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.

Written by:
Maria Lyndina
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

12 December 2025

Object

The history of the Obninsk branch of the National Research Nuclear University spans more than 70 years. An evening department of the institute – then still the Moscow Mechanical Institute – was established here in the early 1950s. In the 1970s and 1980s, the center continued to develop, and in 1985 the Obninsk Institute for Nuclear Power Engineering was officially opened. New academic buildings and dormitories were designed for it, though only part of what was planned was actually built. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster had a negative impact on the further development of the entire sector, leading to global caution and prejudice toward the construction of new power plants, while the social and economic difficulties of the last 15 years of the 20th century brought the institute’s growth to a halt. In the current century, however, the efficiency of nuclear power plants and their comparatively lower environmental impact have become increasingly evident. All of these factors prompted renewed interest in peaceful use of nuclear energy: in 2009, the institute returned to its roots and was officially incorporated into MEPhI.

zooming — Prospective master plan for the MEPhI campus in Obninsk

Copyright: © Mezonproekt

Statistics show that nearly 88% of nuclear power plants currently under construction worldwide are being built with the participation of the Rosatom Corporation. Yet despite being an undisputed expert in the field, Russia accounts for only 5% of education in nuclear and related disciplines. The gap is too large and clearly needs to be reduced. The continued existence of this promising, high-tech sector requires advanced, modern infrastructure. This is how the project of a global educational and technological center based on the MEPhI branch in Obninsk came into being.

For Mezonproekt leader Ilya Mashkov, a MEPhI graduate of the mid-1990s, the work on shaping a new nuclear campus has been particularly important and personally meaningful.

The branch occupies a forested site of about 100 hectares in the northern part of Obninsk. At this point – just beyond Marx Avenue – the city ends rather abruptly: after the apartment blocks and detached houses, the forest begins, stretching all the way down to the Protva River. The boundary is marked by a high-pressure gas pipeline running along the northern edge of the urban development toward Borovsk. The pipeline is designed in such a way that no construction is permitted either above it or in close proximity, creating an exclusion zone roughly 500 meters wide, mostly overgrown with forest. Along its northern edge runs Universitetskaya Street – a straight, deserted dead-end road leading to a restricted facility, the Obninsk radio station. If you turn left onto Universitetskaya Street when leaving the city, you first pass a series of weathered warehouses – quite appropriate for the outskirts – then a ceramic-clad plinth of the “Technopark”, followed by the brand-new, crisply striped building of GARF, strikingly metropolitan in its otherwise provincial surroundings. Beyond that, the forest grows denser, and for an outside observer the student campus – the subject of this master plan – is for now visible only through its security checkpoints. It is precisely this territory that is to be rethought and transformed into a “calling card” of Russian engineering education in the nuclear field.

According to a half-joking formulation by Ilya Mashkov, the project’s task is “nuclear diplomacy – but strictly in a positive sense”. “Countries that build nuclear power plants have their own schools for training specialists, but the Russian approach requires a mandatory, fundamental understanding of scientific principles rather than simply knowing which button to push”, he says. “Moreover, I am convinced that the educational hub project in Obninsk will be of interest to many countries around the world and, overall, can have a beneficial impact on the ecology of our planet. Some economies still rely on coal for up to 90% of their energy – certain African countries, for example. So in reality, the problem affects a significant share of the world’s population. And what is electricity, after all? It is, for instance, clean water and solutions to sanitation issues. In fact, achieving all 17 Sustainable Development Goals formulated in the 2015 UN resolution is directly linked to energy. The new nuclear campus in Obninsk is intended to become a place where students from around the world will learn to understand peaceful nuclear energy, thoroughly grasp the specifics of its application, complete internships at other institutes affiliated with Rosatom and beyond, and then take this deep knowledge back home to help change the situation for the better”.

That is why the high-rise landmark of the entire campus will be an office tower housing not only a representation of the IAEA, startups, and specialized companies, but also offices of various countries interested in developing the industry – Brazil, China, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Hungary, and others. The opportunity to ask questions in one’s native language and receive support is intended to significantly ease the integration of international students.

Prospective master plan for the MEPhI campus in Obninsk

Copyright: © Mezonproekt
Prospective master plan for the MEPhI campus in Obninsk

Copyright: © Mezonproekt

The tower, however, will not be placed at the center of the site but in its southern corner. Around it, a business hub for the entire campus will take shape, including a hotel, exhibition spaces, and a standalone Museum of the Peaceful Atom. The overall volume of the congress center is not accidental in its form: in plan, it represents a contemporary graphic interpretation of atomic orbitals.

