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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.

16 April 2024
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Vladimir Plotkin says that in the competition project designed by the Reserve Union for EXPO 2025, the main thing is not textual information but the emotional impulse of architectural form.

So it is! In the case of pavilions at large international exhibitions, this is generally true and always has been. They have long since become, among other things, and perhaps primarily, exhibitions of pavilions with interesting architecture. Here, the sculptural aspect definitely prevails, pushing aside functional requirements, capacity considerations, and sometimes even the exhibition program. A bright, concise, and memorable shape is something that is totally appropriate at global exhibitions, and often is even required. So, by definition, EXPOs are good for experiments with form, for gestures and statements that are difficult to imagine in many other places.

The competition pavilion designed by Reserve Union is precisely such a case.

Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. View from the pedestrian promenade
Copyright: © Reserve Union


At the heart of the pavilion lies a very simple stereometric shape. It could be perfectly appreciated when viewed from above, from Sou Fujimoto’s ring. Scientifically, this form is called an “off-centered spherical wedge” but in simpler terms it can best be described as an orange segment lying on the table.

Only unlike an actual orange, the length of this “segment” is 91 meters. This is a lot – roughly equivalent to 18 cars lined up in a row.

Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. Birds-eye view
Copyright: © Reserve Union


Very large cantilevers are formed at both ends, soaring and curved. Importantly, these cantilevers are not flashy additions but an organic part of the shape: here, the entire volume essentially consists of cantilevers, relying on a relatively small “contact patch” in its middle.

This solution, defying the laws of gravity, according to Vladimir Plotkin, is entirely feasible: the structure was planned to be composed of inverted steel trusses of segmental side facades, pulled together by horizontal beams at the ends, with the entire volume would be installed on a massive reinforced concrete slab.

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    Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. Location plan
    Copyright: © Reserve Union
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    Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. Form making
    Copyright: © Reserve Union


According to the project, the area was planned to be covered with a shallow pool of water – just 15 cm deep. Therefore, to enter the pavilion through the main entrance, one would have to walk across a bridge, a sort of cosmic “gangway”, smoothly rising above the water. Speaking of the emotional impulse – here one could imagine oneself both under the “belly” of a spaceship, or perhaps underneath a giant sphere, which might start rolling at any moment. Quite a fascinating experience.

Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. View from the main entrance
Copyright: © Reserve Union


Fifteen centimeters of water is just above the ankle height, and here one remembers not only that the entire EXPO in Osaka 2025 is planned on an island but also Brazil’s pavilion in the hot Dubai 2020. I wonder if one could walk on water there too?

In the competition brief, a media façade was proposed – apparently to demonstrate innovation. In the project, it exists and is implemented not in a trivial way but is rather “stitched” or “embedded” into the architectural solution, much like how the façade shell is integrated, according to the architects, with the load-bearing structure of the truss. The facades are composed of glass slats on a colored substrate with media backlighting mounted on it. The slats are vertical on the sides and horizontal at the ends.

As a result, several effects should occur simultaneously. Firstly, a “moire” effect should arise for the viewer who is in motion, meaning that regardless of the activity of the media backlighting on the façade there would be a wave effect. Secondly, the media backlighting would enhance this effect and control it, but not directly, since any image is blurred due to the slats. And finally, it seems that dark blue water flows on the sides, so the form is not only clean but also “washed” – in a metaphorical sense, of course.

Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. The facade design
Copyright: © Reserve Union


While the outer surface is cool, all the entrances, on the contrary, are friendly and sunny, as if inviting you to come in. The reflection in the pool of water gives the illusion of the existence of an underwater sun, which is also an archetypal and very ancient theme.

Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025
Copyright: © Reserve Union


A significant detail is the observation balcony protruding from the inclined façade at the level of the third floor, and with quite some outreach. Thanks to it, the form ceases to be just a “thing in itself”; it opens up and demonstrates its inhabitability. And you can step out to get some fresh air, which is important for any exhibition space – I remember how delighted I was when they opened the balcony at the Central House of Artists.

Moreover, the balcony is in fact the architect’s signature technique: such “captain’s bridges” designed by Plotkin can be seen in his early projects, in the “Seasons of the Year” and in the recent project of the museum of Moscow’s Novodevichy Convent.

Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. Axonometry
Copyright: © Reserve Union


Being strictly stereometric in front and in profile, the form creates geometric “sign” figures: a triangle, reminiscent again of the “signature” Reserve Union pyramid, and a semicircle, or more precisely, a sector, because our spherical wedge is non-central, and the “orange segment” is essentially incomplete.

