The Other Way Around

And yet you incessantly stand on your head —
Do you think, at your age, it is right?
Alice in Wonderland

I would like to start with the fact that this year Malevich’s architectons are ostensibly celebrating their 100th anniversary, but dating is a delicate thing – within a minute of quick Google search we managed to find 1923 as the date of appearance of his first architecton “Alpha”, then 1920 popped up, and then 1925 was named as the year when Malevich’s architectons became widely popular. There is also an opinion that Malevich began to make architectons even earlier, but invented the word for them only in 1923. That is, we do not know for a fact that we have an anniversary now, but the search itself makes us remember that we live in the period of the century of avant-garde works in general. What does it mean? Yes, it’s time to reinvent ourselves and shake things up. At any rate, the 100th anniversary of the freshest and boldest artistic movement of the past century should be neither excessively pompous nor embarrassingly dusty.

The word “architecton” has yet another meaning, by the way: it is how Pietro Antonio Solari, who built the towers of the Moscow Kremlin when St. Petersburg did not even exist, was called in the chronicles of the late 15th century – essentially, this term meant “architect”. Only Daedalus is more ancient, but he is really hard to compete with. If we mix all these meanings into one, we will get: Russian avant-garde, plus something ancient, plus an Italian architect, and some kind of global Renaissance spirit. Confused? Yes, it’s a lot of things, and it’s hard to live up to all of them at once.

Maybe because of that, or maybe for some other reason, St. Petersburg’s festival “Architecton”, which was founded back in 2001 by the Union of Architects, kept a low profile for a long time, existing rather as a humble professional award, in the form of arrays of sketch boards and professional diplomas. Then there was a couple of years’ hiatus in its existence.

This year, Architecton announced a “reboot”, brought in a new team and settled for five days in the Manege Central Exhibition Hall, one of St. Petersburg’s main exhibition venues, relatively recently renovated – it is known for attracting trendy exhibitions, including those of contemporary art.

zooming — Architecton 2023 festival, St. Petersburg

Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, Archi.ru

The Architecton festival has been relaunched bigtime, i.e. instead of a couple of rows of sketch boards, it has turned into a very atmospheric exhibition, the main role in which is given to art objects made by young architects and emerging architectural studios, as well as to the interior designed by Sergey Padalko, who is well known as a master of exposition design – among other things, he worked on the Studio 44 exhibition in the Joint Staff building.

Both of these two circumstances helped to design the whole exhibition in “big strokes”, a la prima, and to relieve the tension from the excess of information, which usually imbues professional shows. Such an exposition makes you want to interpret it, and we, as always, will not deny ourselves this pleasure.

At the entrance, we are greeted by the main auditorium, where chairs are placed between tubs of pear trees – after the exhibition, it is planned to build a boulevard next to the building of the Union, and maybe even to present some of the trees to the winners of the competition. One of the things that immediately come to mind are the linden trees in one of the halls of the Hermitage exhibition by “Studio 44”.

Not to forget: all the volunteers working at the exhibition were dressed up in orange “convict” overalls.

As you walk further, the Manege space becomes two-tiered, and the first floor has three aisles in it. It was dark in the central aisle, where sixteen identical black boxes with perspective sockets were installed – and sixteen videos from St. Petersburg’s top architectural companies were played there. We will stress again that all the boxes are exactly the same, the names are signed under your feet and they are almost invisible, so solely by watching the video you can understand who is in front of you. The most successful ones perform in an even line. There were rumors that of those architects who could afford to participate in the exhibition with a personal stand, only Evgeny Gerasimov studio was not showcased here.

The two side aisles were much brighter; in them, the works of the contestants, finalists and winners were projected on the wall: the first ones were shown in a small volume and sort of in a fast-forward tempo, while the grand prize video occupied almost the whole wall. It was really large – noticeably larger than the maestros’ in the boxes. And by the way, you had to stand in front of the boxes, but you could sit in front of the prize ribbon.

There’s an unexpected humility of the maestros in all of this. They can afford it. Or it could go like this: we often show the “top league” large and first, while the participants of the show are shown rather as a mass – which also has a meaningful connotation. The new Architecton has turned everything upside down – however, it should be said that this seems to be the main message and the main task of its organizers: to do everything the other way around, not the way it’s supposed to be done.

So! The new Architecton turned everything upside down: it highlighted the “minors” and it placed the majors in the shadows, arranging them in a kind of military array. At the same time, there is another interesting point to consider: the works of maestros, both mid-market and bright and interesting, all of them, all this activity of successful architectural companies, showcased at the exhibition, looks like a substrate, a certain cultural and economic base – but at the same time also a central axis, a spine, or even a tree trunk – on which the prize winners “grow up” – a very metaphorical thing.

