A School of Our Time

On the eve of the presentation of the new book by ATRIUM, dedicated to the design of schools and other educational facilities, based on the architects’ considerable experience, as well as expert judgments, we are examining the Quantum STEM school building, constructed according to their project in Astana. Furthermore, this building is planned to be the first one to start a new chain. The architects designed it in full accordance with modern standards but sometimes they did break away from them – only to confirm the general development rules. For example, there are two amphitheaters in the atrium, and there is an artificial hill in the yard that is meant to make the flat terrain of the Kazakhstan steppe more eventful.

Written by:
Julia Tarabarina
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

14 February 2023

Object

The Quantum STEM school in Astana is the first complete building of this private school network in Kazakhstan. Its principles are most modern and cutting-edge: to inspire, to develop, and to motivate the students, among other things, for “intellectual adventurism”. Also, the schools will pay special attention to technological disciplines and natural sciences, while instruction will be given in three languages: Kazakh, Russian, and English.

The design of the Quantum school buildings, which will be rather numerous in the country – at least two in Astana and Almaty each and one in Shymkent – was commissioned to ATRIUM architects as competent and efficient experts in modern school design.

zooming — Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects

One of these days, ATRIUM are presenting a book based on examples from their own practice of designing school buildings, as well as experts’ reviews and other materials – some sort of compendium on the issues of working with educational institutions. The architects have a tremendous 20-years’ experience in that, starting with the orphanage school in Moscow’s Kozhukhovo.

The Quantum school in Astana is the newest of the buildings designed by ATRIUM, whose construction is now complete, and this is why we decided to give a detailed coverage of this project now. And we do recommend reading the book too.

So far, we have worked on the concepts of three buildings within the Quantum STEM network of private schools. Schools in Almaty and Shymkent are still in the design stage, the building in Astana has been built in a surprisingly short time, from the delivery of the concept to the completion of construction and the start of the school in September 2021, only 9 months passed, which is very little. All the three projects are different, they are by no means “standardized”, and their architecture is highly individual; perhaps they are united by a common approach – in each case, volumes with different functions look different, but they “bleed together” through the public space of the atrium, which becomes the basis for movement and communication, and by spaces “flowing” into one another, which makes their perception more complex, and therefore interesting.

The task that was set for us in the case of a school in Astana was not exactly “exceptional”, but it was very close and interesting to us – all we were required to do was design a school based on the requirements of modern education: with a space that ensures de-confliction of streams, in particular, middle and high schools (children study here from the 6th grade) – and at the same time provides opportunities for communication, multifunctional use and creates a variety of ways of movement. For example, in this case, it is possible to reach the ground level from both first and second floors, and at the same time, the artificial hill creates – on a completely smooth and even terrain of Astana – a courtyard protected from the wind, not to mention the fact that the hill now commands sweeping views. Another feature is that in Astana we have not one, but two amphitheaters in a common atrium space, such a solution is not very common.

We also liked the client’s desire to make the building cutting-edge, convenient and relevant, without any specific references to national culture.

The school was built very fast, within 9 months. The ATRIUM architects developed the concept and consulted the Kazakh company that prepared the working documentation. It is only the interiors that were executed without the architects’ direct supervision, even though all the key ideas were also implemented here. On the whole, the authors are happy with the end result, even though they do not conceal their surprise at the incredible rate of its implementation.

The school is located in the center of Astana, next to the central, regularly planned parks of the new capital. Norman Foster’s Khan’s Tent is 800 meters to the east. Nearby, across the street, there is a residential complex; the city in this part is growing and developing.

The building in fact consists of three units: the sports one stretches by the south border of the site; its elongated volume, coated with panels the color of warm yellow wood, has a roof that elevates towards both ends, so, when viewed from an angle, this unit looks a little bit like a swing, the effect being further strengthened by the glazing that expands from east to west.

The two academic units: the western one (meant predominantly for grades 6-9), and the eastern one (meant for higher grades), are also bent like “bird signs”, each “spreading its wings”, which is clearly visible on the plan or drone footage.

All the three units are connected by an atrium, and at this point we are remembering Anton Nadtochiy’s words that the atrium here is not just large, but also far from simple. It has two amphitheaters in it, veering up and to the sides from the central space; on the level of the second floor, there is an overpass that connects them. In the upper part, however, the amphitheaters develop in different ways. One of them is larger, and the third and fourth floors encircle it in galleries.

The other amphitheater is smaller. In the ceiling of the third floor above it, there is a triangle with a trampoline. All the extra safety measures have, of course, been observed, including double safety nets, and the experience of jumping on the trampoline will probably be unforgettable.

