Brick in Milk

Contest proposal of a residential house on the Vernadskogo Avenue, done by "Sergey Skuratov Architects".

Written by:
Anna Martovitskaya
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

15 May 2014

Object

Residential house (apartments) of deluxe class © Sergey Skuratov Architects

The project covered in this issue was developed in the middle of last year for a closed architectural contest. Besides "Sergey Skuratov Architects", the list of participants also included "Project Meganom" and "Tsimailo, Lyashenko and Partenrs" - but the winner never was announced. The customer simply changed his mind and decided not to announced the results - so, all the projects got laid by. In this article, we present to our readers Sergey Skuratov's version of what the residential house on the Vernadskogo Avenue might have looked like.

Residential house (apartments) of deluxe class © Sergey Skuratov Architects

The land site, one that became the object of the contest, is located between the park areas of the Sparrow Hills sightseeing platform, Moscow State University, and the former "Young Pioneers Palace". Most of its territory borders on the Leninogorsk reservoir, and it is only from the north that it neighbors on the residential complex "Monolith" (Kosygina St., 19) and the Institute of Public and Utility Sector. From the future tenants' point of view, this place is practically the perfect one for the construction of a nice cozy "club" house: almost downtown, abundance of lush vegetation, and great views from the windows, ones to be envied at. More that that: the customer was able to get the approvals for building a direct driveway to the territory of the future complex from the Vernadskogo Avenue - which means that the tenants will have at their disposal one of the most convenient thoroughfares of Moscow's southeast. Besides the top-of-the-line requirements to the class of the designed housing, the contestants were quite predictably limited in the building's height: the house was not to violate the already-existing views of this area, and, preferably, be completely hidden behind the trees that grow along the avenue. Sergey Skuratov meets this specification to a letter.

Residential house (apartments) of deluxe class © Sergey Skuratov Architects

Oriented onto the Vernadskogo Avenue, the land site is in fact situated perpendicular to it, widening as it distances the highway - and the same town-planning logic is used by Sergey Skuratov in designing the complex. First of all, this is a tripartite structure that helped to avoid creating, under the limited height conditions, a monotonous "squatting" volume. What the architect does is design three buildings - the narrower one in fact fixes the driving entrance from the avenue, while the two other ones are located deeper in the site along its central axis.

Residential house (apartments) of deluxe class © Sergey Skuratov Architects

Set in such manner, the shift of the volumes in respect to one another becomes not only the most important compositional but also the architectural theme of the project: first of all, the complex gets both "outside" and "inside" facades that are designed totally differently, and, second of all, the territory set by the first building gets a more intimate status than the rest of the yard that stretches along the two other houses. From this standpoint, what really played into the hands of the architects was the height difference that the site had in it: the 5.5 meter drop in the direction of the avenue allows for creating a single stylobate - only the two further buildings grow from it in the usual manner, while with the "street" building it merges into one. Due to this, immediately on the side of the prospect, the complex gets the driving entrance into the underground parking garage that eliminates the risk of a car pile-up in the yard territory, while the yard itself is designed on two levels as a complex system of open and closed territories.

Residential house (apartments) of deluxe class © Sergey Skuratov Architects

The theme of the relief drop also showed up in the architectural design of the narrow building. Getting on the plan a trapeze shape (Skuratov places it exactly following the borders of the "appendix"), it gets a bit wider specifically in the direction of the avenue. And the architect endows this literally high-profile facade with a perceptible tilt: the house looks as if it were wincing away from the highway not wanting to have anything to do with it. And, because its first level is actually a stylobate, the architect designs the "bottom" in as massive manner as possible, using the solid brickwork. Higher up, the armor gets slit with the rather narrow verticals of the windows that start stretching only on the sidewall facade to become truly panoramic ones.

Residential house (apartments) of deluxe class © Sergey Skuratov Architects

In a similar fashion the architect also designs the "outside" facades of the two other buildings with which they face their neighbors - the residential the institute buildings. As for the impregnable fortress walls, Sergey Skuratov proposed to execute them from Flemish brick Kolumba manufactured by the Danish company Petersen Tegl, and then couple it with glass, at some places transparent and in some places fading into opaque and then into milky white. Precisely in this way the inside facades are designed - the ones that are turned onto the most intimate part of the territory - the little gardens of the first floor apartments.

