По-русски

The Cemetery: Inside and Outside

The workshop organized by the Genplan Institute of Moscow scored one of the two first places at the “Open City” festival. Its subject is reorganization of municipal cemeteries. Two action plans were proposed, diametrically opposite: one for the downtown and one for the suburbs.

17 November 2023
mainImg
The project of the “Open City” workshop, created by a team working under the guidance of Genplan Institute of Moscow, was recently announced as one of the two winners of the festival. Its authors will be premiered with an expenses-paid participation in Kazanysh festival in Kazan.

I must say, the project is well developed, detailed and beautifully presented on its own web page. Therefore, it probably does not make much sense to republish it in its entirety – I will tell you only about the highlights.

zooming
“Open City” 2023
Copyright: Photograph © Julia Tarabarina, Archi.ru


First, the project is presented at the exhibition with a meditative installation in the form of a bed made of hay, where you can lie down, relax, and listen to music.

Second, the project itself begins with a research of the relevance of reforming cemeteries as such – their number, their specifics, and growth trends – among other things, we find out that in Moscow and New Moscow combined cemeteries occupy 2017 hectares, 641 of them lying within the Moscow Ring Road. We also learn that the nation’s capital buries an average of 345 people a day, which within a year adds up to a territory roughly equivalent to two Zaryadye parks. Another thing that we learn is that the cemetery design is chaotic to the point of being repulsive, and this is something that I 100% agree with – because once you come to a cemetery, the first thing you want is to get out of there. Another random fact: cremation cuts down the burial area by about a hundred times.

Still another random fact: the largest number of cremations falls on Norilsk, followed by Novosibirsk and Novomoskovsk; cremation and conventional burying are split by 50% in Ekaterinburg and St. Petersburg, Moscow clearly prefers the conservative method, and there is even a city with zero cremations – it is Rostov-on-Don.

zooming
Statistics on traditional burials and cremations by city. Quiet Neighbors Workshop
Copyright: Materials of the workshop of the “Open City Festival”, curated by the Genplan Institute of Moscow


Meanwhile, the authors of the report not just provide stats, prove relevance, and showcase their projects – they also developed recommendations for optimizing the legal base: sanitary regulations, federal standards, and the operation of Ritual (“The Last Rites”) bureau. 

This means that the workshop “Lighting Inclusion” is not the only one who developed this manual. And, since we are talking about the Genplan Institute of Moscow here, then I can safely define the prospects of implementing the recommendations as optimistic ones. In a word, this is a great initiative.

zooming
“Quiet Neighbors” Workshop
Copyright: Materials of the workshop of the “Open City Festival”, curated by the Genplan Institute of Moscow


Workshop participants: Luisa Karimova, Tatiana Magon (Genplan Institute of Moscow), Nikolai Potapenko, Anna Potapenko, Darius Nazarov, Iya Viktorova (MARKHI), Ekaterina Sokolova (HSE), Anna Belashova (MARCH), Maria Nakadovskaya (GUZ)
Workshop curators: Vitaly Lutz, Irina Lobanova (Genplan Institute of Moscow), Anna Antokhina (Lug Architects)

Another feature of the workshop “Quiet Neighbors” is that it consists of two projects: a cemetery for the outskirts and for the center of the historical city. The first one was developed on a specific site and looks like it is almost ready and real; it is largely based on the existing standard of the Okolomoskovsky cemetery, although it has ideas that, I suppose, not everyone will understand and approve of.

Becoming a Tree

Usually, a cemetery combines grave sites and a crematorium, with someone putting urns in a columbarium, and someone digging in a family plot. All this, as a rule, is overgrown with trees; they are dissected by asphalt roads, bright artificial and real flowers accumulating at their foot. One has a hard time trying to pass between the fences, both old metal and new granite; sometimes they close together and “catch” the person walking, forcing them to turn back and go around. In short, wandering around the cemetery, as the romantics bequeathed, is a little difficult for us. Except maybe for Donskoy and Novodevichy, where they conduct guided tours. 

Workshop participants suggest complementing the traditional structure, from which many people are, of course, not ready to part – with a cemetery-park, or an eco-cemetery.