The existing academic buildings nearby are planned to be expanded, forming a main educational complex with a large covered public space at its core. Adjacent to the business zone, an ethnopark and a food court will be created, with restaurants and cafés offering national cuisines from different countries; themed festivals can also be held here. Farther along the northwestern edge of the site, student dormitories, housing for faculty, and residences for young professionals will be located.

From the academic buildings, it will be possible to reach the residential zone through the ethnopark via partially covered passages protected from the whims of the weather. The central part of the site, meanwhile, is reserved for culture and sports. In addition, the plan includes an aquatic complex, a boarding school for gifted children, a college for specialized vocational and technical education, a technopark, and a separate nuclear medicine center – an especially important and rapidly developing related field.

Interestingly, in the placement of certain buildings, the new master plan continues the logic of a late-Soviet plan that was never fully realized. The infrastructure being created will make it possible to nearly triple the number of students across different programs and formats of study, opening a path into a high-tech and promising field: the campus is designed for 13,000 people, with a significant increase in the number of international students envisaged. At the same time, all sports and cultural facilities are planned to be accessible to city residents as well. Layered over the traditional functional zoning and the programmed system of human flows (students, faculty members, researchers, local residents, transport) will be a social and cultural network: urban public spaces, a research cluster, a museum zone, the university itself with its dormitories, park lecture venues, art, and sports. Without always intersecting, these layers will nonetheless be legible in the landscaping, in the wayfinding system, in the spatial design, and architecture, together creating a truly contemporary and progressive territory for the international educational cluster collectively named “Obninsk-Tech”.

Relocating the gas pipeline route that separates the campus from the city is impossible – only minimal measures can be taken, such as installing lighting, improving the existing network of paths, and adding paved elements. On the one hand, this is an advantage: even now, the MEPhI branch, surrounded by forest, feels like a classic 1970s campus – a “small country” set within an environmentally rich landscape. Further development of the site will only increase the value of its natural surroundings. At the same time, the authors of the master plan suggest not dismissing the issue of the site’s “enclave” character and instead addressing connectivity in a comprehensive way by improving links between the science- and education-oriented northern edge of the science city of Obninsk and the rest of the city: looping University Street and extending public transportation into the campus.

A project of this magnitude will inevitably transform the city itself, effectively creating a new urban core. It will also support other forward-looking initiatives being developed by the Obninsk city administration and the Kaluga Region authorities, including the improvement of Repin Ravine, the reconstruction of the Protva River embankment, a ski slope with a spa center, a year-round aqua-thermal complex, the formation of a new art cluster, courtyard upgrades, the creation of a unified bicycle network, and many other projects. After all, attracting top-level faculty and specialists requires improving quality of life – offering distinctive, comfortable housing, well-developed infrastructure, and a wide range of activities. The campus will provide significant opportunities in this regard, but for active young people, it alone will still not be enough.

Prospective master plan for the MEPhI campus in Obninsk

Copyright: © Mezonproekt
Prospective master plan for the MEPhI campus in Obninsk

Copyright: © Mezonproekt

At present, only a long-term master plan for the vast territory is being developed, and it is too early to speak about specific architectural solutions. At the next stage, the architects plan to propose a unified design code that will bring together the existing buildings from different periods as well as newly completed structures (such as the recently finished state archive building on the adjacent site) with future volumes – a rather complex task. Major renovation of the existing buildings is scheduled to begin as early as 2026. The start of the main construction phase is currently planned for 2030, and total investment across all three phases is estimated at more than 51 billion rubles, with Rosatom Corporation set to become one of the key investors.

Ilia Mashkov, «Mezonproekt»

The Obninsk-Tech campus project was presented to the President in August 2025. I am very pleased that by that point we had arrived at an understanding of the fundamental urban planning solutions, ones that are commensurate with the ambition and the high goal of the project. The project team managed to avoid getting lost in details and to preserve the urban-planning scale of thinking. A great deal of work still lies ahead: developing architectural solutions for specific buildings, creating a design code for the entire site, and shaping a high-quality, inspiring environment. Over the course of our work, we gathered input from the business community, the city administration, representatives of the university itself, Rosatom Corporation, and, of course, students – all of this will be taken into account in further design decisions. Incidentally, to illustrate some of the buildings of the future campus and to lend materiality to the urban-planning concepts, we mostly used our own previous projects, reapplying them in a new context. We are very happy with the result.