Residential house (apartments) of deluxe class © Sergey Skuratov Architects

Special mention should be given to the interrelation of the three buildings between one another. In the places where the trapeze and the square-plan "middle" building look at each other with their milky facades, the architect rounds down the sharp corners, thus making the glass part of the buildings look even more ethereal. On the other hand, the interrelation between the second and the third buildings manifests itself in the solid surfaces of the fire walls: the thing is that the avenue-farthest house is twice as long as the middle one, and this length-to-length ratio allowed for placing, specifically underneath this "ravine", the central entrance to the complex. Naturally, the roof above it is made totally transparent and the resulting breathtaking "water well" beautifully complements ten interior of the public area. And to these, one must mention, the architects gave their special loving attention.

Residential house (apartments) of deluxe class © Sergey Skuratov Architects

And, while the architecture of the complex is dominated by austere geometry (the new building enters its context cool, calm, and collected), the interior, on the other hand, is reigned by the theme of borders dissolving. The interiors of the apartments are not just laconic - they take to the limit the "everything you need, nothing you don't" idea that, as we know, can only be implemented in the day-to-day life by really wealthy people. The refined whiteness of the private residential territories is framed by the more "material" interiors of the public areas. Here, the white is also present but it does not prevail here just as unrivaled: the dazzling-white walls bleed into the walls of milky glass, while the latter, in turn, becomes more and more transparent closer to the ceiling. Thus fragile, as if thinning, matter is offset with the warm monolith of the natural wood - it is used to decorate the ceilings, some of the walls, and the interiors of the library that, upon the architect's initiative, got included into the first-floor premises and became the "the logic intellectual finale of this particular typology". The entrance lobby is separated from the street by a tall glass wall that arches in a graceful wave, not only shifting the border between the inner and the outer, but also giving the entrance area softer outlines that give away the true kind face of this seemingly "aloof" house.

Residential house (apartments) of deluxe class © Sergey Skuratov Architects

15 May 2014

Headlines now

The Mirror of Your Soul

We continue to publish projects from the competition for the design of the Russian Pavilion at EXPO in Osaka 2025. We are reminding you that the results of the competition have not been announced, and hardly will ever be. The pavilion designed by ASADOV Architects combines a forest log cabin, the image of a hyper transition, and sculptures made of glowing threads – it focuses primarily on the scenography of the exhibition, which the pavilion builds sequentially like a string of impressions, dedicating it to the paradoxes of the Russian soul.

Part of the Ideal

In 2025, another World Expo will take place in Osaka, Japan, in which Russia will not participate. However, a competition for the Russian pavilion was indeed held, with six projects participating. The results were never announced as Russia’s participation was canceled; the competition has no winners. Nevertheless, Expo pavilion projects are typically designed for a bold and interesting architectural statement, so we’ve gathered all the six projects and will be publishing articles about them in random order. The first one is the project by Vladimir Plotkin and Reserve Union, which is distinguished by the clarity of its stereometric shape, the boldness of its structure, and the multiplicity of possible interpretations.

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The Fortress by the River

ASADOV Architects have developed a concept for a new residential district in the center of Kemerovo. To combat the harsh climate and monotonous everyday life, the architects proposed a block type of development with dominant towers, good insolation, facades detailed at eye level, and event programming.

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In the Rhombus Grid

Construction has begun on the building of the OMK (United Metallurgical Company) Corporate University in Nizhny Novgorod’s town of Vyksa, designed by Ostozhenka Architects. The most interesting aspect of the project is how the architects immersed it in the context: “extracting” a diagonal motif from the planning grid of Vyksa, they aligned the building, the square, and the park to match it. A truly masterful work with urban planning context on several different levels of perception has long since become the signature technique of Ostozhenka.

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Generational Connection

Another modern estate, designed by Roman Leonidov, is located in the Moscow region and brings together three generations of one family under one roof. To fit on a narrow plot without depriving anyone of personal space, the architects opted for a zigzag plan. The main volume in the house structure is accentuated by mezzanines with a reverse-sloped roof and ceilings featuring exposed beams.

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Three Dimensions of the City

We began to delve into the project by Sergey Skuratov, the residential complex “Depo” in Minsk, located at Victory Square, and it fascinated us completely. The project has at least several dimensions to it: historical – at some point, the developer decided to discontinue further collaboration with Sergey Skuratov Architects, but the concept was approved, and its implementation continues, mostly in accordance with the proposed ideas. The spatial and urban planning dimension – the architects both argue with the city and play along with it, deciphering nuances, and finding axes. And, finally, the tactile dimension – the constructed buildings also have their own intriguing features. Thus, this article also has two parts: it dwells on what has been built and what was conceived

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New “Flight”

Architects from “Mezonproject” have developed a project for the reconstruction of the regional youth center “Polyot”(“Flight”) in the city of Oryol. The summer youth center, built back in the late 1970s, will now become year-round and acquire many additional functions.