1 / 4

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
2 / 4

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
3 / 4

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
4 / 4

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects

There is also a spiral staircase in the same atrium space – as the architects specify, you can ascend to the second floor by the amphitheaters, and then use the spiral staircase to get to the third and fourth.

1 / 3

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
2 / 3

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
3 / 3

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects

The contained-space event hall is, of course, also there in the building; it is placed parallel to the large one consisting of the two amphitheaters in the upper floors of the west unit. The main entrance to it is from the top, from the gallery of the public space.

In a word, the center of the building receives a spatial core – I think this is the most adequate term. On the outside, it manifests itself in elevating the glass facades chamfered on the plan: there is a ziggurat that appears in the cavity between the units. On each of the roofs, there is a terrace, on which you can also walk out in summer. There are no skylights, but the atrium is well-lit through glass walls.

Thus, the central spatial core “grows through” to the outside world: you can enter and exit at different levels, and the multilevel quality of the inner space is further developed in the landscape forms closest to the building. As we remember, you can exit to the hill from the level of the second floor, having entered on the first and ascending the staircase of one of the amphitheaters: this is how a spatial “loop” appears that connects the outer and the inner spaces.

We must remember, however, that the steppe-encircled Astana is a pretty windy place. This is why the hill has not just aesthetic value but it also protects the plaza before the entrance from hard winds that do occur here. The outdoor amphitheaters are made on the slopes of the hill, both on the inside and on the outside.

Curiously, the landscape – the contours of the hill and the pavement – is subjugated to the pattern of rounded lines that soften the angles of the triangles, which resembles the pavement pattern in the Symbol housing complex. The contours of the galleries in the atrium space are rounded – and this is how yet another kind of echoing appears – this time of the imagery nature – between the landscape on the outside and the public spaces inside.

1 / 5

Private school QUANTUM. Plan of the 1 floor

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
2 / 5

Private school QUANTUM. Plan of the 2 floor

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
3 / 5

Private school QUANTUM. Plan of the 3 floor

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
4 / 5

Private school QUANTUM. Plan of the 4 floor

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
5 / 5

Private school QUANTUM. The master plan

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects

Meanwhile, the outlines of the units themselves – asymmetric and rather jagged – are rather based on collisions of planes than on curves. But then again, the construction, which looks almost symmetrical when viewed from one side, looks like a multibeam star on the outside, which is currently considered to be one of the best options for designing a modern school building because it yields a maximum amount of natural sunlight for the classrooms – the building clearly makes the most of the benefits of this approach.

1 / 4

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
2 / 4

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
3 / 4

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
4 / 4

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects

On the outside, the units look noticeably different – this helps the students get their bearings – but the contrast is not accentuated; rather, it is aimed at finding “faces of its own”, different and alike at the same time.
The junior high unit (grades 6-9) in the center is characterized by a crimson-brownish tone, and greater “flexibility” – this building is the only one here that has a rounded “breaking angle”, and even a pitched roof.

Its west pitch is covered with the same material as the facade; the side end of the event hall is encased in a contoured pentagon frame, a characteristic technique of modern architecture during the moments when you suddenly remember that you need to pay tribute to tradition. It even seems to me that this “pitched instance”, the only one in the entire complex, salutes to the dacha houses that survived on a moor to the north of the complex. Probably, they will soon disappear, but their “shadow” as the outline on the sidewall of the school building will remain.

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects

The shape of the west unit is the most “tell-tale” of all; it gives the school complex a certain air of coziness, yet it does it very tactfully, staying within the limits of the nuance. The composition, however, is noticeably livened up, and it received a certain intrigue.

The other two units have a lighter color. The sports one is decorated with slender vertical panels with a “wood” effect, and the “high school” one is coated with light-colored brick. Their roofs, flat, yet inclined, resonate with each other.

An important part is played by the cantilevers, there are several of them here, and you can only be surprised and happy with the fact that all these subtleties were implemented to a letter at such a short notice. Without them, the school would have been quite different. And form is something that is very important for a school if you really think of it as a place where personality develops.

1 / 6

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
2 / 6

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
3 / 6

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
4 / 6

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
5 / 6

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
6 / 6

Private school QUANTUM

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects

Just as significant was the client’s request to design a “generally modern” school without any extra specifications. In this day and age, “modern” may mean both globalism and anti globalism, depending how you look at it, expressed in the search for identity that almost inevitably comes down to something overly ornamental, something that looks like a “steppe tent”. Such a search is exciting, yet at the same time there is a risk that it will muddle the process. At the same time, instruction, given in three different languages, is conducive to forming an open-minded worldview. So I think these people are on the right track.

