Julius Borisov: “The “Island” housing complex is a unique project – we took it on with interest and excitement”

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.

Interviewed by:
Julia Tarabarina
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

12 May 2023

Interview

The residential complex “Ostrov” in Mnevnikovskaya Floodplain is a giant project of Donstroy Invest company. However, the floodplain itself is even bigger – the future residential complex does not occupy it entirely, but is located in the middle part of the drop-shaped territory surrounded by a bend of the Moskva River. There are overgrown green areas on the sides, future parks and several construction sites. The “Island” is adjacent to the river in the northern part, where two blocks, 1 and 4, are located near the water; to the west of the territory several sports facilities have either already been built or are under construction, including the Tatiana Navka Ice Palace, a building with an artificial wave and an outdoor stadium. In the northeastern part of the floodplain, near the Mnevniki subway station, plans for the Parliamentary Center, which has been talked about since 2015, seem to still be lukewarm; but little is known.

The residential complex, however, is not just famous – it is developing very rapidly around another new metro station, Terekhovo. Construction and design are underway here. The area of the territory of the complex is 36.6 hectares, the total area of everything that is planned to be built is about 1.5 million square meters, which is a lot – in fact, it is the size of a whole city. The location of the complex is positioned like this: the developer doesn’t hide the closed nature of the territory and considers it an advantage – an “island” separated from the city (even though it is a peninsula, of course) surrounded by the river and greenery. Everyone has probably seen the ad displaying the water “bagel”; we'll come back to it later. Another repeatedly marketed feature of the project is the attention to modern technology and energy efficiency – there are planned drone stations, G5 Internet and other technical innovations.

zooming — Ostrov housing complex

Copyright: © UNK

In 2020, the British company LDA+ proposed a master plan for the development of the area (we will remind you at this point that in 2015 they also worked with the original plan of “Serp i Molot”). Then, however, the economic performance indicators of the future residential complex grew significantly, and the master plan was no longer relevant. The development of the area began with two blocks: number 1 in the northwestern part near the river (it was designed by APEX) and number 2 in the center (authored by Gorproekt and Filip Nikandrov). Then, around the end of 2021, Julius Borisov’s UNK was invited to comprehend the area as a whole and to design the next five blocks. The task was a large-scale one, and they had only nine months to complete it.

At first, the project was developing in secrecy, with only individual pictures “leaking out” through the mailing lists of industry agencies. Now we can talk about it relatively freely, sales are open, presentations have been made. Since the project is very big and UNK worked not only on the architecture of the districts, but also proposed the entire public landscape and the concept of evening lighting – we decided to talk about it in a mixed format. We will start with an interview with Julius Borisov and talk about the individual projects, one of which covers the landscape solutions and the other one the whole complex lighting – they were developed by UNK Landscape and UNK Lighting respectively; we also plan to cover some of the city blocks individually.

Archi.ru
What was the hardest part?

Julius Borisov, UNK:
The hardest part was the rate of our work, which required self-organization skills we never thought we possessed. Another difficulty was the gigantic scale – this is a city area the size of an average European city. In a word, this was a unique task, and we love any unconventional tasks, so we took it on with interest and even with excitement.

In addition, I have to say that I’m a fan of the Khamovniki and Luzhniki districts. I live there, I grew up there, I worked on the Aquatics and Martial Arts Center... It seems to me that the Khamovniki floodplain is similar in many ways to the place that we worked with, of course, with the significant difference that it is not built up yet. It is a bend of the Moskva River, from here there is a splendid view of the other side, one bank is flat, the other is steep. I studied the development history of Khamovniki, there are a lot of interesting coincidences. On the other hand, Mnevniki is a natural area – there are not many of them left in Moscow. It required a very careful approach, and that is also a unique task.

What is the main idea of your project?

Our main message is that we left nothing to chance, no part of our project is accidental. Our other message is partially opposite to the main one: you cannot come down to standardization and standardized solutions. We tried to balance on the verge between variations and a common design code – we did not look to create a semblance of a historical city, which has developed consistently and for a long time, we do very well realize that in our case this is not practicable – but we did want to avoid monotony and create a recognizable “face” of this area.

The idea to invite other architectural companies to work on the project – was it yours or was it your client’s? Who selected coauthors? Did you get along well?

The idea was ours, and the client supported it. I think this is the right approach globally, we are in line with the right trends, and we know a lot of such joint projects. I chose the partners; we have known each other for a long time; besides, we proceeded from the current availability of our colleagues. I must say that because we had to work very quickly and also because we all know each other well, the interaction was not particularly formalized; we worked as a team and there was not much difference between “external” and “internal”.

Ultimately, however, it was us who was responsible for the end result; we defined the main parameters, the massing, the general principles, and interacted closely and constantly. There were, of course, improvisations, but my “dictatorship” was quite rigid.

What other means did you use to achieve diversity, and how did you implement common features?

One thing that was helpful was the diversity of typology; each block had its own parameters in terms of height and density. For example, Block 3 is a high-end residential development: it is low-rise and it has a higher class of housing.

