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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
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.
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.
Architecture and Leisure Park
For the suburban hotel complex, which envisages various formats of leisure, the architectural company T+T Architects proposed several types of accommodation, ranging from the classic “standard” in a common building to a “cave in the hill” and a “house in a tree”. An additional challenge consisted in integrating a few classic-style residences already existing on this territory into the “architectural forest park”.
The U-House
The Jois complex combines height with terraces, bringing the most expensive apartments from penthouses down to the bottom floors. The powerful iconic image of the U-shaped building is the result of the creative search for a new standard of living in high-rise buildings by the architects of “Genpro”.
Black and White
In this article, we specifically discuss the interiors of the ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh. Interior design is a crucial component of the overall concept in this case, and precision and meticulous execution were highly important for the architects. Julia Tryaskina, head of UNK interiors, shares some of the developments.
The “Snake” Mountain
The competition project for the seaside resort complex “Serpentine” combines several typologies: apartments of different classes, villas, and hotel rooms. For each of these typologies, the KPLN architects employ one of the images that are drawn from the natural environment – a serpentine road, a mountain stream, and rolling waves.
Opal from Anna Mons’ Ring
The project of a small business center located near Tupolev Plaza and Radio Street proclaims the necessity of modern architecture in a specific area of Moscow commonly known as “Nemetskaya Sloboda” or “German settlement”. It substantiates its thesis with the thoroughness of details, a multitude of proposed and rejected form variants, and even a detailed description of the surrounding area. The project is interesting indeed, and it is even more interesting to see what will come of it.
Feed ’Em All
A “House of Russian Cuisine” was designed and built by KROST Group at VDNKh for the “Rossiya” exhibition in record-breaking time. The pavilion is masterfully constructed in terms of the standards of modern public catering industry multiplied by the bustling cultural program of the exhibition, and it interprets the stylistically diverse character of VDNKh just as successfully. At the same time, much of its interior design can be traced back to the prototypes of the 1960s – so much so that even scenes from iconic Soviet movies of those years persistently come to mind.
The Ensemble at the Mosque
OSA prepared a master plan for a district in the southern part of Derbent. The main task of the master plan is to initiate the formation of a modern comfortable environment in this city. The organization of residential areas is subordinated to the city’s spiritual center: depending on the location relative to the cathedral mosque, the houses are distinguished by façade and plastique solutions. The program also includes a “hospitality center”, administrative buildings, an educational cluster, and even an air bridge.
Pargolovo Protestantism
A Protestant church is being built in St. Petersburg by the project of SLOI architects. One of the main features of the building is a wooden roof with 25-meter spans, which, among other things, forms the interior of the prayer hall. Also, there are other interesting details – we are telling you more about them.
The Shape of the Inconceivable
The ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh brings to mind a famous maxim of all architects and critics: “You’ve come up with it? Now build it!” You rarely see such a selfless immersion in implementation of the project, and the formidable structural and engineering tasks set by UNK architects to themselves are presented here as an integral and important part of the architectural idea. The challenge matches the obliging status of the place – after all, it is an “exhibition of achievements”, and the pavilion is dedicated to the nuclear energy industry. Let’s take a closer look: from the outside, from the inside, and from the underside too.
​Rays of the Desert
A school for 1750 students is going to be built in Dubai, designed by IND Architects. The architects took into account the local specifics, and proposed a radial layout and spaces, in which the children will be comfortable throughout the day.
The Dairy Theme
The concept of an office of a cheese-making company, designed for the enclosed area of a dairy factory, at least partially refers to industrial architecture. Perhaps that is why this concept is very simple, which seems the appropriate thing to do here. The building is enlivened by literally a couple of “master strokes”: the turning of the corner accentuates the entrance, and the shade of glass responds to the theme of “milk rivers” from Russian fairy tales.
The Road to the Temple
Under a grant from the Small Towns Competition, the main street and temple area of the village of Nikolo-Berezovka near Neftekamsk has been improved. A consortium of APRELarchitects and Novaya Zemlya is turning the village into an open-air museum and integrating ruined buildings into public life.
​Towers Leaning Towards the Sun
The three towers of the residential complex “Novodanilovskaya 8” are new and the tallest neighbors of the Danilovsky Manufactory, “Fort”, and “Plaza”, complementing a whole cluster of modern buildings designed by renowned masters. At the same time, the towers are unique for this setting – they are residential, they are the tallest ones here, and they are located on a challenging site. In this article, we explore how architects Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova tackled this far-from-trivial task.
In the spirit of ROSTA posters
The new Rostselmash tractor factory, conceptualized by ASADOV Architects, is currently being completed in Rostov-on-Don. References to the Soviet architecture of the 1920’s and 1960’s resonate with the mission and strategic importance of the enterprise, and are also in line with the client’s wish: to pay homage to Rostov’s constructivism.
The Northern Thebaid
The central part of Ferapontovo village, adjacent to the famous monastery with frescoes by Dionisy, has been improved according to the project by APRELarchitects. Now the place offers basic services for tourists, as well as a place for the villagers’ leisure.