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The Yauza Towers

In Moscow, there aren’t that many buildings or projects designed by Nikita Yavein and Studio 44. In this article, we present to you the concept of a large multifunctional complex on the Yauza River, located between two parks, featuring a promenade, a crossroads of two pedestrian streets, a highly developed public space, and an original architectural solution. This solution combines a sophisticated, asymmetric façade grid, reminiscent of a game of fifteen puzzle, and bold protrusions of the upper parts of the buildings, completely masking the technical floors and sculpting the complex’s silhouette.

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Architecture and Leisure Park

For the suburban hotel complex, which envisages various formats of leisure, the architectural company T+T Architects proposed several types of accommodation, ranging from the classic “standard” in a common building to a “cave in the hill” and a “house in a tree”. An additional challenge consisted in integrating a few classic-style residences already existing on this territory into the “architectural forest park”.

Overview

The U-House

The Jois complex combines height with terraces, bringing the most expensive apartments from penthouses down to the bottom floors. The powerful iconic image of the U-shaped building is the result of the creative search for a new standard of living in high-rise buildings by the architects of “Genpro”.

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Black and White

In this article, we specifically discuss the interiors of the ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh. Interior design is a crucial component of the overall concept in this case, and precision and meticulous execution were highly important for the architects. Julia Tryaskina, head of UNK interiors, shares some of the developments.

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The “Snake” Mountain

The competition project for the seaside resort complex “Serpentine” combines several typologies: apartments of different classes, villas, and hotel rooms. For each of these typologies, the KPLN architects employ one of the images that are drawn from the natural environment – a serpentine road, a mountain stream, and rolling waves.

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Opal from Anna Mons’ Ring

The project of a small business center located near Tupolev Plaza and Radio Street proclaims the necessity of modern architecture in a specific area of Moscow commonly known as “Nemetskaya Sloboda” or “German settlement”. It substantiates its thesis with the thoroughness of details, a multitude of proposed and rejected form variants, and even a detailed description of the surrounding area. The project is interesting indeed, and it is even more interesting to see what will come of it.

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Feed ’Em All

A “House of Russian Cuisine” was designed and built by KROST Group at VDNKh for the “Rossiya” exhibition in record-breaking time. The pavilion is masterfully constructed in terms of the standards of modern public catering industry multiplied by the bustling cultural program of the exhibition, and it interprets the stylistically diverse character of VDNKh just as successfully. At the same time, much of its interior design can be traced back to the prototypes of the 1960s – so much so that even scenes from iconic Soviet movies of those years persistently come to mind.

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The Ensemble at the Mosque

OSA prepared a master plan for a district in the southern part of Derbent. The main task of the master plan is to initiate the formation of a modern comfortable environment in this city. The organization of residential areas is subordinated to the city’s spiritual center: depending on the location relative to the cathedral mosque, the houses are distinguished by façade and plastique solutions. The program also includes a “hospitality center”, administrative buildings, an educational cluster, and even an air bridge.

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Pargolovo Protestantism

A Protestant church is being built in St. Petersburg by the project of SLOI architects. One of the main features of the building is a wooden roof with 25-meter spans, which, among other things, forms the interior of the prayer hall. Also, there are other interesting details – we are telling you more about them.

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The Shape of the Inconceivable

The ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh brings to mind a famous maxim of all architects and critics: “You’ve come up with it? Now build it!” You rarely see such a selfless immersion in implementation of the project, and the formidable structural and engineering tasks set by UNK architects to themselves are presented here as an integral and important part of the architectural idea. The challenge matches the obliging status of the place – after all, it is an “exhibition of achievements”, and the pavilion is dedicated to the nuclear energy industry. Let’s take a closer look: from the outside, from the inside, and from the underside too.

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Rays of the Desert

A school for 1750 students is going to be built in Dubai, designed by IND Architects. The architects took into account the local specifics, and proposed a radial layout and spaces, in which the children will be comfortable throughout the day.