12 December 2025

Written by:

Maria Lyndina
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

Headlines now

Object

A Small Country

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.

Interview

Sergey Tchoban: “My ideal model for shaping a museum space is the Uffizi Gallery. In the...

Yesterday, the ZILART Museum opened on the ZILART grounds with three exhibitions curated by well-known curators. We speak with Sergey Tchoban about the concept and its realization.

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!

Object

Beneath the Azure Sky

A depository designed by Studio 44 will soon be built in Kenozersky National Park to preserve and display the so-called “heavens” – ceiling structures characteristic of wooden churches in the Russian North, painted with biblical scenes. For each of these “heavens”, the architects created a volume corresponding in scale and dimensions to the original church interior. The result is a honeycomb-like composition, with modules derived directly from the historic monuments themselves, allowing visitors to view the icons from the historically accurate angle – from below, looking upward. How exactly this works is the subject of our story.

Object

The Power of Lines

The building at the very beginning of New Arbat is the result of long deliberations over how to replace the former House of Communication. Contemporary, dynamic, and even somewhat zoomorphic in character, it is structured around a large diagonal grid. The building has become a striking accent both in the perspective of the former Kalinin Avenue and in the panorama of Arbat Square. Yet, unfortunately, the original concept was not fully realized. In 2020, the Moscow ArchCouncil approved a design featuring an exoskeleton – an external load-bearing structure, which eventually turned into a purely decorative element. Still, the power of the supergraphic “holds” the building, giving it the qualities of a new urban landmark with iconic potential. How this concept took shape, what unexpected associations might underlie the grid’s form, and why the exoskeleton was never built – all this is explored in our article.

News

Resort on the Kama River

Wowhaus has developed a project for the reconstruction of Korabelnaya Roshcha (“Mast Grove”), a wellness resort located on the banks of the Kama River.

Object

Nests in Primorye

The eco-park project “Nests”, designed by Aleksey Polishchuk and the company Power Technologies, received first prize at the Eco-Coast 2025 festival, organized by the Union of Architects of Russia. For a glamping site in Filinskaya Bay, the authors proposed bird-shaped houses, treehouses, and a nest-shaped observation platform, topping it all with an entrance pavilion executed in the shape of an owl.

Object

The Angle of String Tension

The House of Music, designed by Vladimir Plotkin and the architects of TPO Reserve, resembles a harp, and when seen from above, even a bass clef. But if only it were that simple! The architecture of the complex fuses two distinct expressive languages: the lattice-like, transparent, permeable vocabulary of “classical” modernism and the sculptural, ribbon-like volumes so beloved by today’s neo-modernism. How it all works – where the catharsis lies, which compositional axes underpin the design, where the project resembles Zaryadye Concert Hall and where it does not – read in the article below.

Object

How Historic Tobolsk Becomes a Portal to the Future

Over the past decade, the architectural company Wowhaus has developed urban strategies for several Russian cities – Vyksa, Tula, and Nizhnekamsk, to name but a few. Against this backdrop, the Tobolsk master plan stands out both for its scale – the territory under transformation covers more than 220 square kilometers – and for its complexity.

Object

St. Petersburg vs Rome

The center of St. Petersburg is, as we know, sacred – but few people can say with certainty where this “sacred place” actually begins and ends. It’s not about the formal boundaries, “from the Obvodny Canal to the Bolshaya Nevka”, but about the vibe that feels true to the city center. With the Nevskaya Ratusha complex – built to a design that won an international competition – Evgeny Gerasimov and Sergei Tchoban created an “image of the center” within its territory. And not so much the image of St. Petersburg itself, as that of a global metropolis. This is something new, something that hasn’t appeared in the city for a long time. In this article, we study the atmosphere, recall precedents, and even reflect on who and when first called St. Petersburg the “new Rome”. Clearly, the idea is alive for a reason.

Object

On the Wave

The project of transforming the river port and embankment in the city of Cheboksary, developed by the ATRIUM Architects, involves one of the city’s key areas. The Volga embankment is to be turned into a riverside boulevard – a multifunctional, comfortable, and expressive space for work and leisure activities. The authors propose creating a new link with the city’s main Krasnaya (“Red”) Square, as well as erecting several residential towers inspired by the shape of the traditional national women’s headdress – these towers are likely to become striking accents on the Volga panorama.

