional Chinese garden, but it is very modern, laconic and technological, and the simple-in-form, yet spectacular, white lamellae promise to someday be incorporated as a media facade. This complex is also truly multifunctional: it contains different types of living spaces, offices, a large fitness center, conference halls and restaurants – all wrapped in one volume. You can comfortably hold international forums in it, having everything you may possibly need at your fingertips, and going outside only to take a walk. In this article, we are examining this complex in detail.
Ensemble of Individualities
Construction of the first phase of the INDY Towers multifunctional complex on Kuusinen Street, designed by Ostozhenka, has started. The project opens new angles of similarity between the column and the skyscraper, and we examine the nuances and parallels.
Black and Red
Kazakov Grand Loft received its name for a reason: responding to the client’s brief and proceeding from the historical industrial architecture of its immediate surroundings, Valery Kanyashin and Ostozhenka architects proposed a new version of a modern house designed in the fashionable “loft” style. What makes this building different is the fact that the bricks here are dark gray, and the facades of the romantic “fortress” towers blossom with magnificent glazing of the windows in the upper part. The main highlight of the complex, however, is the multiple open air terraces situated on different levels.
Icy Hospitality
Mezonproject has won the national architectural and town planning competition for designing a hotel and a water recreation center in the city of Irkutsk. The architects chose hummocks of Baikal ice as a visual image.
The Mastery of Counterpoint
In the sculpture of Classical Greece, counterpoint was first invented: the ability to position the human body as if it were about to take a step, imbuing it with a hint of the energy of future movement, and with hidden dynamics. For architecture, especially in the 20th century and now, this is also one of the main techniques, and the ATRIUM architects implement it diligently, consistently – and always slightly differently. The new residential complex “Richard” is a good example of such exploration, based on the understanding of contrasts in the urban environment, which was fused into the semblance of a living being.
Countryside Avant-Garde
The project of the museum of Aleksey Gastev, the ideologist of scientific organization of work, located in his hometown of Suzdal, is inscribed in multiple contexts: the contest of a small town, the context of avant-garde design, the context of “lean production”, and the context of the creative quest of Nikolai Lyzlov’s minimalist architecture – and it seems to us that this project even reveals a distant memory of the fact that Aleksey Gastev learned his craft in France.
On the Hills
In the project by Studio 44, the “distributed” IT campus of Nizhny Novgorod is based on well-balanced contracts. Sometimes it is hovering, sometimes undulating, sometimes towering over a rock. For every task, the architects found appropriate form and logic: the hotels are based on a square module, the academic buildings are based on a “flying” one, and so on. Modernist prototypes, specifically, Convent Sainte-Marie de La Tourette, stand next to references to the antique Forum and the tower of a medieval university – as well as next to contextual allusions that help inscribe the buildings of the future campus into the landscape of the city hills with their dominants, high slopes, breathtaking river views, the historical city center, and the Nizhny Novgorod University.
The Magic Carpet
The anniversary exhibition of Totan Kuzembaev’s drawings named “Event Horizons” shows both very old drawings made by the architect in the formative 1980’s, and now extracted from the Museum of Architecture, as well as quite a few pictures from the “Weightlessness” series that Totan Kuzembaev drew specifically for this exhibition in 2023. It seemed to us that the architect represented reality from the point of view of someone levitating in space, and sometimes even upside down, like a magic carpet with multiple layers.
​A Copper Step
Block 5, designed by ASADOV architects as part of the “Ostrov” (“Island”) housing complex, is at the same time grand-scale, conspicuous thanks to its central location – and contextual. It does not “outshout” the solutions used in the neighboring buildings, but rather gives a very balanced implementation of the design code: combining brick and metal in light and dark shades and large copper surfaces, orthogonal geometry on the outside and flexible lines in the courtyard.
The Light for the Island
For the first time around, we are examining a lighting project designed for a housing complex; but then again, the authors of the nighttime lighting of the Ostrov housing complex, UNK lighting, proudly admit that this project is not just the largest in their portfolio, but also the largest in this country. They describe their approach as a European one, its chief principles being smoothness of transitions, comfort to the eye, and the concentration of most of the light at the “bottom” level – meaning, it “works” first of all for pedestrians.
Spots of Light
A new housing complex in Tyumen designed by Aukett Swanke is a very eye-pleasing example of mid-rise construction: using simple means of architectural expression, such as stucco, pitched roofs, and height changes, the architects achieve a “human-friendly” environment, which becomes a significant addition to the nearby park and forest.
Ledges and Swirls
The housing complex “Novaya Zarya” (“New Dawn”) designed by ASADOV Architects will become one of the examples of integrated land development in Vladivostok. The residential area will be characterized by various typologies of its housing sections, and a multitude of functions – in addition to the social infrastructure, the complex will include pedestrian promenades, shopping malls, office buildings, and recreational facilities. The complex is “inscribed” in a relief with a whopping 40-meter height difference, and overlooks the Amur Bay.
Agglomeration on an Island
Recently, an approval came for the master plan of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk agglomeration, which was developed by a consortium headed by the Genplan Institute of Moscow. The document provides for the creation of 12 clusters, the totality of which will give the region a qualitative leap in development and make the island more self-sufficient, more accessible, and less dependent on the mainland. We are inviting you to examine the details.
Ivan Grekov: “A client that wants to make a building that is “about architecture” is...