The search for the spatial structure and architectural image of the new school is also, I think, productive. Generally speaking, for 10 years, if not more, there has been a lot of talk about how a modern, “efficient” school building can help the growth of personality. These conversations probably date back to the postwar 1950s. Is a building capable of shaping a person, changing him or her for the better, helping to develop with every of its cantilevers, floors, and windows? Something in this equation, of course, depends not only on the building, but also on the person and on other circumstances of his life, both in-school and extracurricular. Meanwhile, Vera Butko and Anton Nadtochiy believe in the healing role of architecture, as it seems, quite sincerely, and are engaged in school projects with full dedication.

And they also promised us to show their book about schools pretty soon.

14 February 2023

Headlines now

Interview

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.

Object

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.

Object

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?

Object

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!

Object

First among Equals

The building of a kindergarten in the town of Beloyarsky is more than just another example of a modern educational space. Its design began a long time ago; it is located in Russia’s Far North; it is also a state-owned facility that is subject to regulations, and had to cut costs during construction (as usual). However, the design is contemporary, the layout is modern, and the building feels very fresh. The project is planned to be replicated.

Review

Gustave Falconnier

In the “ruin” wing of Moscow’s Museum of Architecture, an exhibition of “glass bricks” by Gustave Falconnier is open. These “bricks” are essentially the predecessors of glass blocks, but more complex and beautiful. The exhibition shows genuine “bricks”, buildings composed of them, the history of the destruction of Falconnier windows in the building of the State Archives, and it also became one of the reasons to revive this unique production technology.

Object

Streamline for City Canyons

Stepan Liphart has designed two houses for two small land sites situated in the area surrounding the Varshavsky Railway Station, which is being intensively developed now. The sites are situated close but not next to each other, and they are different, yet similar: the theme is the same but it is interpreted in different ways. In this issue, we are examining and comparing both projects.

Object

The Eastern Frontier

“The Eastern Arc” is one of the main land resources of Kazan’s development, concentrated in the hands of a single owner. The Genplan Institute of Moscow has developed a concept for the integrated development of this territory based on an analytical transport model that will create a comfortable living environment, new centers of attraction, and new workplaces as well.

Object

A School of Our Time

Object

The Fluffy Space

Designing the passenger terminal of the Orenburg airport, ASADOV architects continue to explore the space theme that they first introduced in Saratov and Kemerovo airports. At the same time, the architects again combine the global and the local, reflecting topics inspired by the local conceptual context. In this case, the building is “covered” by an Orenburg downy shawl – an analogy that is recognizable enough, yet not literal; some will see the reference and some won’t.

Object

The White Fitness Center

The white health and fitness center, designed by Futura Architects at the entrance to St. Petersburg’s New Piter residential complex, provides the developing area not only with functional but also with sculptural diversity, livening up the rows of the brick city blocks with the whiteness of its seamless facades, cantilevered structures, and dynamic inclined lines.

Contest Results

The New Dawn

In their project of a technology park to be built on the grounds of “Integrated Home-Building Factory 500” in Tyumen Oblast – the biggest in Russia – the HADAA architects preserve not just the industrial function of the giant hangar built in the late 1980s and 90% of its structures, but also respond to its imagery. They also propose a “gradient” approach to developing the available areas: from open public ones to staff-only professional spaces. The goal of this approach is to turn the technology park into the driver for developing the business function between the industrial zones and the future residential area in accordance with the Integrated Land Development program.

News

Tame Hills for New Residents

T+T Architects have reported that they have completed the landscaping project for the yard of the first stage of Alexandrovsky Garden housing complex in Ekaterinburg – the landscape complements the contextual architecture, tailored for the buyers’ preferences and downtown standards, with bold neo modernist master strokes and lush and diverse vegetation.

Object

The Crystal of the City Block

The typology and plastique of large housing complexes move with the times, and you can sometimes find new subtleties in the scope of seemingly familiar solutions. The Sky Garden complex combines two well-known themes, forming a giant residential area consisting of tall slender towers, placed at the perimeter of a large yard, in which a crossroads of two pedestrian promenades is “dissolved”.

Object

Sunshine, Air, and Water

The construction of the “Solnechny” (“Sunny”) summer camp, designed by ARENA project institute, has been completed, the largest summer camp within the legendary Artek seaside resort for children. It was conceived still in Soviet time, but it was not implemented. The modern version surprises you with sophisticated engineering solutions that are combined with a clear-cut structure: together, they generate Asher-esque spaces.