The only annoying thing here is that the pictures of video presentations keep flying away and being replaced by others. Not that they change very quickly, but they fly away at the most inconvenient moment, and you have to wait for them to reappear. What’s worse, I’ve got no constructive suggestions on how to solve this problem of video projections, because even if we program the possibility of its control by the visitors of the exhibition, different people will want to change the picture at different times. However, it is absolutely correct that the projection should occupy the entire wall.

We will also cover the subject of the award very early on. Here, too, everything is very different. In the past, many diplomas were awarded at this exhibition – now their number is limited to four: for the construction and design of a public function and housing. The organizers used to be the judging panel as well – now they invited Moscow architects (and a few of us, writers/publishers) to be on the jury. The awards were given not on the last day of the festival, but at the very beginning, even before the grand opening, which I think was a very good idea, since during all the five days of the exhibition you could examine a large volume of projects pronounced by the jury to be the best.

We have already told you about one of the winning projects; we will cover others separately; here we will only list them, and it must be said that the editorial staff’s choice coincided with the judging panel’s choice – we liked the winning projects, which is definitely a plus. However, the rumor has it that some of St. Petersburg architects, on the contrary, were surprised by this choice. And once again, everything here is the other way around.

Public building: Igora. “Vremena Goda” (“The Four Seasons”) by RHIZOME
Public project – Museum complex in the town of Vyksa by Studio 44
Residential construction – Villa Peterhof by Golovin & Shreter Architectural Studio
Residential project – WarmStone Residential Complex by MAYAK architects.

On the balcony of the second floor, the volumetric boxes housed St. Petersburg’s architectural schools, and at least two of them chose to offer an interactive experience: in the space of the Higher School of Economics, they were constantly conducting and filming some kind of interviews or master classes under the spotlights, while across from it, the Academy was doing a tinting job, inviting the visitors to participate. They say that no one can do the tinting as brilliantly as they do in the Academy, and most of the students don’t even learn this skill nowadays, but the other surprising thing is that tinting can also be used to make an interactive session – the classical approach is more alive than anything else. That’s how they worked, opposite each other – a technology-based interactive session and the one with tradition.

However, as was already said, the main emotional content – which is the key part of any exposition, as it is the basis for communication with the visitor – were the art objects and the design of the exhibition space.

On the second floor, Sergey Padalko designed the double-height space as a colonnade, echoing the external periptera of Quarenghi, but with black lamellae referring, of course, rather to Malevich. However, for a Muscovite, the passage to the hall of the curators’ projects between the thin lamellae will sooner remind of a similar structure on the second floor of the Central House of Artists, where Arch Moscow was held for a long time.

In the curatorial hall, there were metal grids – another favorite technique of Sergey Padalko’s, also used by him at the exhibition in the Joined Staff building, only there they had been light aluminum, and here they were rusted, because they belonged to the curatorial project of Vladimir Frolov’s named “Ruina” – but then again, it turned out that the grids “covered” the entire hall, and we bump into them everywhere.

I feel like criticizing a bit here. Both metal grids and trees are effective and productive techniques, but they are all too recognizable. For the people of St. Petersburg they have probably become commonplace, and a Muscovite’s eye immediately recognizes the similarity with the Studio 44 exhibition in the Joint Staff building, and starts regarding this exhibition as a continuation of that one. Well, the metal has rusted a little because it’s been three years now. Although, of course, it is impossible to say that the techniques are literally repeated – but we so rarely put trees in the exhibition hall that it is not difficult to guess the tune.

But then again, the grids are a great help in organizing the space, as they delineate it along three axes, allowing you to feel three-dimensionality, yet they also noticeably “freeze” the space, as in the movies, when the frame of the flow of time is stopped. This is captured and emphasized here: broken bricks were placed in the grids, thus making them “freeze” in space. In short, the grids were perceived as a kind of spatial clots, or condensations – a rather curious effect, after all.

On the grids, Vladimir Frolov hung sheets from a series of prints by Pavel Shillingovsky, “Petersburg. Ruins and Revival” – this extremely curious publication combines the stylistics and passéisme of the “World of Art” with documentation of the revolutionary destruction of the capital of the empire. This year’s edition turns 100 years old – yet another anniversary. The curator calls the engravings the starting point of the “Ruina” project.

The main part of Ruin is “meditation” objects. They are essentially subdivided into two parts: some of them melt before your eyes, visualizing the beauty of decay and random forms that emerge – a paraffin bar by APRELarchitects, which grows its own “roots” of sweat, exposing the framework; the icy Kirov DK by TOBE; the red cube of Vitruvius, from which sand is falling, and even the “Kit Box” by Chorus Architects, in which melting was not originally designed, but still took place through the efforts of visitors who plucked pieces from the contents of the boxes. Even the pillar of salt, an homage to Lot’s wife, among the objects outside, can be categorized as melting.