The architects endowed the pavilion’s silhouette with a whole range of meanings. Here you can see the already mentioned “orange segment” – perhaps that’s why the entrances to the pavilion from the inside are orange? – and the infamous “sixth part of the land” (that being Russia) and a bowl of rice, and the rising sun – probably the one that is reflected upside down. And a smile. And a boat, “a symbol of salvation and wanderings”.

Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. The facade, associations
Copyright: © Reserve Union


From the boat, we come to the project’s name of “Ark”. It responds to the EXPO’s theme of “Designing future society for our lives”, that is, the main message of the pavilion is that, very much like an ark, it offers to take with you into the future or even save for the future all that is good. Like any ark, this is a complex theme that allows for different interpretations. However, at the same time, it must be acknowledged that sometimes you really want to jump into some ark and sail off into the sunset. Or sunrise, for that matter, since the exhibition is in the land of the rising sun.

By the way, speaking about Japan! The image, especially from the end perspectives, turned out to have quite strong Japanese associations, from the simple shape itself – raising associations with the country’s flag with its round sun – to the combination of colors in the 3D visuals. Blue with a hint of Berlin azure, turquoise, and orange-golden; it’s hard to say how it would have been in reality, whether this “candy-like” taste of the picture would have been preserved if the project had been implemented, but in the images, the pavilion quite noticeably also resonates with modern Japanese culture. This is also very interesting – interesting that the pavilion is not “Russified” through recognizable and familiar identity elements. On the contrary, the pavilion looks quite global, or, should I say, “above-global”? I can imagine that if the project had been realized, some people might have exclaimed: what? Is this Russia? It’s a very quality approach to “estranging” the theme – quite the right thing to do when you are supposed to talk, as proposed at EXPO in Osaka 2025, about the future.

Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. View from the main entrance
Copyright: © Reserve Union


The interior of the pavilion matches its outer shape – meaning it consists of amphitheaters rising in two directions along the curved slopes. Steps, gentle stepped ramps, seats, and exhibition showcases are integrated into the rises of the curves.

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    Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025
    Copyright: © Reserve Union
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    Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025
    Copyright: © Reserve Union


Modern exhibition solutions know two polar approaches: one based on a “chain” path, and the other implying a more free choice of path by the visitor. The Reserve Union solution tends toward the latter option – in the cohesive space of the amphitheaters, objects are arranged, bridges and platform levels are crossed, and the balconies sometimes lead into two- and three-tiered halls.

In the center, on the central axis of the pavilion, the Tree of Time is placed – a spatial installation reaching the full 17-meter height of the pavilion. You can’t move around it (sadly); but it pierces all the floors, creating a vertical circular atrium around it, visible from all levels.

Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. Section view
Copyright: © Reserve Union


In the cantilever above the entrance, a conference hall is located, its enclosed amphitheater hanging above the visitors’ heads – also nicely situated on the curved surface. Behind the Tree, there is an elevator, also penetrating all the floors, allowing for easier and faster movement. A bit further away is the volume of the café with an entrance from the opposite side.

It’s interesting that while the name of “Tree of Time” resonates with the competition brief, where Time is defined as the “Big Idea” of the pavilion, the rest of the project’s exposition is based on the sub-themes of the EXPO: “Saving lives” / “Empowering lives” / “Connecting lives”.

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    Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. The functional zones
    Copyright: © Reserve Union
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    Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. Axonometry
    Copyright: © Reserve Union
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    Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. Axonometry
    Copyright: © Reserve Union
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    Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. Plan at +1.400 elevation
    Copyright: © Reserve Union
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    Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. Plan at +4.400 elevation
    Copyright: © Reserve Union
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    Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. Plan at +6.000 elevation
    Copyright: © Reserve Union
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    Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. Plan at +10.200 elevation
    Copyright: © Reserve Union
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    Russia′s pavilion at EXPO 2025. Plan at +14.200 elevation
    Copyright: © Reserve Union


Back to the “orange segment” volume, though! It looks very much like a boat because of the water in the pool, the entrance gangway, or the captain’s bridge at the top – but such a boat that would be drawn in cartoons of the seventies, that is, reduced to a very simple, archetypal design.