The idea is to mix the crematorium ashes with soil, place them in a biodegradable urn, and plant a tree there. The trees are arranged in a meditative, quiet, and aesthetically appealing space that can be walked through. What is also important is that such areas do not conform to the sanitary norms of distancing from the cemetery territory. Consequently, the park part of the cemetery “extends outward” and saves space.

  • zooming
    1 / 6
    Eco-burial scheme: "ashes to ashes«. »Quiet Neighbors" Workshop
    Copyright: Materials of the workshop of the “Open City Festival”, curated by the Genplan Institute of Moscow
  • zooming
    2 / 6
    Southeast Park Dendroplan. Quiet Neighbors Workshop
    Copyright: Materials of the workshop of the “Open City Festival”, curated by the Genplan Institute of Moscow
  • zooming
    3 / 6
    Searching for the image of an eco-cemetery. Quiet Neighbors Workshop
    Copyright: Materials of the workshop of the “Open City Festival”, curated by the Genplan Institute of Moscow
  • zooming
    4 / 6
    Transportation and Pedestrian Network. Quiet Neighbors Workshop
    Copyright: Materials of the workshop of the “Open City Festival”, curated by the Genplan Institute of Moscow
  • zooming
    5 / 6
    The master plan. “Quiet Neighbors” Workshop
    Copyright: Materials of the workshop of the “Open City Festival”, curated by the Genplan Institute of Moscow
  • zooming
    6 / 6
    The territory balance. “Quiet Neighbors” Workshop
    Copyright: Materials of the workshop of the “Open City Festival”, curated by the Genplan Institute of Moscow


In addition to this original but, in my opinion, attractive solution, everything else is well thought out: a front square with a retail space, a plant nursery garden, and a rather charming, not gloomy, crematorium building. It subtly resembles the Montreal Pavilion, but perhaps, in this case, the rising spire can be associated with the soul’s journey to the sky.

  • zooming
    1 / 5
    The crematorium. “Quiet Neighbors” Workshop
    Copyright: Materials of the workshop of the “Open City Festival”, curated by the Genplan Institute of Moscow
  • zooming
    2 / 5
    Crematorium. Cross section view. Quiet Neighbors Workshop
    Copyright: Materials of the workshop of the “Open City Festival”, curated by the Genplan Institute of Moscow
  • zooming
    3 / 5
    Crematorium Plan at 0 elevation. “Quiet Neighbors” Workshop
    Copyright: Materials of the workshop of the “Open City Festival”, curated by the Genplan Institute of Moscow
  • zooming
    4 / 5
    Crematorium Plan at 4.0 elevation. “Quiet Neighbors” Workshop
    Copyright: Materials of the workshop of the “Open City Festival”, curated by the Genplan Institute of Moscow
  • zooming
    5 / 5
    Columbarium Rooms. Quiet Neighbors Workshop
    Copyright: Materials of the workshop of the “Open City Festival”, curated by the Genplan Institute of Moscow


Moving with Your Relative

The second proposal is more conceptual, falling into the category of “paper” projects and is intended for the densely built historical center.

It is called – by analogy with a well-known program – “My Columbarium”. The authors suggest creating a network of columbariums within the city program, one for each district. They place the columbariums underground: this way, space can be saved, and, at the very least, an original atmosphere can be created – at least an oculus among the images has already appeared. Naturally, the early Christian catacombs come to mind, although the authors do not seem to refer to them.

  • zooming
    "My Columbarium«. »Quiet Neighbors" Workshop
    Copyright: Materials of the workshop of the “Open City Festival”, curated by the Genplan Institute of Moscow
  • zooming
    "My Columbarium«. »Quiet Neighbors" Workshop
    Copyright: Materials of the workshop of the “Open City Festival”, curated by the Genplan Institute of Moscow


The main idea, however, is to make the urns mobile. So, when moving to another district, a person can take the urn with them and place it in another columbarium within the network.

It turns out to be a counterpoise: cemeteries at the city borders are very stable in terms of location – a tree grows there, and it’s there forever, while cemeteries within the city are as mobile as city dwellers. And at the same time, there is a sense of attachment for a city center resident to their relative, as if they are not letting go, unlike the burial-tree. Well, urns with ashes on the mantelpieces from American movies also come to mind. Another question: all this is proposed for Moscow. What if a Muscovite decides to move to another city?