Object

Art Deco at the Edge of Space

The competition project by Stepan Liphart – a high-end residential complex executed in a reserved classicist style in close proximity to the Kaluga Space Museum – responds equally well to the context and to the client’s brief. It is moderately respectable, moderately mobile and transparent, and it even digs a little into the ground to comply with strict height restrictions, without losing proportions and scale.

Object

A Hill behind the Wall

The master plan of a new residential area in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, developed by the Genplan Institute of Moscow with the participation of Kengo Kuma & Associates, is based on the complexities and advantages of the relief of the foothills: the houses are arranged in cascades, and multi-level improvement penetrates all the blocks, continuing in forest trails.

Object

Going, Going, Gone!

The housing complex “Composers’ Residences” has been built in accordance with the project by Sergey Skuratov, who won the international competition back in 2011. It all began from the image search and “cutting off all spare”, and then implementing the recognizable Skuratov architecture. It all ended, however, in tearing down the buildings of the Schlichterman factory, whose conservation was stipulated by all the appropriate agencies prior to approving Skuratov’s project. This story seems to be educational and important for understanding the history of all the eleven years, during which the complex was designed and built.

Object

The Life of Iron

The building of the Vyksa Metallurgy Museum, designed by Nikita Yavein and Sergey Padalko, provides for the natural aging of metal – it is planned that the iron will gradually rust – at the same time utilizing the advanced type of construction, based on metal’s ability to stretch. The building will be constructed from pipes and rolled steel supplied by OMK company, as well as from recycled bricks.

Object

And the Brook is Flowing

ASADOV Architects have designed a master plan for developing a residential area at the outskirts of Kaliningrad: a regular grid of housing blocks is enriched by large-scale public facilities, the main “artery” of the new area being the fortification channel that regains its original function.

Object

Off We Go!

The new terminal of the Tomsk airport is being designed by ASADOV bureau. The architects keep on developing its identity, building the imagery upon the inventions of Nikolai Kamov, whose name the airport bears. The result is laconic, light, and, as always, levitating.

Object

Maximum Flexibility

The Multispace Dinamo, which recently opened within the Arena business center, is an example of a project that is entirely based upon cutting-edge approaches and technologies. It is managed via a mobile application, special software was created for it, and the spaces are not just multifunctional but carefully mixed up, like some kind of jigsaw puzzle that allows the office workers to mix their working routine for better efficiency.

Object

A Factory’s Path

Last week, the new center for constructivist studies “Zotov” hosted its first exhibition named “1922. Constructivism. The Inception”. The idea of creating this center belongs to Sergey Tchoban, while the project of the nearest houses and adjusting the building of the bread factory for the new museum function was done by the architect in collaboration with his colleagues from SPEECH. We decided that such a complex project should be examined in its entirety – and this is how we came up with this long-read about constructivism on Presnya, conservation, innovation, multilayered approach, and hope.

Object

The Savelovsky Axis

The business center, situated right in the middle of a large city junction next to the Savelovsky Railway Station takes on the role of a spatial axis, upon which the entire place hinges: it spins like a spiral, alternating perfect glass of the tiers and deep recessions of inter-tier floors that conceal little windows invented by the architects. It is sculptural, and it claims the role of a new city landmark, in spite of its relatively small height of nine floors.

Overview

Parametric Waves

In the housing complex Sydney City, which FSK Group is building in the area of Shelepikhinskaya Embankment, Genpro designed the central city block, combining parametric facades and modular technology within its architecture.

Object

The Multitone

The new interior of the Action Development headquarters can be regarded as an attempt to design the perfect “home” for the company – not just comfortable but broadcasting the values of modern development. It responds to the context, yet it is built on contrast, it is fresh but cozy, it is dynamic, yet it invites you to relax – everything of this coexists here quite harmoniously, probably because the architects found an appropriate place for each of the themes.

View

Refinement No Longer Relevant

A few days ago journalists were shown the building of Bread Factory #5, renovated upon the project by Sergey Tchoban. In this issue, we are publishing Grigory Revzin’s thoughts about this project.

Object

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.

Object

A Tectonic Shift

For several years now, Futura Architects have been working with the “New Peter” residential area in the south of St. Petersburg. In this article, we are covering their most recent project – a house, in which the architects’ architectural ideas peacefully coexist with the limitations of comfort-class housing, producing a “multilayered” effect that looks very attractive for this typology.

Report

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.

A School of Our Time

Anton Nadtochiy, ATRIUM