It must be said that a simple stereometric shape is a challenge that not everyone will take on – even for an exhibition. It is impressive, but it is important not to overgeneralize. For example, the pavilion of Saudi Arabia, which was chosen as the best at the 2020 exhibition in Dubai, was a parallelepiped, angled into the ground, with a mirrored inclined surface above the entrance and bright, to the point of dazzling, aggressively colorful media screens around the perimeter, and it was really on the heavy side.

This pavilion is not lightweight either; it also operates with the category of mass and is designed to produce a wow effect, with a hint of gravity defiance. However, the organization is more precise here, the silhouette is more interesting, and the media screens are not so bright. Moreover, the idea resonates with both the circle on the Japanese flag and the layout of the entire exhibition, which Sou Fujimoto enclosed in a ring – as if this circle was “taken in volume” and then cut by two planes to form that very spherical wedge we talked about earlier. And it also brings to mind how at the “Quality Standard” exhibition in 2017 Vladimir Plotkin brought a marble sphere, explaining that the sphere was the perfect shape. Well, here a part was sliced away from the sphere – probably to make sure that it wouldn’t be completely perfect; or, at any rate, not overly simple.


16 April 2024

Headlines now
Depths of the Earth, Streams of Water
In the Malaya Okhta district, the Akzent building, designed by Stepan Liphart, was constructed. It follows a classic tripartite structure, yet it’s what you might call “hand-drawn”: each façade is unique in its form and details, some of which aren’t immediately noticeable. In this article, we explore the context and, together with the architect, delve into how the form was developed.
​A Brick Shell
In the process of designing a clubhouse situated among pine trees in a prestigious suburban area near Moscow, the architectural firm “A.Len” did the façade design part. The combination of different types of brick and masonry correlates with the volumetric and plastique solutions, further enhanced by the inclusion of wood-painted fragments and metal “glazing”.
Word Forms
ATRIUM architects love ambitious challenges, and for the firm’s thirtieth anniversary, they boldly play a game of words with an exhibition that dives deep into a self-created vocabulary. They immerse their projects – especially art installations – into this glossary, as if plunging into a current of their own. You feel as if you’re flowing through the veins of pure art, immersed in a universe of vertical cities, educational spaces – of which the architects are true masters – and the cultural codes of various locations. But what truly captivates is the bold statement that Vera Butko and Anton Nadtochy make, both through their work and this exhibition: architecture, above all, is art – the art of working with form and space.
Flexibility and Acuteness of Modernity
Luxurious, fluid, large “kokoshniks” and spiral barrel columns, as if made from colorful chewing gum: there seem to be no other mansion like this in Moscow, designed in the “Neo-Russian-Modern” style. And the “Teremok” on Malaya Kaluzhskaya, previously somewhat obscure, has “come alive with new colors” and gained visibility after its restoration for the office of the “architectural ecosystem” as the architects love to call themselves. It’s evident that Julius Borisov and the architects at UNK put their hearts into finding this new office and bringing it up to date. Let’s delve into the paradoxes of this mansion’s history and its plasticity. Spoiler: two versions of modernity meet here, both balancing on the razor’s edge of “what’s current”.
Yuri Vissarionov: “A modular house does not belong to the land”
It belongs to space, or to the air... It turns out that 3D printing is more effective when combined with a modular approach: the house is built in a workshop and then adapted to the site, including on uneven terrain. Yuri Vissarionov shares his latest experience in designing tourist complexes, both in central Russia and in the south. These include houseboats, homes printed from lightweight concrete using a 3D printer, and, of course, frame houses.
​Moscow’s First
“The quality of education largely depends on the quality of the educational environment”. This principle of the last decade has been realized by Sergey Skuratov in the project for the First Moscow Gymnasium on Rostovskaya Embankment in the Khamovniki district. The building seamlessly integrates into the complex urban landscape, responding both to the pedestrian flow of the city and the quiet alleyways. It skillfully takes advantage of the height differences and aligns with modern trends in educational space design. Let’s take a closer look.
Looking at the Water
The site of Villa Sonata stretches from the road to the water’s edge, offering its own shoreline, pier, and a picturesque river panorama. To reveal these sweeping views, Roman Leonidov “cut” the façade diagonally parallel to the river, thus getting two main axes for the house and, consequently, “two heads”. The internal core – two double-height spaces, a living room and a conservatory, with a “bridge” above them – makes the house both “transparent” and filled with light.
The White Wing