However, what is truly important here is the diversity of the proposed, not entirely traditional formats, not only for Muscovites but also for Russians, corresponding to the direction of society’s development. If columbariums have found acceptance, perhaps these will someday too. Personally, I wouldn’t mind continuing my eternal life as a tree.


17 November 2023

Headlines now
Object
Office on Trubnaya
We continue publishing projects by Valery Kanyashin. A building once described, a quarter century ago, as an example of “quiet modernism” has remained just that in some people’s memory. According to Anatoly Belov, its main quality is its unobtrusiveness. The architects from Ostozhenka say the leading role here is played by context and landscape – the change in elevation. Yet is it really so inconspicuous?
Object
The First International
With this publication, we begin a series of texts dedicated to works by the late Valery Kanyashin, one of the founders of Ostozhenka Architects. As it happens, the projects he was involved in largely illustrate our understanding of the firm and its history. The first project in this series is the International Moscow Bank on Prechistenskaya Embankment.
in memoriam
In Memory of Valery Kanyashin
On Friday, February 27, architect Valery Kanyashin passed away – co-founder of Ostozhenka Architects and the author of many significant buildings in Moscow. We publish a text by Anatoly Belov in memory of Valery Kanyashin.
Report
Hypertext in Space
As part of the exhibition “What We Have We (Do Not) Keep”, Sergey Tchoban, the Museum of Architecture, and the CHART studio experiment with an eco-conscious approach to exhibition design, with thematic cross-references and even with publicistic reflections on the necessity of preserving modernism, the roots of contemporary architecture, and the birth of ideas. All of this makes the exhibition, with its light and transparent design, look quite innovative. The elements – both “material” and conceptual – are familiar, yet their combination is far from conventional.
Object
The Outline of “Foundation”
In their competition proposal for the Fili transport hub, the consortium led by Alexey Ilyin proposed an “inhabited arch” – a form that is simple yet complex. The architects emphasize that even at the competition stage, the project’s feasibility was fully calculated, taking into account the minimal nighttime closures of Bagration Avenue. How was this achieved? With what functions? Let us take a closer look. In our view, the building would have suited the heroes of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels perfectly.
Object
The Flying Horizontal
“A house in the spirit of Wright”, as architect Roman Leonidov describes it, pointing to his source of inspiration, was built on a challenging wedge-shaped site. To achieve a sense of intimacy and secure good views from the windows, the entire volume had to be shifted toward the far boundary, turning the house “back” to the neighboring mansions. The main façade demonstrates time-tested techniques often employed by the company: articulated horizontals, a weightless roofline, and a triad of materials – light plaster, dark slate, and warm wood.
Object
Needles of Horizon Contemplation
The “House of Horizons”, designed by Kleinewelt Architekten in Krylatskoye, is carefully thought out at the stereometric level – from the logic of how the volumes interlock (and, conversely, how gaps are articulated between them) to the triangular balconies that give the building its striking, slightly bristling silhouette.
News
The Red Thread
A linear park project prepared by Alexey Ilyin studio for the improvement of a riverbank in one of the residential districts seeks to reconnect people with nature. Two levels of the embankment invite visitors to contemplate the landscape while at the same time protecting the riverbank from excessive human impact. The “aerial street” links functional zones and the opposite banks, creating new points of attraction along the way: balconies, bridges, and even a “grotto”.
Object
Spindle and Thread
The concept of the Waver residential complex in Yekaterinburg draws inspiration from the past of the Parkovy district. In order to preserve the memory of the late-19th-century flax spinning mill once located here, the architectural company KPLN turns to the theme of textiles and weaving. The project’s main expressive device is a system of ribbons made of perforated weathering steel – a material that, in such volumes, has arguably not yet been used in Russian residential projects.
Object
Woven Into Sokolniki
Over the past few years, high-rise residential construction in former industrial zones has become the main theme of Moscow architecture. Towers are springing up here and there – but the question is what kind of towers they are. The residential complex CODE Sokolniki, designed by Ostozhenka Architects, is a project where every detail has been taken care of. The authors are attentive to the history of the site, the continuity of the urban fabric, the skyline, and visual corridors. They also proposed a motif with the lyrical name “scarf”. We take a closer look at the volumetric composition and the large-scale décor “woven”, in this case, out of terraces and balconies.
