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.

Anton Nadtochiy, «ATRIUM»

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.

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Private school QUANTUM

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

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

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

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Private school QUANTUM

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

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

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Private school QUANTUM. Plan of the 1 floor

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
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Private school QUANTUM. Plan of the 2 floor

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
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Private school QUANTUM. Plan of the 3 floor

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
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Private school QUANTUM. Plan of the 4 floor

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

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Private school QUANTUM

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

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

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

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Private school QUANTUM

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

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

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

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

Copyright: Photograph © Evgeny Tkachenko / provided by ATRIUM Architects
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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

Object

The Colorful City

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Object

In Orbit of Moscow City

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The Altai Ornament

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Pro Forma

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The Arch and the Triangle

The new Stone Mnevniki business center by Kleinewelt Architekten – designed for the same client as their projects in Khodynka – bears certain similarities to those earlier developments, but not entirely. In Mnevniki, there are more angular elements, and the architects themselves describe the project as being built on contrast. Indeed, while the first phase contains subtle references to classical architecture – light touches like arches, both upright and inverted, evoking the spirit of the 1980s – the second phase draws more distantly on the modernism of the 1970s. What unites them is a boldly expressive public space design, a kaleidoscope of rays and triangles.

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Health Factory

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The Blooming Mechanics of a Glass Forest

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Grace and Unity

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Daring Brilliance

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A Twist of the Core

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The Sculpting of Spring Forest Matter

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Water and Wind Whet the Stone

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Elevation 5642

The Genplan Institute of Moscow has developed a comprehensive development project for three ski resorts in the Caucasus, which have been designated as special economic zones of the tourism and recreation type. The first of these zones is Elbrus. The project includes the construction of new ski runs, cable cars, and hotels, as well as the modernization of stations and improvements to the Azau tourist meadow. To expand the audience and enhance year-round appeal, a network of eco-trails is also being developed. In this article, we provide a detailed breakdown of each stage.

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The IT Town

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The Heart Lies Within

The second-phase building of the Evgeny Primakov School already won multiple awards while still in the design stage. Now that it’s completed, some unfinished nuances remain – most notably, the exposed ceiling structures, which ideally should have been concealed. However, given the priority placed on the building’s volumetric composition, this does not seem critical. What matters more is the “Wow!” effect created by the space itself.

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Magnetic Forces

“Krylatskaya 33” is the first large-scale residential complex to appear amidst the 1980s “micro-districts” that harmoniously coexist with the forests, the river, the slopes, and the sports infrastructure. Despite its imposing scale, the architects of Ostozhenka managed to turn the complex into something that can be best described as a “graceful dominant”. First, they designed the complex with consideration for the style and height of the surrounding micro-districts. Second, by introducing a pause in its tallest section, they created compositional tension – right along the urban planning axis of the area.

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Orion’s Belt

The Stone Khodynka 2 office complex, designed by Kleinewelt Architekten for the company Stone, is built with an ergonomic layout following “healthy building” principles: natural light, ventilation, and all the necessary features for an efficient office environment. On the outside, it resembles – like many contemporary buildings – an iPhone: sleek, glowing, glass-and-metal, edges elegantly rounded. Yet, it responds sensitively to the Khodynka context, where the main theme is the contrast between vertical and horizontal lines. The key intrigue lies in the design of the “stylobate” as a suspended passage, leaving the space beneath it open for free pedestrian movement.

Interview

Grigory Revzin: “It Was a Bold Statement Made on the Sly. Something Won”

In this article, we discuss the debates surrounding the circus competition and the demolition of the CMEA building with the most renowned architectural critic of our time. A paradox emerges in the process: while nostalgia for the Brezhnev era seems to be in vogue in Russia, a landmark building – the “axis” of the Warsaw Pact – has been sentenced to demolition. Isn’t that strange? We also find out that wow-architecture has made a comeback as a post-COVID trend. However, to make a truly powerful statement, professionals still remain indispensable.

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Exposed Concrete

One of the stages of improving a small square in the town of Lermontov was the construction of a skatepark. Entrusting this part of the project to the XSA team, the city gained a 250-meter trick track whose features resemble those of land art objects – unparalleled in Russia in both scale and design. Here’s a look at how the experimental snake run in the foothills of the Caucasus was built.

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One Step Closer To the Dream

The challenges of getting all the mandatory approvals, an insufficient budget, and construction site difficulties did not prevent ASADOV Bureau from achieving its main goal in the realization of the school project in the town of Troitsk – taking another step away from outdated notions of educational spaces toward creating a fundamentally new academic environment.