Architecton 2023 festival, St. Petersburg

Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, Archi.ru
Architecton 2023 festival, St. Petersburg

Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, Archi.ru

There are also steady objects, arrested in various positions. It’s the graphics by Stepan Liphart engaged in a dialog with Cameron, the granite facade by KATARSIS, and Ivan Kozhin’s periscope that shows a ruined St. Petersburg, generated by neural networks.

In the middle of the hall, the “hovering” perspective views of the ruins were countered by a round cylindrical volume of the exhibition-within-exhibition named “The Leningrad School” by curator Andrey Larionov, dedicated to the period of modernism. Several turns of incremental “shells” featured mixed stories about individual masters, some of whom are alive and working, as well as about the city’s key buildings and trends. Graphics prevailed, surprisingly varied in style, mostly copies, but having the original to look at is not really important in such cases; photographs complemented the tape, bringing the viewers back to reality, and black-and-white videos took viewers back to the realm of dreams. The texts written by Larionov were a pleasant surprise: succinct and precise.

Inside the “shells” of the Modernism exhibition was the “Architect’s Study” – this is how the organizers gradually moved from the past (The Ruin and Modernism) to the present. However, the study at the same time contains many things from the past, but rather things that are commonly used to decorate the offices of architectural companies nowadays. Among them are Nikita Yavein’s school handicrafts and Ivan Fomin’s easel. The items were collected from 30 architectural companies, and a couple of people at the exhibition were engaged in compiling a card catalog for them.

The final chord of the 2nd floor was the future: the project “Open Code City”, curated by SA lab and Gonzo:Research&Art, metaverse architect Alina Chereyskaya and anthropologist Ksenia Diodorova. QR codes with different stories, one way or another related to urban space and its possible transformations – 17 in total – alternated with pictures drawn by a neural network and formed a puzzle: visitors were offered to connect a picture to the story, but there were no possible wrong answers – it was a pure amusement ride of co-creation.

The exhibition of projects by young architects on the square in front of the Manezh, which opened in advance and will end later, was not so much a supplement as a precursor to the second-floor projects. These were sponsored by Gazprom as part of its ongoing project, and the exhibition is called “Magistrali” (“The Highways”) but each project is architectonic in its own way, from the tallest orange tower to the salt pillar, and in between there are several traditionally wooden ones, including a wooden stove, a tent with a horse skull, black “columns”, mirrored metal, and an object covered with photo flash protecting film.

What it ended up being was a great selfie point, and an improvised playground as well. Even though “No Climbing” signs were posted all over the place, the children were nevertheless actively interacting with many of the objects. What can I suggest to the organizers? Making the architectons even stronger next time than they were now. But then again, it seemed to me that they could handle the anthropogenic load fairly well as it is.

***

Summing up! The professional exhibition has stepped into the city and became “closer to the people” – there were ads all over the city, and at Architecton itself we met citizens who asked questions – how can we find architects here? We want to talk to them! What about, they did not disclose, but we tried to help them. More than half of the exhibition was designed not only for professionals, meticulously examining each other’s works, but for the general public – in this sense, the stories of Alina Chereyskaya, the modernist graphics, which are clear as a drawing exhibition, the things in the “Architect’s Study”, the candle with the periscope in Ruin, and, of course, the exhibition design itself, which turned the passage through the Manege into an adventure (especially the black corridor with the maestros) – all work pretty well. Visitors were shown not so much that architects are people too, but that they are artists too, and that they have something to show people, in addition to what can be seen built on the streets and on the horizon – this is what is perhaps important for changing the popular view of the architect’s profession; that he is not some kind of villain who designs and builds high-rises. Or, at least, not only that.

Curiously enough, there were no stands of building material manufacturers, which we are used to seeing at Arch Moscow, and no stands of city administrations, which are inevitable at Moscow’s Zodchestvo. It was probably easier for Architecton, whose location in the Manege provokes comparisons with Moscow exhibitions, but whose scale is noticeably smaller, to “cut off” these inevitable parts for all-Russian festivals. And to fill them with art – to turn everything upside down, to put young people and objects in the front, and to “hide” the experienced with their professional successes in the middle – however, providing access to them inter pares.