Interview
Stepan Liphart and Yuri Gerth: “Our Program Is Aesthetic”
The studio of Stepan Liphart, an architect known for his distinctive signature style and one-off projects, now has a partner. Yuri Khitrov, a specialist with a broad range of competencies, will take on the part of the work that distracts one from creativity but drives the business forward. One of the aims of this partnership is to improve the urban environment through dialogue with clients and officials. We spoke with both sides about their ambitions, the firm’s development strategy, shared values, and the need for pragmatism. And why the studio is called “Liphart & Gerth” only became clear at the very end of the interview.
Object
The Copper Mirror
The varied-toned sheen of “unsealed” copper, painterly streaks and fingerprints, exposed concrete, and the unusual proportions – when you study the ZILART Museum building by Sergei Tchoban and SPEECH architects, there is plenty to talk about. However, it seems to us that the most interesting thing is how the museum’s composition responds to the realities of the district itself. The residential district has been realized as an open-air exhibition of façade statements by contemporary architects – but without public access to the inner courtyards of the blocks. This building – that is, the museum – is exactly the opposite: on the outside, it is deliberately restrained, while inside it shines spectacularly, creating its own sunbeams in any weather.
View
“Strangers” in the City
We asked Alexander Skokan for a comment on the results of 2025 – and he sent us a whole article, moreover one devoted to the discussion we recently began on the “appropriateness of high-rises” – or, more broadly speaking, “contrasting insertions into the urban fabric”. The result is a text that is essentially a question: why here? Why like this?
Interview
Dmitry Ostroumov: “To use the language of alchemy, we are involved in the process of “transmutation...
What we ended up having was an extremely unusual conversation with Dmitry Ostroumov. Why? At the very least, because he is not just an architect specializing in the construction of Orthodox churches. And not just – which is an extreme rarity – a proponent of developing contemporary stylistics within this still highly conservative field. Dmitry Ostroumov is a Master of Theology. So in addition to the history and specifics of the company, we speak about the very concept of the temple, about canon and tradition, about the living and the eternal, and even about the Russian Logos.
Object
A Glazed Figurine
In searching for an image for a residential building near the Novodevichy Convent, GAFA architects turned to their own perception of the place: it evoked associations with antiquity, plein-air painting, and vintage artifacts. The two towers will be entirely clad in volumetric glazed ceramic – at present, there are no other buildings like this in Russia. The complex will also stand out thanks to its metabolic bay-window cells, streamlined surfaces, a ceremonial “hotel-style” driveway, and a lobby overlooking a lush garden.
Report
A Knight’s Move via the Cour d’Honneur
Intercolumnium Architects presented to the City Planning Council a residential complex project that is set to replace the Aquatoria business center on Vyborgskaya Embankment. Experts praised the overall quality of the work, but expressed reservations about the three cour d’honneurs and suggested softening the contrast between the facades facing the embankment and the Kantemirovsky Bridge.
Object
A Small Country
Mezonproekt is developing a long-term master plan for the MEPhI campus in Obninsk. Over the next ten years, an enclave territory of about 100 hectares, located in a forest on the northern edge of the city, is set to transform into a modern center for the development of the nuclear energy sector. The plan envisions attracting international students and specialists, as well as comprehensive territorial development: both through the contemporary realization of “frozen” plans from the 1980s and through the introduction of new trends – public spaces, an aquapark, a food court, a school, and even a nuclear medicine center. Public and sports facilities are intended to be accessible to city residents as well, and the campus is to be physically and functionally connected to Obninsk.
Object
Pearl Divers
GAFA has designed an apartment complex for Derbent intended to switch people from a work mode to a resort mindset – and to give the surrounding area a much-needed jolt. The building offers two distinct faces: restrained and laconic on the city side, and a lushly ornate façade facing the sea. At the heart of the complex, a hidden pearl lies – an open-air pool with an arch, offering views of a starry sky, and providing direct access to the beach.
Object
A Satellite Island