Well, it’s not exactly white. It’s more of a beige, white-stone structure that plays with the color of limestone – smoother surfaces are lighter, while rougher ones are darker. This wing unites various elements: it absorbs and interprets the surrounding themes. It responds to everything, yet maintains a cohesive expression – a challenging task! – while also incorporating recognizable features of its own, such as the dynamic cuts at the bottom, top, and middle.
Urban Dunes
The XSA Ramps team designed and built a three-part sports hub for a park in Rostov-on-Don, welcoming people of all ages and fitness levels. The skate plaza, pump track, and playground are all meticulously crafted with details that attract a diverse range of visitors. The technical execution of the shapes and slopes transforms this space into a kind of sculptural composition.
Proportional Growth
The project for the fourth phase of the ÁLIA residential area has been announced. The buildings are situated on an elongated plot – almost a “ray” that shoots out from the center of the area towards the river. Their layout reflects both a response to Moscow’s architectural preferences over the past 15 years, shifting “from blocks to towers”, and an interpretation of the neighboring business park designed by SOM. Additionally, the best apartments here are not located at the very top but closer to the middle, forming a glowing “waistline”.
The “Staircase” Building
In designing the “Details” residential complex in New Moscow, Rais Baishev spiced up the now-popular Moscow theme of a “courtyard” building with an idea drawn from the surrealist drawings by Maurits Escher. He envisioned the stepped silhouettes and descending slopes as a metaphysical mega-staircase, creating a key void within the courtyard that gave the project an internal “spine”. This concept is felt both in the building’s silhouette and on its façades.
Projection of the Quarter
No one doubted that the building that Vladimir Plotkin designed as part of the “Garden Quarters” would be the most modernist of all. And it turned out just that way: while adhering to the common design code, the building successfully combines brick and white stone, rhythmically responding to the neighboring building designed by Ostozhenka, yet tactfully and persistently making a few statements of its own. This includes the projection of the ideal urban development composition “14–9–6”, which can be found right next door, mathematical calculations, including those for various types of terraces (and perhaps the only reminder of the Soviet past of the Kauchuk rubber factory!), and the white “cross-stitch” pattern of the façade grid.
Domus Aurea
In this issue, we examine the “Tessinsky-1” house, designed by Sergey Skuratov and completed in 2023. Located in the middle of the Serebryanicheskaya Embankment district, at the intersection of its main streets, this house assumes a sort of “nodal” role: it not only responds to everything around it and preserves many memories of the former EMA factory within itself, but it weaves all this into a newly directed pattern, reconciling bright “gold” and dark-colored brick, largely with the help of the new, modern-yet-archaic Columba brick, which, come to think about it, is the most precious element here.
The Chimney of Nikola-Lenivets
In this issue, we are examining the “Obelisk House” designed by KATARSIS and built for the Arkhstoyanie 2023 festival. However, it was only finished later on, and this is why we are examining it now. It seems to us that after the “Obelisk House” appeared in Nikola-Lenivets, a dialogue and a few inner connections appeared between the temporary structures built here. These houses no longer look like “accidental neighbors”, more of which below.
​Periscope by the Bay
The jury awarded the second place in the competition for a public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the companies GORA (“Mountain”) and M4. In the consortium’s proposal, the building resembles a sperm whale with a calf swimming next to it or a periscope, whose lenses capture the most spectacular views from the surrounding landscape.
From Arcs to Dolmens
While working on the competition project for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, ASADOV Architects prioritized the value of the natural and urban environment, aiming to preserve the balance of the location while minimizing the resemblance of the volume that they designed to a “traditional building”. The task was challenging, and the architects created three versions, one of which having been developed after the competition, where their main proposal took third place. However, the point of interest here is not the competition result but the continuity of creative thinking.
Hide and Seek
The ID Moskovskiy house, designed by Stepan Liphart in St. Petersburg, in the courtyards near Moskovskiy Avenue beyond the Obvodny Canal and recently completed, is notable for several reasons. Firstly, it has been realized with considerable accuracy, which is particularly significant as this is the first building where the architect was responsible not only for the facades but also for the layouts, allowing for better integration between the two. On the other hand, this building is interesting as an example of the “germination” of new architecture in the city: it draws on the best examples from the neighborhood and becomes an improved and developed sum of ideas found by the architect in the surrounding context.
The Big Twelve
Yesterday, the winners of the Moscow Mayor’s Architecture Award were announced and honored. Let’s take a look at what was awarded and, in some cases, even critique this esteemed award. After all, there is always room for improvement, right?