In this article, we are talking to Ivan Grekov, the leader of the architectural company KAMEN (translates as “stone”), the author of many high-profile projects that have been built in Moscow in the recent years, about the history of his company, about different approaches to form making, about different meanings of volume and facade, and about “layers” in working with the environment – at the example of two projects by Osnova Group. These are the MIRAPOLIS complex on the Mira Avenue in Rostokino, whose construction began at the end of last year, and the multifunctional complex in the 2nd Silikatny Proezd on the Zvenigorodsky Highway; recently, it received all the required approvals.
Grasping and Formulating
The special project “Tezisy” (“Abstracts”), showcased at Arch Moscow exhibition in Moscow’s Gostiny Dvor, brought together eight young “rock stars of architecture”, the headliner being Vladislav Kirpichev, founder of the EDAS school. In this article, we share our impressions of the installations and the perspectives of the new generation of architects.
The White Tulip
Currently, there are two relevant projects for the Great Cathedral Mosque in Kazan, which was transferred to a land site in Admiralteiskaya Sloboda in February. One of them, designed by TsLP, was recently showcased at Arch Moscow. In this article, we are covering another project, which was proposed during the same period for the same land site. Its author is Aleksey Ginzburg, the winner of the 2022 competition, but now the project is completely different. Today, it is a sculptural “flower” dome symbolizing a white tulip.
ATRIUM’s Metaverse
The architectural company ATRIUM opened a gallery of its own in a metaverse. Inside, one can examine the company’s approach and main achievements, as well as get some emotional experience. The gallery is already hosting cyberspace business meetings and corporate events.
​From Darkness to Light
Responding to a lengthy list of limitations and a lengthy – by the standards of a small building – list of functions, Vladimir Plotkin turned the project of the Novodevichy Monastery into a light, yet dynamic statement of modern interpretation of historical context, or, perhaps, even interpretation of light and darkness.
Modernism in Avant-Garde
The contest proposal that Studio 44 made for the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theater is bright in all senses, and in many ways even provocative – just like a modern theater performance should be. Being in context with modern culture, it even shocks you in some respects. At first, you are amazed at the red color that is present all around, and then you gradually make sense of the picturesque congregation of volumes that share a multitude of functions. And it’s only later that you realize that this conglomerate conceals a modernist building, most of which the architects save intact.
The Black Mountain
The project of reconstructing the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet theater developed by Wowhaus, which won the competition, proposed a total demolition and new construction, as well as considerable expansion (up to 8 floors) – and transformable multifunctional spaces. The new project, however, does retain the recognizable elements and the image of the old theater. As for the main spectator hall, it is turned – figuratively speaking, of course – into a semblance of a black volcano.
Garage-Garage
Recently, Moscow saw the presentation of a project by Yuri Grigoryan, devoted to turning the truck garage on Novoryazanskaya Street, designed by Konstantin Melnikov, into the Museum of Moscow Transport. The project involves restoring the monument of architecture, adding a new underground floor and a new entrance, as well as a whole park. The implementation is already underway.
Houses by the Lakeside
Approvals came for the project of a housing complex that DNK ag designed in Kazan. The complex is low-rise; its sections are designed as separate volumes united by a common podium. Everything is very much like DNK: delicate and sometimes even lyrical, especially where the yard meets the lakeshore.
Exemplary Adaptation
In Novosibirsk, the construction of a school has been completed, whose project is standing every chance to set a new standard for the nation’s educational institutions. SVESMI Architects and Brusnika company started by developing the brief that would answer the modern teaching practices, and then they proposed the optimum plan, versatile classrooms, and reserved, yet expressive, image in the spirit of this Amsterdam alliance.
Terra Incognita
An 800-room hotel complex, designed by Ginzburg Architects, offers the seaside city of Anapa a fragment of well-organized urban environment that keeps up the cultural spirit of the place. The architects break away from traditional white facades, turning to the antique and even archaic periods of the history of this land, and drawing inspiration in the color of red clay and simple, yet lightweight, shapes.
In Plumage Colors
Working on the facades of a mid-rise residential area in Odintsovsky district, GENPRO architects “adjusted” a number of features of the volumetric composition, which they received without the right to make any changes to, by purely “decorative” means, such as ornamental brickwork, including glazed bricks and the rhythm of the windows. Interestingly, the starting point in the search for the color code was the plumage of birds that are found in the Moscow region.
Julius Borisov: “The “Island” housing complex is a unique project – we took it on with...
One of the largest housing projects of today’s Moscow – the “Ostrov” (“Island”) housing complex built by Donstroy – is now being actively built in the Mnevniky Floodplain. They are planning to build about 1.5M square meters of housing on an area of almost 40 hectares. We are beginning to examine this project– first of all, we are talking to Julius Borisov, the head of the architectural company UNK, which works with most of the residential blocks in this grand-scale project, as well as with the landscaping part; the company even proposed a single design code for the entire territory.
A Balanced Solution
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
In the city of Omsk, ASADOV architects took on a very challenging task: they are developing a concept of a public and residential complex, which involves reconstructing the city’s first thermal power station standing right next to Omsk’s first fortress. This territory has already seen a lot of projects designed for it, and the residential function of this land site has been the subject of heated debate. In this article, we are examining the project in question, aimed at developing a mid-scale city fabric suited for the historical center. We also examine the above-mentioned debate. Seriously, will this project save this place or will it bring it to ruin?
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!