The Genplan Institute of Moscow has prepared a master plan for the development of the Sarpinsky and Golodny island system, located within the administrative boundaries of Volgograd and considered among the largest river islands in Russia. By 2045, the plan envisions the implementation of 15 large-scale investment projects, including sports and educational clusters, a congress center with a “Volgonarium”, a film production cluster, and twenty-one theme parks. We explain which engineering, environmental, and transportation challenges must be addressed to turn this vision into reality. The master plan solutions have already been approved and incorporated into the city’s general development plan.
Object
The Amber Gate
The Amber City residential complex is one of the redevelopment projects in the former industrial area located beyond Moscow’s Third Ring Road near Begovaya metro station. Alexey Ilyin’s studio proposed an original master plan that transformed two clusters of towers into ceremonial propylaea, gave the complex a recognizable silhouette, and established visual connections with new high-rise developments on both right and left – thus integrating it into the scale of the growing metropolis. It is also marked by its own futuristic stylistic language, based on a reinterpreted streamline aesthetic.
Object
A Theater Triangle
The architectural company “Chetvertoe Izmerenie” (“Fourth Dimension”) has developed the design for a new stage of the Magnitogorsk Musical Theater, rethinking not only theater architecture but also the role of the theater in the contemporary city.
Interview
Aleksei Ilyin: “I approach every task with genuine interest”
Aleksei Ilyin has been working on major urban projects for more than 30 years. He has all the necessary skills for high-rise construction in Moscow – yet he believes it’s essential to maintain variety in the typologies and scales represented in his portfolio. He is passionate about drawing – but only from life, and also in the process of working on a project. We talk about the structure and optimal size of an office, about his past and current projects, large and small tasks, and about creative priorities.
Object
​A Golden Sunbeam
A compact brick-and-metal building in the growing Shukhov Park in Vyksa seems to absorb sunlight, transform it into yellow accents inside, and in the evening “give it back” as a warm golden glow streaming from its windows. It is, frankly, a very attractive building: both material and lightweight at the same time, with lightness inside and materiality outside. Its form is shaped by function – laconic, yet far from simple. Let’s take a closer look.
Architecton Awards
In 2025, the jury of the Architecton festival reviewed the finalist projects through live, open presentations held right in the exhibition hall – a rather engaging performance, and something rarely seen among Russian awards. It would be great if “Zodchestvo” adopted this format. Below, we present all the winning projects, including four special nominations.
send.project
Garden of Knowledge
UNK architects and UNK design created the interiors of the Letovo Junior campus, working together with NF Studio, which was responsible for developing the educational technology that takes into account the needs and perception of younger and middle school children.
The Silver Skates
The STONE Kaluzhskaya office quarter is accompanied by two residential towers, making the complex – for it is indeed a single ensemble – well balanced in functional terms. The architects at Kleinewelt gave the residential buildings a silvery finish to match the office blocks. How they are similar, how they differ, and what “Silver Skates” has to do with it – we explore in this article.
Overview
On the Dynastic Trail
The houses and townhouses of the “Tsarskaya Tropа” (“Czar’s Trail”) complex are being built in the village of Gaspra in Crimea – to the west and east of the palaces of the former grand-ducal residence “Ai-Todor”. One of the main challenges for the architects at KPLN, who developed the project, was to respond appropriately to this significant neighboring heritage. How this influenced the massing, the façades, and the way the authors work with the terrain is explored in our article.
Object
A New Path
The main feature of the Yar Park project, designed by Sergey Skuratov for Kazan, is that it is organized along the “spine” of a multifunctional mall with an impressive multi-height atrium space in its middle. The entire site, both on the city side and the Kazanka River embankment, is open to the public. The complex is intended not to become “yet another fenced enclave” but, as urban planners say, a “polycenter” – a new point of attraction for the whole of Kazan, especially its northern part, made up of residential districts that until now have lacked such a vibrant public space. It represents a new urban planning approach to a high-density mixed-use development situated in the city center – in a sense, an “anti-quarter”. Even Moscow, one might say, doesn’t yet have anything quite like it. Well, lucky Kazan!