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Chalet on the Rock

An Accor hotel in Arkhyz, designed by A.Len, will be situated at the gateway to the resort’s main tourist hubs. The architects reinterpreted the widely popular chalet style while adding an unexpected twist – an unfinished structure preserved on the site. The design team transformed this remnant into an exciting space featuring an open-air pool and a restaurant with panoramic views of the region’s highest mountain ridges.

Interview

Sergey Skuratov: “By and large, the project has been realized in line with the original ideas”

In this issue, we talk to the chief architect of Garden Quarters, looking back at the history and key moments of a project that took 18 years to develop and has now finally been completed. What interests us most are the transformations that the project underwent during construction, and the way the “necessary void” of public space was formed, which turned this remarkable complex into a fragment of a whole new type of urban fabric – not just at the horizontal “street” level but in its vertical structure as well.

Object

A Unique Representative

The recently concluded year 2024 can be considered the year of completion for the “Garden Quarters” residential complex in Moscow’s Khamovniki. This project is well-known and, in many ways, iconic. Rarely does one manage to preserve such a number of original ideas, achieving in the end a kind of urban planning Gesamtkunstwerk. Here is a subjective view from an architecture journalist, with an interview with Sergey Skuratov soon to follow.

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Field of Life

The new project by the architectural company PNKB (an acronym for “Design, Research, and Advisory Bureau”), led by Sergey Gnedovsky and Anton Lyubimkin, for the Kulikovo Field Museum is dedicated to the field as a concept in its own right. The field has long been a focus of the museum’s thorough and successful research. Accordingly, the exterior of the new museum building is gentler than that of its predecessor, which was also designed by PNKB and dedicated specifically to the historic battle. Inside, however, the building confidently guides the visitor from a luminous atrium along a spiral path to the field – interpreted here as a field of life.

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A Paper Clip above the River

In this article, we talk with Vitaly Lutz from the Genplan Institute of Moscow about the design and unique features of the pedestrian bridge that now links the two banks of the Yauza River in the new cluster of Bauman Moscow State Technical University (MSTU). The bridge’s form and functionality – particularly the inclusion of an amphitheater suspended over the river – were conceived during the planning phase of the territory’s development. Typically, this approach is not standard practice, but the architects advocate for it, referring to this intermediate project phase as the “pre-AGR” stage (AGR stands for Architectural and Urban Planning Approval). Such a practice, they argue, helps define key parameters of future projects and bridge the gap between urban planning and architectural design.

Review

Living in the Architecture of One’s Own Making

Do architects design houses for themselves? You bet! In this article, we are examining a new book by TATLIN publishing house. This book – unprecedented for Russia – features 52 private homes designed and built by contemporary architects for themselves. It includes houses that are famous, even iconic, as well as lesser-known ones; large and small, stylish and eccentric. To some extent, the book reflects the history of Russian architecture over the past 30 years.

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A City Block Isoline

Another competition project for a residential complex on the banks of the Volga in Nizhny Novgorod has been prepared by Studio 44. A team of architects led by Ivan Kozhin concluded that using a regular block layout in such a location would be inappropriate and developed a “custom design” approach: a chain of parceled multi-section buildings stretching along the entire embankment. Let’s explore the features and advantages of this unconventional method.

Report

Competition: The Price of Creativity?

Any day now, we’re expecting the results of a competition held by the “Samolet” development group for a plot in Kommunarka. In the meantime, we share the impressions of Editor-in-Chief Julia Tarabarina, who managed to conduct a public talk. Though technically focused on the interaction between developers and architects, the public talk turned into a discussion about the pros and cons of architectural competitions.

Object

Terraced Design

The “River Park” residential complex has confidently and securely shaped the Nagatinsky Backwater shoreline. Featuring a public embankment, elevated courtyards connected by pedestrian bridges, and brick façades, the development invites exploration of its nuanced response to the surrounding context, as well as hints of the architects’ megalithic design thinking.

A Kremlin’s Core and Meteorite Fragments

We continue our coverage of the competition projects for the residential district that the development company GloraX plans to build along the embankment of the Rowing Channel in Nizhny Novgorod. ASADOV Architects approached the concept through a deep dive into local identity, using storytelling to pinpoint a central idea for the design: the master plan and composition are imagined as if a meteorite had struck a “proto-Kremlin”. Sounds weird? Find more details below!