Above the Golden Horn
The residential complex “Philosophy” designed by T+T architects in Vladivostok, is one of the new projects in the “Golubinaya Pad” area, changing its development philosophy (pun intended) from single houses to a comprehensive approach. The buildings are organized along public streets, varying in height and format, with one house even executed in gallery typology, featuring a cantilever leaning on an art object.
Nuanced Alternative
How can you rhyme a square and space? Easily! But to do so, you need to rhyme everything you can possibly think of: weave everything together, like in a tensegrity structure, and find your own optics too. The new exhibition at GES-2 does just that, offering its visitor a new perspective on the history of art spanning 150 years, infused with the hope for endless multiplicity of worlds and art histories. Read on to see how this is achieved and how the exhibition design by Evgeny Ace contributes to it.
Blinds for Ice
An ice arena has been constructed in Domodedovo based on a project by Yuri Vissarionov Architects. To prevent the long façade, a technical requirement for winter sports facilities, from appearing monotonous, the architects proposed the use of suspended structures with multidirectional slats. This design protects the ice from direct sunlight while giving the wall texture and detail.
Frozen Magma
A competition for the creation of a public and cultural center was held in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Three architectural companies made it to the final, and we consider it important to share about the work of each. Let’s start with the winner – the consortium led by Wowhaus.
Campus within a Day
In this article, we talk about what the participants of Genplan Institute of Moscow’s hackathon were doing at the MosComArchitecture booth at the “ArchMoscow” exhibition. We also discuss who won the prize and why, and what can be done with the territory of a small university on the outskirts of Moscow.
Vertical Civilization
Genpro considered the development of the vertical city concept and made it the theme of their pavilion at the “ArchMoscow” exhibition.
Marina Yegorova: “We think in terms of hectares, not square meters”
The career path of architect Marina Yegorova is quite impressive: MARHI, SPEECH, MosComArchitectura, the Genplan Institute of Moscow, and then her own architectural company. Its name Empate, which refers to the words “to draw” in Portuguese and “to empathize” in English, should not be misleading with its softness, as the firm freely works on different scales, including Integrated Territorial Development projects. We talked with Marina about various topics: urban planning experience, female leadership style, and even the love of architects for yachting.
Andrey Chuikov: “Optimum balance is achieved through economics”
The Yekaterinburg-based architectural company CNTR is in its mature stage: crystallization of principles, systematization, and standardization helped it make a qualitative leap, enhance competencies, and secure large contracts without sacrificing the aesthetic component. The head of the company, Andrey Chuikov, told us about building a business model and the bonuses that additional education in financial management provides for an architect.
The Fulcrum
Ostozhenka Architects have designed two astonishing towers practically on the edge of a slope above the Oka River in Nizhny Novgorod. These towers stand on 10-meter-tall weathered steel “legs”, with each floor offering panoramic views of the river and the city; all public spaces, including corridors, receive plenty of natural light. Here, we see a multitude of solutions that are unconventional for the residential routine of our day and age. Meanwhile, although these towers hark back to the typological explorations of the seventies, they are completely reinvented in a contemporary key. We admire Veren Group as the client – this is exactly how a “unique product” should be made – and we tell you exactly how our towers are arranged.
Crystal is Watching You
Right now, Museum Night has kicked off at the Museum of Architecture, featuring a fresh new addition – the “Crystal of Perception”, an installation by Sergey Kuznetsov, Ivan Grekov, and the KROST company, set up in the courtyard. It shimmers with light, it sings, it reacts to the approach of people, and who knows what else it can do.
The Secret Briton
The house is called “Little France”. Its composition follows the classical St. Petersburg style, with a palace-like courtyard. The decor is on the brink of Egyptian lotuses, neo-Greek acroteria, and classic 1930s “gears”; the recessed piers are Gothic, while the silhouette of the central part of the house is British. It’s quite interesting to examine all these details, attempting to understand which architectural direction they belong to. At the same time, however, the house fits like a glove in the context of the 20th line of St. Petersburg’s Vasilievsky Island; its elongated wings hold up the façade quite well.
The Wrap-Up
The competition project proposed by Treivas for the first 2021 competition for the Russian pavilion at EXPO 2025 concludes our series of publications on pavilion projects that will not be implemented. This particular proposal stands out for its detailed explanations and the idea of ecological responsibility: both the facades and the exhibition inside were intended to utilize recycled materials.