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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”.

22 August 2024
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The process of creating new urban fabric on the former Tushino airfield – like watching fire, water, or a working person – can hold your attention for quite a while.

In the western half of the “slice”, which is gently embraced by the Moscow River, the developer ASTERUS is at work. This area is planned to be fundamentally multifunctional: the company defines its concept as WORK.LIVE.PLAY.LEARN – the district is intended to become a “polycenter”, a place where one can live, study, walk, do sports, and work, mostly getting around on foot.

A positive and modern approach to metropolitan development!

ALIA residential area
Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


The main “hub” for employment is the Rostec City business park, realized based on a project by SOM; they also developed the master plan for the entire area. One of the notable sports facilities is the Chkalov Arena, designed by the architectural company “Meerson and Voronova”. What is also important is the fact that housing complexes are still being built here: Phases I and II have been completed, and Phase III is underway. The residential blocks vary in height and combine brick with silver and gold metal, which, thanks to the textured slopes, creates truly beautiful sun reflections.



This summer, Moskomarkhitektura approved the project for the fourth phase of ÁLIA.

The authors of this project are APEX architects; they have previously worked on the ÁLIA district, specifically adapting SOM’s concept for the business park.

Phase 4 of ALIA residential area. Location plan
Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


However, the new city block project is their original work, starting from the concept stage. The project was led by Elena Strugovets.

The idea of seeking harmony between humans and nature is not new, but it is a topic that always has something new to offer. The concept of the ÁLIA residential complex is a testament to this. Imagine a lakeshore covered with water lilies, imagine this flower – both strong and fragile, dense and delicate. The architectural solution for the facades is inspired by this image. The shades of brick transition from warm to deep grays, creating a harmonious blend with the natural surroundings.

The use of materials with different textures, such as anodized metal, glass, concrete tiles mimicking brick, and fiber-reinforced concrete, allows for a greater diversity in facade and design solutions. The warm color palette will help residents feel cozy amidst the pace of life in the megalopolis.


The site for the fourth phase is located south of Chkalov Arena, stretching parallel to its southern façade – it extends from the business park towards the river and the embankment. The proportions are elongated, with an aspect ratio of approximately 0.27. Such sites are considered challenging; they require careful thought and innovative ideas.

In this case, the concept is as follows: the architects turned the elongated site into an “sweep drawing” placing different types of buildings sequentially, step by step, along it – from brick blocks to glass-aluminum towers with everything else in between. They seem to have reflected the history of Moscow’s shifting architectural preferences within a single project.

Closer to the center of the area, there are relatively low, 14-story buildings, forming a city block frame. Their facades vary in shades of brick ranging from beige to brown. Then, approximately in the middle, two brick towers appear: one adjoins the northern crossbeam of the block, and the other, southern one, stands separately.

Phase 4 of ALIA residential area. Houses completed before 2024
Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


Closest to the water are two towers up to 144 meters high.

The result is three stages with a gradual increase in height and two main blocks with private courtyards: the business-class towers by the river and the block with towers of its own – comfort-class. Between them is a public space, open to the city, with a small separate restaurant situated on the edge of the business-class courtyard. The restaurant, with its curved plan resembling a bean or boomerang, can be entered both from the courtyard and from the plaza.

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    The master plan. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area. Houses completed before 2024
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS
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    Functional diagram. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


The restaurant behind the glass barrier at the foot of the “big” towers. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area.
Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


Thus, the buildings in the eastern part are sectional, in various shades of brick, with white, streamlined balconies providing a slight accent to the surfaces. This is a background approach – 70, not 30 percent, as described in the well-known book.

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    Phase 4 of ALIA residential area.
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS
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    The eastern part. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


In the towers of the middle section, the brick becomes redder; here, asymmetric “insert” spots and terrace recesses appear. They are the propylaea of the eastern courtyard and also serve as a “step”, allowing the height to increase smoothly: one is 94 meters, and the other a classic 100 meters.

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    Phase 4 of ALIA residential area.
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS
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    Phase 4 of ALIA residential area
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


The cross-section clearly shows how the height progressively increases.

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    Section 2-2. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area.
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS
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    Section view 1-1. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


And finally – the crescendo – glass-aluminum towers.

The pairing of these glass-and-aluminum towers echoes the duo of brick buildings. However, urbanistically and figuratively, the towers more respond to the river’s water. The facades are dominated by glass and verticals. The prominently protruding pilasters, resembling both modernist ribs and Gothic buttresses, are gently concave in the streamline spirit. They are silver-metallic, with a golden-brass groove running along the central axis. At the base, the ribs are wider and protrude more, gradually tapering and receding as they rise, like some kind of metallic flower.