Interview

Valery Kanyashin: “We Were Given a Free Hand”

The Headliner residential complex, the main part of which was recently completed just across from Moscow City, is a kind of neighbor to the MIBC that doesn’t “play along” with it. On the contrary, the new complex is entirely built on contrast: like a city of differently scaled buildings that seems to have emerged naturally over the past 20 years – which is a hugely popular trend nowadays! And yet here – perhaps only here – such a project has been realized to its full potential. Yes, high-rises dominate, but all these slender, delicate profiles, all these exciting perspectives! And most importantly – how everything is mixed and composed together... We spoke with the project’s leader Valery Kanyashin.

Object

The Keystone

Until quite recently, premium residential and office complexes in Moscow were seen as the exclusive privilege of the city center. Today the situation is changing: high-quality architecture is moving beyond the confines of the Third Ring Road and appearing on the outskirts. The STONE Kaluzhskaya business center is one such example. Projects like this help decentralize the megalopolis, making life and work prestigious in any part of the city.

send.project

Perpetuum Mobile

The interior of the headquarters of Natsproektstroy, created by the IND studio team, vividly and effectively reflects the client’s field of activity – it is one of Russia’s largest infrastructure companies, responsible for logistics and transport communications of every kind you can possibly think of.

Object

Water and Light

Church art is full of symbolism, and part of it is truly canonical, while another part is shaped by tradition and is perceived by some as obligatory. Because of this kind of “false conservatism”, contemporary church architecture develops slowly compared to other genres, and rarely looks contemporary. Nevertheless, there are enthusiasts in this field out there: the cemetery church of Archangel Michael in Apatity, designed by Dmitry Ostroumov and Prokhram bureau, combines tradition and experiment. This is not an experiment for its own sake, however – rather, the considered work of a contemporary architect with the symbolism of space, volume, and, above all, light.

Object

Champions’ Cup

At first glance, the Bell skyscraper on 1st Yamskogo Polya Street, 12, appears strict and laconic – though by no means modest. Its economical stereometry is built on a form close to an oval, one of UNK architects’ favorite themes. The streamlined surface of the main volume, clad in metal louvers, is sliced twice with glass incisions that graphically reveal the essence of the original shape: both its simplicity and its complexity. At the same time, dozens of highly complex engineering puzzles have been solved here.

send.project

Semi-Digital Environment

In the town of Innopolis, a satellite of Kazan, the first 4-star hotel designed by MAD Architects has opened. The interiors of the hotel combine elegance with irony, and technology with comfort, evoking the atmosphere of a computer game or maybe a sci-fi movie about the near future.

Object

History never ends

The old railway station in Kapan, a city in southern Armenia, has been given new life by the Paris-based design firm Normal Studio. Today, it serves as a TUMO center.

Object

A Deep, Crystal Shine

A new luxury residential development by ADM architects is set to rise in the Patriarch’s Ponds district, not far from Novopushkinsky Square. It will replace three buildings erected in the early 1990s. The project authors, Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova, have placed their bets on the variety among the three volumes, modern design solutions, and attention to detail: one of the buildings will feature smoothly curved balconies with a ceramic sheen on their undersides, while another will be accented by glass “sculpture” columns.

Interview

Grigory Revzin: “What we should do with the architecture of the seventies”

Soviet modernism came in two flavors: the good, author-driven kind, and the bad, standardized kind. The good kind was “on the periphery”, while the bad kind was in the center – geographically, in terms of attention, scale, and everything else. Can we demolish it? “That would be destroying public consensus out of thin air”. So what should we do? Preserve it, but creatively: “Bring architecture into places where it hasn’t yet appeared”. Treat these buildings not as monuments, but as urban landscape. Read our interview with Grigory Revzin on the pressing topic of saving modernism – where he proposes a controversial, yet really intriguing, way of preserving 1970s buildings.

Overview

A Roadside Picnic of Urban Planning Theorists

Marina Egorova, head of Empate Architectural Bureau, brought together urban planning theorists – the successors of Alexey Gutnov and Vyacheslav Glazychev – to revive the substance and depth of professional discourse. At the first meeting, much ground was covered: the participants revisited the theoretical foundations, aligned their values, examined a cutting-edge case of the Kazan agglomeration, and concluded with the unfathomable intricacies of Russian land demarcation. Below, we present key takeaways from all the presentations.