Generally speaking, this is certainly not the first attempt to “reboot” architectural exhibitions in general and in St. Petersburg in particular. The history of Moscow’s Zodchestvo, the main festival of the Union of Architects, seems to consist entirely of these kinds of attempts – from Yuri Avvakumov’s design, when he placed all the same motley material, but “only from the side”, to Eduard Kubensky’s ships featured three years ago. In 2019, Vladimir Frolov curated at Sevkabel a quite European, though not entirely sketch board-free, WAD (“World of Architecture and Design”) exhibition with onions and rivers flowing in test tubes, featuring the French AJAP Prize and the Dutch-Russian MLA+. And finally, last year’s OAM exhibition was also an attempt at such a reboot, but there the organizers went the way of upgrading sketch boards to light-boxes and developing a parallel cultural program, workshops, film screenings and lectures. At the time, we speculated that the transformation of the OAM Architecture Biennale was partly caused by the split that occurred among St. Petersburg’s leading architects. Now we see another exhibition that has been updated in a very noticeable way, so one wonders whether it is not to the benefit of various kinds of internal discussions that are not much covered in the press – after all, we are in the city that once was the “cradle of the revolution”, maybe all this will be a driver for updating the format of architectural festivals, useful, among other things, for Moscow, which is also not very dynamic in its development. What was shown in the Manege does not look like an exhibition of the Union of Architects, it looks more like – and here I will agree with Elena Petukhova’s remark, voiced at our discussion before the opening of Architecton – a piece of the Venice Biennale but without laying too much stress on social agenda that is there now, and, predictably, without international participation. At least, we resisted the temptation to invite Chinese comrades, which so acutely affected the Moscow Urban Forum.

On the other hand, it cannot be said that the exhibition gives us a representative cross-section of the contemporary agenda of St. Petersburg’s architectural context, but rather a hint of it. Coming out of it, it was impossible to say that now I knew very well what was going on in the “architectural circles of the northern capital” – not at all. Or perhaps I didn’t look hard enough. So far, improvisation and artistic expression are leading the way, which is intended to “push” the participants and the audience to something, rather than to “report”. Maybe it’s for the best, we’ve had enough of reporting and re-election. But I wonder how things will develop further. Architecton will be held like the Biennale, once every two years.

18 September 2023

Written by:
Julia Tarabarina, Alyona Kuznetsova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

Written by:
Julia Tarabarina, Alyona Kuznetsova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

Headlines now

Faraday Grid

The project of the Omsk airport by ASADOV Architects is another concept among the 14 finalists of a recent competition. It is called “The Bridge” and is inspired by both the West Siberian Exhibition of 1911 and the Trans-Siberian Railway bridge over the Irtysh River, built in 1896. On one hand, it carries a steampunk vibe, while on the other, there’s almost a sense of nostalgia for the heyday of 1913. However, the concept offers two variants, the second one devoid of nostalgia but featuring a parabola.

Review

Midway upon the Journey of Our Life

Recently, Tatlin Publishing House released a book entitled “Architect Sergey Oreshkin. Selected Projects”. This book is not just a traditional book of the architectural company’s achievements, but rather a monograph of a more personal nature. The book includes 43 buildings as well as a section with architectural drawings. In this article, we reflect on the book as a way to take stock of an architect’s accomplishments.

Inverted Fortress

This year, there has been no shortage of intriguing architectural ideas around the Omsk airport. The project developed by the architectural company KPLN appeals to Omsk’s history as a wooden fortress that it was back in the day, but transforms the concept of a fortress beyond recognition: it “shaves off” the conical ends of “wooden logs”, then enlarges them, and then flips them over. The result is a hypostyle – a forest of conical columns on point supports, with skylights on top.

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Transformation of Annenkirche

For Annenkirche (St. Anna Lutheran Church in St. Petersburg), Sergey Kuznetsov and the Kamen bureau have prepared a project that relies on the principles of the Venice Charter: the building is not restored to a specific date, historical layers are preserved, and modern elements do not mimic the authentic ones. Let’s delve into the details of these solutions.

The Paradox of the Temporary

The concept of the Russian pavilion for EXPO 2025 in Osaka, proposed by the Wowhaus architects, is the last of the six projects we gathered from the 2022 competition. It is again worth noting that the results of this competition were not finalized due to the cancellation of Russia’s participation in World Expo 2025. It should be mentioned that Wowhaus created three versions for this competition, but only one is being presented, and it can’t be said that this version is thoroughly developed – rather, it is done in the spirit of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, the project is interesting in its paradoxical nature: the architects emphasized the temporary character of the pavilion, and in its bubble-like forms sought to reflect the paradoxes of space and time.

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.

Object

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.

Object

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.

Object

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

Object

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.

Object

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.

News

Arch, Pearl, Wing, Wind

In the social media of the governor of the Omsk region, voting was conducted for the best project for the city’s new airport. We asked the finalists to send over their projects and are now showcasing them. The projects are quite interesting: the client requested that the building be visually permeable throughout, and the images that the architects are working with include arches, wings, gusts of wind, and even the “Pearl” painting by Vrubel, who was actually born in Omsk.

Object

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”.

Object

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.

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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.

Object

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

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.

Object

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.