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The Dairy Theme

The concept of an office of a cheese-making company, designed for the enclosed area of a dairy factory, at least partially refers to industrial architecture. Perhaps that is why this concept is very simple, which seems the appropriate thing to do here. The building is enlivened by literally a couple of “master strokes”: the turning of the corner accentuates the entrance, and the shade of glass responds to the theme of “milk rivers” from Russian fairy tales.

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The Road to the Temple

Under a grant from the Small Towns Competition, the main street and temple area of the village of Nikolo-Berezovka near Neftekamsk has been improved. A consortium of APRELarchitects and Novaya Zemlya is turning the village into an open-air museum and integrating ruined buildings into public life.

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Towers Leaning Towards the Sun

The three towers of the residential complex “Novodanilovskaya 8” are new and the tallest neighbors of the Danilovsky Manufactory, “Fort”, and “Plaza”, complementing a whole cluster of modern buildings designed by renowned masters. At the same time, the towers are unique for this setting – they are residential, they are the tallest ones here, and they are located on a challenging site. In this article, we explore how architects Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova tackled this far-from-trivial task.

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In the spirit of ROSTA posters

The new Rostselmash tractor factory, conceptualized by ASADOV Architects, is currently being completed in Rostov-on-Don. References to the Soviet architecture of the 1920’s and 1960’s resonate with the mission and strategic importance of the enterprise, and are also in line with the client’s wish: to pay homage to Rostov’s constructivism.

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The Northern Thebaid

The central part of Ferapontovo village, adjacent to the famous monastery with frescoes by Dionisy, has been improved according to the project by APRELarchitects. Now the place offers basic services for tourists, as well as a place for the villagers’ leisure.

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Brilliant Production

The architects from London-based MOST Architecture have designed the space for the high-tech production of Charge Cars, a high-performance production facility for high-speed electric cars that are assembled in the shell of legendary Ford Mustangs. The founders of both the company and the car assembly startup are Russians who were educated in their home country.

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Three-Part Task: St. Petersburg’s Mytny Dvor

The so-called “Mytny Dvor” area lying just behind Moscow Railway Station – the market rows with a complex history – will be transformed into a premium residential complex by Studio 44. The project consists of three parts: the restoration of historical buildings, the reconstruction of the lost part of the historical contour, and new houses. All of them are harmonized with each other and with the city; axes and “beams of light” were found, cozy corners and scenic viewpoints were carefully thought out. We had a chat with the authors of the historical buildings’ restoration project, and we are telling you about all the different tasks that have been solved here.

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The Color of the City, or Reflections on the Slope of an Urban Settlement

In 2022, Ostozhenka Architects won a competition, and in 2023, they developed and received all the necessary approvals for a master plan for the development of Chernigovskaya Street for the developer GloraX. The project takes into account a 10-year history of previous developments; it was done in collaboration with architects from Nizhny Novgorod, and it continues to evolve now. We carefully examined it, talked to everyone, and learned a lot of interesting things.

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A Single-Industry Town

Kola MMC and Nornickel are building a residential neighborhood in Monchegorsk for their future employees. It is based on a project by an international team that won the 2021 competition. The project offers a number of solutions meant to combat the main “demons” of any northern city: wind, grayness and boredom.

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A New Age Portico

At the beginning of the year, Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport opened Terminal C. The large-scale and transparent entrance hall with luminous columns inside successfully combines laconism with a bright and photogenic WOW-effect. The terminal is both the new façade of the whole complex and the starting point of the planned reconstruction, upon completion of which Tolmachevo will become the largest regional airport in Russia. In this article, we are examining the building in the context of modernist prototypes of both Novosibirsk and Leningrad: like puzzle pieces, they come together to form their individual history, not devoid of curious nuances and details.

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A New Starting Point

We’ve been wanting to examine the RuArts Foundation space, designed by ATRIUM for quite a long time, and we finally got round to it. This building looks appropriate and impressive; it amazingly combines tradition – represented in our case by galleries – and innovation. In this article, we delve into details and study the building’s historical background as well.

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Molding Perspectives

Stepan Liphart introduces “schematic Art Deco” on the outskirts of Kazan – his houses are executed in green color, with a glassy “iced” finish on the facades. The main merits of the project lie in his meticulous arrangement of viewing angles – the architect is striving to create in a challenging environment the embryo of a city not only in terms of pedestrian accessibility but also in a sculptural sense. He works with silhouettes, proposing intriguing triangular terraces. The entire project is structured like a crystal, following two grids, orthogonal and diagonal. In this article, we are examining what worked, and what eventually didn’t.