Here, in response to a request from potential customers and our client, we chose the theme of a conditional “Versailles in a modern London version”: the house is symmetrical, its facades are distinguished by a great deal of complexity, although without direct stylization, it has an attic floor with terraces, it combines fiber concrete of limestone color with cladding of copper shade – it is not a powder coating, we went through about 80 samples, and we selected the shade and texture so that the surface resembles natural copper and was durable; I purposefully flew to London, and looked at the Foster building…

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"Ostrov« (»Island") housing complex. Block #3

Copyright: © UNK
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"Ostrov« (»Island") housing complex. Block #3

Copyright: © UNK
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"Ostrov« (»Island") housing complex. Block #3

Copyright: © UNK
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"Ostrov« (»Island") housing complex. Block #3

Copyright: © UNK
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"Ostrov« (»Island") housing complex. Block #3

Copyright: © UNK
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"Ostrov« (»Island") housing complex. Block #3

Copyright: © UNK

The house allowed us to diversify the palette of the complex as a whole, it served as a kind of starting point. In all the other neighborhoods, both relatively reserved and futuristic, we used light beige, white, black and copper tones throughout. We wanted a kind of “musical theme” within which each block develops a story of its own.

For example, Block 6, which is located near Block 3, yet is closer to the city center and the metro station, is very dense, and the housing in it is less expensive than in the neighboring high-end house; you could say that this is designed for young people and young families. In addition, it has a kindergarten in it. We decided to develop the “gameplay” theme – this is how these large cutaways appeared, very much in the spirit of LEGO or Minecraft. These cutaways are situated on the “sight beams”, and they help to reveal a few beautiful views. The silhouette becomes more sophisticated, this helps to avoid excessive simplicity and the “crate” effect. I don’t like crates – a building must have a recognizable image.

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"Ostrov« (»Island") housing complex. Block #6

Copyright: © UNK
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"Ostrov« (»Island") housing complex. Block #6

Copyright: © UNK
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"Ostrov« (»Island") housing complex. Block #6. The facades of Building 1 in axes 1.1-1.9, 1.9-1.1, 1.А-1.Г, 1.Г-1.А

Copyright: © UNK
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"Ostrov« (»Island") housing complex. Block #6. The facades of Building 1 in axes 2.1-2.8, 2.8-2.1, 2.Г-2.А, 2.А-2.Г

Copyright: © UNK
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"Ostrov« (»Island") housing complex. Block #6. The facades of Building 1 in axes 3.1-3.9, 3.9-3.1, 3.Д-3.А, 3.А-3.Д

Copyright: © UNK
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"Ostrov« (»Island") housing complex. Block #6. The facades of Building 1 in axes 4.1-4.20, 4.20-4.1

Copyright: © UNK
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"Ostrov« (»Island") housing complex. Block #6

Copyright: © UNK
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"Ostrov« (»Island") housing complex. Block #6

Copyright: © UNK

However, the neighboring quarters, the third and sixth, were very different, and I had to tie them together somehow... Then I drew the tallest tower of the sixth quarter myself. Its scale and considerable height “belong” to the sixth quarter, and the detailing of the openwork copper facade, as well as the “crown” in the upper part, line up with the high-end club house I mentioned earlier, its elaboration and its attic. For some, it evokes classical associations, for others oriental ones.

Another task was to coordinate the pattern of the openwork copper lattice with the grid of windows – it took some effort, but we did it. And on the opposite side we also managed to build an ensemble, which is not often the case in modern urban development.

How exactly did you achieve that?

According to the brief, the sixth block, which was designed by ASADOV architects, was to have a shopping mall in it. We searched for a solution for quite a long time, but we couldn’t find the right place for it. Help came from Alexander Asadov – he suggested that we rotate the shopping mall, placing it not parallel but perpendicular to the boulevard. Once we did that, everything fell into place: the rectangle of the mall occupied the space between the two central blocks, the sixth and fifth, and we put three towers at the ends of the two sites, facing each other. The result was a three-dimensional coherence, a choreographed urban planning solution, a real center, high-density and symmetrical, next to the subway station.

In addition, a very important role in integrating the space of the entire complex was played by the project lighting, the design code which we developed for the entire complex, and the landscape of the public areas – both projects were handled by companies belonging to the system of UNK, UNK Lighting and UNK Landscape.

Speaking about the landscape – is the central boulevard also a part of the housing complex? Why is it so straight?

It is so straight because a subway line runs directly underneath it, and, as you may expect, this land is municipal – there are lots of boundaries there; the land that is closer to the buildings belongs to the complex, but the boulevard is municipal. But we did our best to visually smooth out the borders and make the boulevard an organic part of the complex. And we paid maximum attention to the part of the city that is perceived directly by a person, a pedestrian. We have a lot of galleries in the shopping streets, we have implemented a “dry feet” approach, which allows you to move within a block without getting your shoes wet. It should be easy and pleasant to walk in the city.

