По-русски

Key to the Island

Sergey Skuratov's project for the Sofiyskaya Embankment gracefully ties the Roman associations and the beauty of inner controversies of today's architecture to the context of today's Moscow. The result is a new city axis where the view of the Kremlin tower must draw the tourist into a perspective and then lead him down the boulevard to the river.

Julia Tarabarina

Written by:
Julia Tarabarina
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

29 October 2015
Object
mainImg


This project by Sergey Skuratov won the international competition for the best concept of integrated multifunctional construction on the Sofiyskaya Embankment getting the upper hand of five other finalists: Steven Holl, Benedetta Taglabue of EMBT, Sergey Tchoban, Cino Zucchi, and MLA+ (Markus Appenzeller and others). The projects of the five finalists are available here.

"This is a very mysterious place and one that imposes great responsibility on you - said the architect on the day the results of the contest were announced - I must have walked around it for decades, and I even made attempts to make my first test proposals. In my opinion, transforming this place will be the key to finding a solution for the entire island". 

Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Location plan © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. View from a roof © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Thus, the contestants were required to create a project of a multifunctional complex consisting of a residential part, a boutique hotel, shops, cafes, a parking lot, and a fitness center, as well as pay homage to the hot trend of today taking care of the urban environment. The proposals by all the six finalists addressed this part of the task by designing a boulevard that connected the Bolotnaya Square to the embankment running along the Moskva River framing, one way or another, the view of Moscow's main sight - the towers of the Kremlin. 

Sergey Skuratov, however, going far beyond the pale of the land site in question, made a perfect match between the public space of the boulevard and the visual pedestrian axis connecting the beginning of the Lavrushinsky Alley to the embankment. This axis will lead an individual who, say, exited from the Tretyakovskaya Gallery and saw in the unfolding perspective the landmark of the Vodovzvodnaya Tower, down the park to the boulevard - where they will immerse themselves into the atmosphere of a bustling tourist city - and then will find themselves on the embankment to enjoy the views of the Tsar's fortress. In order to make this path more smooth, and in order to make the tower always visible in the distance, every detail has been taken care of: the architect draws pedestrian crossings and proposes to prolong and broaden the traverse promenade of the park, and maybe even - still later on - take away the large circular flower bed behind the back of the bronze Repin monument, so that it would not get in the way. Also it is planned that a few hazardous trees will be removed from the line of vision. Ultimately the city is going to get a small but still new and neat tourist route running from the museum passage at the corner of the future new building of the Tretyakovskaya Gallery to the moor on the embankment. For the time being, there is also a hypothetical possibility of getting a reverse tourist route: if the tourists come by boat and make an ascent to the nation's main museum of painting via a small pedestrian street inside the new complex designed by Skuratov. 

Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Axis. Master plan © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Pedestrian crossing © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Replanting the trees © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Boulevard © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. The central pedestrian area © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. The central pedestrian artery © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


The beam that connects the museum and the tower was prompted by the cityscape itself; meanwhile, it is not the only "starting point" in the project: the architect also carefully "reads out" other peculiar features of the space that he creates out of the territory's details. The almost imperceptible broadening of the borders of the land site in the direction of the river is transferred over to the contours of the pedestrian boulevard through the volumes of residential buildings standing parallel to these borders, one standing parallel to the western, and the other - to the eastern one. Joining at an angle, the walls endow the pedestrian street with a play of perspective, akin to Michelangelo's Stairs in Vatican. It narrows as it approaches the Bolotnaya Square and widens as it gets closer to the Kremlin, forming a wide frame and thus bringing Moscow's main sight even a little closer to the viewer. 

Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Bird's height view © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Then the architect takes the space which is the result or even a sum total that he derives from the peculiarities of its surroundings and adds some extra faceting to it: specifically, he smoothly cuts off the corner of the eastern building along the line of that same "beam" of vision.

The described theme of merging of the axes graphically manifests itself in the pattern of the pavement that consists of a multitude of strokes perpendicular to these two main axes; when crossing, they form a semblance of a geometric centipede with "beam" legs, the whole thing ultimately looking like a mini-quest for a person standing there and looking down, some sort of code concealing one of the main meanings of this place - the "backbone" of its territory.

Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Paving plan © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Paving plan © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Landscaping plan © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Pedestrian and transport plan © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


On the whole, Sergey Skuratov ultimately got a very "Moscow" boulevard: the fact that it is tied to the local terrain by a few parameters predictably gave a collection of jagged contours and differently pointed angles with comparatively narrow gates for entering and exiting. Apart from that, a certain difficulty for opening up the boulevard's perspective was posed by the manor house wing and its annex that stood directly on the beam's line - being in fact a low-rise two-story affair, it did not block the entire view, of course, but still was enough to ruin the classical "prism" structure. Exiting from the embankment side is only possible at an angle, through the former courtyard of the Durasov Manor House (that will be remodeled to become a hotel this time), then flanking the wing from the right. The whole thing is anything but a classic avenue - rather, it is a string of Venetian-type squares with deep corners filled by the cozy cafe tables, but at the same time it remains to be a string of classic Moscow yards. 

Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Bird's height view © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Bird's height view © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. View from the roof © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


What is important is the fact that this space is actually the realization of the ultimate dream of Gutnov's school of thought. The echo of the projects of the seventies and eighties that presented this city as being well cared for and looked after, lending itself for pedestrian walks, a bit reminiscent of the coziness of the centers of European cities, and a bit trying to restore the charm of the "village" Moscow, that was right about that time sliced by the scissors of the newly built residential slabs. Here, the center of a European town comes to mind again, which is no surprise, because it is precisely the place that the examples of high quality land organization are to be found at. However, there's still a flavor of a "good old Moscow little yard" in the air. One can even remember that the painting by Polenov is kept nearby, in that same State Tretyakovskaya Gallery to which the southern end of the territorial beam is pointed.

Along the sides of the boulevard, there are shop windows - there is a reason for Sergey Skuratov comparing the space that he invented to Saint-Louis en l'Île, the Parisian island to the Moscow one. And beneath the strolling people's feet, the architect places the atrium of an underground shopping mall lit by the flat circular lamps built into the pavement (some critics of the projects confused (or pretended to confuse) them with puddles drawn on the 3D render to make it look more realistic, but, no, there are lamps, not puddles). The largest of such "downward windows" is a circular sun tube opening in the broad place of the square behind the manor's wing: in the atrium below it, there is a fountain, and this sun tube provides some extra light and fresh air to the underground floor, at the same time connecting the tiers vertically. The pedestrian shopping street, belonging half to the city, half to the underground, leads down to the embankment where, following the idea of reorganizing the Moskva River, in its smooth bend, a stone amphitheater with large-sized steps and a walking trail running along the waterfront is formed - some sort of "tourist climax" that completes the development of the town-planning, environmental, and other intrigues of the central part of the project. 

Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Bird's height view © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. View from the roof © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


There are also three private residential yards. Here, besides the landscaping, just as detailed as it is on the boulevard, there is yet another peculiarity: in front of the first-floor flats, personal terraces for the residents are organized, sunken into the ground. The "minus two" floor conceals the residents-only parking garage accessible by a special pass, while the "minus one" floor provides a public garage for the general public, first of all, for the shoppers. Also, in the western part, there is a high-ceilinged fitness center.

It is remarkable how modern architecture gets one speaking first about the spaces between the buildings, and then only about the buildings themselves. Nevertheless, they are also important. The three long units stand along the perimeter of the land site in a "double L", the fourth one snuggling in the middle, the pedestrian boulevard stretching east, and the residents-only yard lying west of it. From the architect's storyboard, one can easily see that back in the XVIII century this land had fewer houses standing upon it; mostly they stood alongside the embankment, and at the back of the site there were the remnants of the Tsar's gardens. In the XIX century, however, this whole territory was overbuilt with different houses, some of them being residential, some - factory buildings. The planning that is being proposed now is significantly denser - which comes as no surprise - but it still provides more air than the "capitalist" one. The narrow "wells" gave way to the yards of a human-friendly kind. 

Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Stages of development and transformation of the planning infrastructure © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Out of the six contestants, Sergey Skuratov was the only one to opt out of making his project in a more "conservative" or "contemporary" style - what he did was simply slice his volumes in half making one of the halves reservedly conservative and the other half - reservedly modern. Then, according to the architect, he "glued" them together with a layer of glass, thus avoiding the risk of any excessive thickness of the volumes: now each of the halves was no wider than 12 meters. So, this project is in effect a declaration of a mixture of more and less conservative architecture - a phenomenon to be seen in the centers of many historic cities such as Wien, Milan, or Istanbul.

Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Hip build © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


The "conservative" volumes are covered by beige Flemish brick whose proportions remind of plinthiform brick. The window jambs are ostentatiously deep, somewhere perpendicular to the surface of the wall, somewhere gently sloping, going into the perspective, and at some places the corner that turns to the window is circularly rounded, as if a column had "drowned" in it. Then these robust shafts line up to form an even clearer picture turning the window into a sculpture that might even be perceived as the embodiment of the author's meditation on the thickness, the volume, and the plastique of the wall. The architect names two prototypes for this form: the uprights of the Kremlin towers of the XVII century and the "textbook example" of the Roman Tomb of Eurysaces the Baker (MAKE ACTIVE WIKI), from which people usually remember the lines of round openings that the architects Shchuko and Gelfreich repeated in their project of Moscow's Lenin Library. And Sergey Skuratov also noted the close array of the wide round pillars of special proportions. At this point, it is time for us to remember that Moscow is in fact the Third Rome, and the columns turn out to be twice as contextual, mostly because of the antiquated traces of the Ancient Rome that is quite palpable here, just as through some of the intonations of the roman Art Deco supported by the unity of texture and the arrays of pylons on the top floors.