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    Phase 4 of ALIA residential area.
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS
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    Phase 4 of ALIA residential area
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


Phase 4 of ALIA residential area.
Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


At the top, the silhouette of each tower noticeably slopes downward, giving the pair a resemblance to a Moscow Kremlin merlon, but much larger – and spatially distributed. This theme is understandably popular in Moscow: in the city’s new projects, such sloping forms are appearing more frequently. I think it’s safe to say that one of the first experiments in exploring the potential of a sloping silhouette was the Tourist House situated on Moscow’s Leninsky Prospekt.

However, there was no analogy to a “swallowtail” there, as the slopes all faced the same direction – whereas, in our case, the form acquires additional subtle nuances. The mid-section propylaea towers get brick, while the “riverside” towers get the “merlon”.

On the other hand, the towers might serve as beacons in the sweeping river view, as their height is no longer around a hundred meters but a whopping 144 meters. And their silhouette is not unambiguous – it will vary from different angles, merging and separating.

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    Phase 4 of ALIA residential area.
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS
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    Phase 4 of ALIA residential area
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


However, the most interesting aspect of the glass-aluminum towers isn’t their silhouette, but the arrangement of large duplex apartments: on the 12th–16th and 15th–16th floors. It is their terraces that form the golden belt across both towers, the brightest accent of their design.

Phase 4 of ALIA residential area.
Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


The “waist” of the terraces is a fresh approach for Moscow, and it deserves dedicated examination. At the height of the 12th and 15th floors, a recess is formed along the contour of each tower. The pilasters remain uninterrupted, as they “hold the shape” both visually and structurally, forming the outer part of the towers’ load-bearing framework. However, behind them, there is a deep balcony; inside, there is a two-story glass wall, sloping at the top – if you look at the cross-section view, it unfolds like a flower.

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    Phase 4 of ALIA residential area.
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS
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    Phase 4 of ALIA residential area
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


It’s clear that the golden hue will depend on the lighting inside the duplex apartments, alternating between light and shade. The interpretation of this theme won’t be too definitive – which is a good thing, as Moscow has seen a lot of experimentation with golden tones in recent years, making it the perfect time to delve into nuances, which is seemingly what we are witnessing here.

The height of the living rooms in the duplex apartments is 6.6 meters, while the standard floor height is 3.3 meters, allowing the interiors to be divided into two full levels. Once, when discussing a building on Korobeynikov Lane, Grigory Revzin compared such inclusions to full-fledged urban villas embedded directly into the building – and in this case, the comparison is also fitting, except for the fact that here the “villas” are arranged in regular rows on their respective floors.

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    Plan of the 12 floor. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area.
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS
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    Plan of the 13 floor. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


The premium duplexes in the towers. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area.
Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


Nevertheless, these belts are very likely to glow, especially at night.

Phase 4 of ALIA residential area.
Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


Continuing the discussion on flexibility, it should be noted that the ribs of the towers curve at the base, further enhancing the resemblance to plants; a visual dialogue is created between the glowing lobby level and the “waist” of the terraces – the buildings grow like metallic “flowers”, but the biomorphic associations are very subtle, not overly emphasized, and don’t jar the eye, which should be recognized as a positive aspect. There is a sense of elastic growth, but the towers don’t pretend to be lotuses, or bamboo, or anything of the kind; they remain more aligned with high-tech rather than bio-mimicry.

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    Facade fragment. Materials and structures. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS
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    Facade fragment. Materials and structures. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS
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    Facade fragment. Materials and structures. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS
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    Facade fragment. Materials and structures. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS
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    Facade fragment. Materials and structures. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS
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    Facade fragment. Materials and structures. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS
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    Facade fragment. Materials and structures. Phase 4 of ALIA residential area
    Copyright: © APEX / ASTERUS


Thus, the northwest “beam” of the new phase of construction sequentially and hierarchically arranges different types of development: changing in class and imagery, and evolving as it progresses towards the river. But it’s not just about that. Its structure also responds to the main focal point of the entire district – Rostec-City, designed by SOM.

As we recall, it was also conceived as a sum of modern urban representations: at the center, there is a glass tower, vertically folded and gleaming – surrounded by brick blocks with galleries. The city of the modern skyscraper is encircled by the city of “New Urbanism”: a multifaceted entity composed of easily recognizable groups. In some ways, the business park in Tushino can be understood as an “icon” of the 21st-century city – a concise and comprehensive statement on contemporary preferences.

The new phase of the residential area in question interprets this idea by “stepping away” from it: closer to the business park, there is a city block, and further away, there is a glass tower. It stretches, dissolves, and grows in height – but it tangibly responds. Thus, the concept is clear, and the rhyme is evident.

22 August 2024

Headlines now
​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.
Birds and Streams
For the competition to design the Omsk airport, DNK ag formed a consortium, inviting VOX architects and Sila Sveta. Their project focuses on intersections, journeys, and flights – both of people and birds – as Omsk is known as a “transfer point” for bird migrations. The educational component is also carefully considered, and the building itself is filled with light, which seems to deconstruct the copper circle of the central entrance portal, spreading it into fantastic hyper-spatial “slices”.