However, the landscaping and lighting projects will best be described and explained by their authors, the leaders of the divisions.

Is the Island housing complex your largest project so far?

If you consider it as a single whole, then it is, especially if you speak about the project stage. We also have large-scale projects in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk; they have large areas, but the sum of square meters in Ostrov is larger.

12 May 2023

Headlines now

The Forum of Time

The competition project for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025 in Osaka designed by Aleksey Orlov and Arena Project Institute consists of cones and conical funnels connected into a non-trivial composition, where one can feel the hand of architects who have worked extensively with stadiums and other sports facilities. It’s very interesting to delve into its logic, structurally built on the theme of clocks, hourglasses and even sundials. Additionally, the architects have turned the exhibition pavilion into a series of interconnected amphitheaters, which is also highly relevant for world exhibitions. We are reminding you that the competition results were never announced.

Mirrors Everywhere

The project by Sergey Nebotov, Anastasia Gritskova, and the architectural company “Novoe” was created for the Russian pavilion at EXPO 2025, but within the framework of another competition, which, as we learned, took place even earlier, in 2021. At that time, the competition theme was “digital twins”, and there was minimal time for work, so the project, according to the architect himself, was more of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, this project is interesting for its plan bordering on similarity with Baroque projects and the emblem of the exhibition, as well as its diverse and comprehensive reflectiveness.

Report

The Steppe Is Full of Beauty and Freedom

The goal of the exhibition “Dikoe Pole” (“Wild Field”) at the State Historical Museum was to move away from the archaeological listing of valuable items and to create an image of the steppe and nomads that was multidirectional and emotional – in other words, artistic. To achieve this goal, it was important to include works of contemporary art. One such work is the scenography of the exhibition space developed by CHART studio.

The Snowstorm Fish

The next project from the unfinished competition for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025, which will be held in Osaka, Japan, is by Dashi Namdakov and Parsec Architects. The pavilion describes itself as an “architectural/sculptural” one, with its shape clearly reminiscent of abstract sculpture of the 1970s. It complements its program with a meditative hall named “Mendeleev’s Dreams”, and offers its visitors to slide from its roof at the end of the tour.

The Mirror of Your Soul

We continue to publish projects from the competition for the design of the Russian Pavilion at EXPO in Osaka 2025. We are reminding you that the results of the competition have not been announced, and hardly will ever be. The pavilion designed by ASADOV Architects combines a forest log cabin, the image of a hyper transition, and sculptures made of glowing threads – it focuses primarily on the scenography of the exhibition, which the pavilion builds sequentially like a string of impressions, dedicating it to the paradoxes of the Russian soul.

Part of the Ideal

In 2025, another World Expo will take place in Osaka, Japan, in which Russia will not participate. However, a competition for the Russian pavilion was indeed held, with six projects participating. The results were never announced as Russia’s participation was canceled; the competition has no winners. Nevertheless, Expo pavilion projects are typically designed for a bold and interesting architectural statement, so we’ve gathered all the six projects and will be publishing articles about them in random order. The first one is the project by Vladimir Plotkin and Reserve Union, which is distinguished by the clarity of its stereometric shape, the boldness of its structure, and the multiplicity of possible interpretations.

Object

The Fortress by the River

ASADOV Architects have developed a concept for a new residential district in the center of Kemerovo. To combat the harsh climate and monotonous everyday life, the architects proposed a block type of development with dominant towers, good insolation, facades detailed at eye level, and event programming.

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In the Rhombus Grid

Construction has begun on the building of the OMK (United Metallurgical Company) Corporate University in Nizhny Novgorod’s town of Vyksa, designed by Ostozhenka Architects. The most interesting aspect of the project is how the architects immersed it in the context: “extracting” a diagonal motif from the planning grid of Vyksa, they aligned the building, the square, and the park to match it. A truly masterful work with urban planning context on several different levels of perception has long since become the signature technique of Ostozhenka.

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Generational Connection

Another modern estate, designed by Roman Leonidov, is located in the Moscow region and brings together three generations of one family under one roof. To fit on a narrow plot without depriving anyone of personal space, the architects opted for a zigzag plan. The main volume in the house structure is accentuated by mezzanines with a reverse-sloped roof and ceilings featuring exposed beams.

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Three Dimensions of the City

We began to delve into the project by Sergey Skuratov, the residential complex “Depo” in Minsk, located at Victory Square, and it fascinated us completely. The project has at least several dimensions to it: historical – at some point, the developer decided to discontinue further collaboration with Sergey Skuratov Architects, but the concept was approved, and its implementation continues, mostly in accordance with the proposed ideas. The spatial and urban planning dimension – the architects both argue with the city and play along with it, deciphering nuances, and finding axes. And, finally, the tactile dimension – the constructed buildings also have their own intriguing features. Thus, this article also has two parts: it dwells on what has been built and what was conceived

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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.

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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”.

Overview

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”.

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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.

send.project

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.

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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.

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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.

Object

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.

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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.

Object

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.

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Rays of the Desert

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Object

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.

Object

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.