Brilliant Production
The architects from London-based MOST Architecture have designed the space for the high-tech production of Charge Cars, a high-performance production facility for high-speed electric cars that are assembled in the shell of legendary Ford Mustangs. The founders of both the company and the car assembly startup are Russians who were educated in their home country.
Three-Part Task: St. Petersburg’s Mytny Dvor
The so-called “Mytny Dvor” area lying just behind Moscow Railway Station – the market rows with a complex history – will be transformed into a premium residential complex by Studio 44. The project consists of three parts: the restoration of historical buildings, the reconstruction of the lost part of the historical contour, and new houses. All of them are harmonized with each other and with the city; axes and “beams of light” were found, cozy corners and scenic viewpoints were carefully thought out. We had a chat with the authors of the historical buildings’ restoration project, and we are telling you about all the different tasks that have been solved here.
The Color of the City, or Reflections on the Slope of an Urban Settlement
In 2022, Ostozhenka Architects won a competition, and in 2023, they developed and received all the necessary approvals for a master plan for the development of Chernigovskaya Street for the developer GloraX. The project takes into account a 10-year history of previous developments; it was done in collaboration with architects from Nizhny Novgorod, and it continues to evolve now. We carefully examined it, talked to everyone, and learned a lot of interesting things.
A Single-Industry Town
Kola MMC and Nornickel are building a residential neighborhood in Monchegorsk for their future employees. It is based on a project by an international team that won the 2021 competition. The project offers a number of solutions meant to combat the main “demons” of any northern city: wind, grayness and boredom.
A New Age Portico
At the beginning of the year, Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport opened Terminal C. The large-scale and transparent entrance hall with luminous columns inside successfully combines laconism with a bright and photogenic WOW-effect. The terminal is both the new façade of the whole complex and the starting point of the planned reconstruction, upon completion of which Tolmachevo will become the largest regional airport in Russia. In this article, we are examining the building in the context of modernist prototypes of both Novosibirsk and Leningrad: like puzzle pieces, they come together to form their individual history, not devoid of curious nuances and details.
A New Starting Point
We’ve been wanting to examine the RuArts Foundation space, designed by ATRIUM for quite a long time, and we finally got round to it. This building looks appropriate and impressive; it amazingly combines tradition – represented in our case by galleries – and innovation. In this article, we delve into details and study the building’s historical background as well.
Molding Perspectives
Stepan Liphart introduces “schematic Art Deco” on the outskirts of Kazan – his houses are executed in green color, with a glassy “iced” finish on the facades. The main merits of the project lie in his meticulous arrangement of viewing angles – the architect is striving to create in a challenging environment the embryo of a city not only in terms of pedestrian accessibility but also in a sculptural sense. He works with silhouettes, proposing intriguing triangular terraces. The entire project is structured like a crystal, following two grids, orthogonal and diagonal. In this article, we are examining what worked, and what eventually didn’t.
An Educational Experiment for the North
City-Arch continues to work on the projects that can be termed as “experimental public preschools”: private kindergartens and schools can envy such facilities in many respects. This time around, the project is done for the city of Gubkinsky, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. A diverse educational and play environment, including a winter garden, awaits future students, while the teachers will have abundant opportunities to implement new practices.
Alexandra Kuzmina: “Working is easy when the rules are the same for everyone”
The subject matter of Moscow Region’s booth and presentations at Zodchestvo Festival was the concept of “Integrated Land Development”, and for a good reason: this task is very challenging, very relevant, and Moscow Region has already accumulated quite a formidable experience in this regard. In this article, we are speaking to the main architect of the region: about master plans and who makes them, about where you obtain resources for creating a comfortable environment, about her favorite projects, about why there are so few good architects, and what we should do with the bad ones.
The Cemetery: Inside and Outside
The workshop organized by the Genplan Institute of Moscow scored one of the two first places at the “Open City” festival. Its subject is reorganization of municipal cemeteries. Two action plans were proposed, diametrically opposite: one for the downtown and one for the suburbs.
Our Everything
Who is Alexey Shchusev? In the last couple of weeks, since the architect’s 150th birthday, different individuals have answered this question differently. The most detailed, illustrated, and elegantly presented response is an exhibition held in two buildings of the Museum of Architecture on Vozdvizhenka. Four curators, a year and a half of work performed by the entire museum, and exhibition design by Sergey Tchoban and Alexandra Sheiner – in this article, we take you on a tour of the exhibition and show what’s what in it.
For Mental Reboot
At the architectural competition held in 2023 in Novosibirsk, the project by GORA Architects – a pedestrian bridge leading to the town of Bor – was awarded the “Golden Capital” prize. In this country, more than a hundred pedestrian bridges are constructed each year. What makes the Bor bridge different?
Gold Embroidery
A five-story housing complex designed by Stepan Liphart in Kazan, responds to the stylistically diverse context with its form, both integral and agile, and as for the vicinity of the “Ekiyat” movie theater, the complex responds to it with a semblance of theater curtain folds, and active plastique of its balconies, that bear some resemblance to theater boxes. Even if excessively pompous a little bit, the complex does look fresh and modern. One will have a hard time finding Art Deco elements in it, even though the spirit of the 1930s, run through the filter of neo-modernism, is still clearly felt, just as a twist of the Occident.