There is enough of "Moscow" here anyway, though: it is represented, among other things, by the gently sloping roof pitches, and the build hips upon the side walls, so much loved by the historic preservation activists - they appear in a few places forming the signs of the tell-tale "attic" silhouette and rhyming with the roofs of the preserved historic buildings nearby. But then again, at the side wall of the penthouse, one of the most expensive ones, commanding the view of the Vodovzvodnaya Tower, making a build hip was impossible: it would be really a bad idea to block such a great view. So, from this side, the side wall looks almost like a temple, framed by pairs of long columns.

Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Facade © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Facade © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


The "modernist" units, unlike the brick ones, are snow-white; it is planned that their facades will be covered with polished concrete. However, the facade that is turned to the boulevard - and we should hardly mention that the two walls of the boulevard are different, one being brick red, the other being white - is livened up by brick inserts that help to soften the contrast a little bit and bear a distant resemblance to brickwork showing through the stucco. The roofs of the white volumes will be flat, usable, and accessible to all the residents; the windows also have the smooth cutaways but at some places their glass stands out above the glass prism. Besides the common brick inserts, the resonance between the units is provided by the common proportions of the windows - the "French" floor-to-ceiling kind together with the "French" narrow balconies and the slabs of the windowsills. 

Wherever the side walls of the white volumes are turned to the Kremlin, they are "cut off" by the large steps of the terraces that Sergey Skuratov likens to an ancient theater inscribed into the city. The walls here are completely made of glass, the opaque glass turning into the mirror type in a smooth gradient. 

Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


It is obvious that the contrasting architecture of the merged slabs of the residential buildings will be convenient for the people who will live here, them having an opportunity to choose, among other things, which house they ultimately prefer - the snow-white one or the "ancient" red-brick kind. On the other hand, the alternation of the modern and the historical in a striped pattern has long since become the "visiting card" of Moscow architecture, so this artistic device also has certain signs of being contextual. 

As of now, it is still too early to judge how often strolling Muscovites or tourists will be "drawn in" by the "beam" that leads to this place from the Lavrushinsky Alley - presently, the Bolotnaya Square draws huge crowds that come here for anti-government rallies but that that does not happen every day; otherwise, the square is all but empty. It is hard to say which will be more convenient for the people who will live here - the busy public space with retail stores or the peaceful environment with views of the Kremlin. However, if we are to judge by some features of this project, as well as by Sergey Skuratov's words, this project could become a "seed" or even some sort of "gauge" for developing the city's downtown area. Or, in any case, help the Moscow island take on some useful features of the Paris one. 
***

The author's description of the project (Russian) and still more pictures are available here. 
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. The interior of the penthouse © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Master plan © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Plan of the 2nd floor © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Plan of the 3rd floor © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Plan of the 4th floor © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Plan of the roof © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Entrances for the residents © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Entrances for the residents © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Entrances to the private territory © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Plan of the apartment with one bedroom © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Plan of the apartment with two bedrooms (Type 1) © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Plan of the apartment with two bedrooms (Type 2) © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Plan of the apartment with three bedrooms © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Plan of the two-level apartment with two bedrooms © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Penthouse © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Option for transforming the apartments © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Option for transforming the apartments © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Multifunctional integrated development of the Sofiyskaya Embankment. Option for transforming the apartments © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS


29 October 2015

Julia Tarabarina

Written by:

Julia Tarabarina
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov
Headlines now
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”.
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”.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
​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.
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.
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.
​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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
An Educational Experiment for the North
City-Arch continues to work on the projects that can be termed as “experimental public preschools”: private kindergartens and schools can envy such facilities in many respects. This time around, the project is done for the city of Gubkinsky, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. A diverse educational and play environment, including a winter garden, awaits future students, while the teachers will have abundant opportunities to implement new practices.
Alexandra Kuzmina: “Working is easy when the rules are the same for everyone”
The subject matter of Moscow Region’s booth and presentations at Zodchestvo Festival was the concept of “Integrated Land Development”, and for a good reason: this task is very challenging, very relevant, and Moscow Region has already accumulated quite a formidable experience in this regard. In this article, we are speaking to the main architect of the region: about master plans and who makes them, about where you obtain resources for creating a comfortable environment, about her favorite projects, about why there are so few good architects, and what we should do with the bad ones.
The Cemetery: Inside and Outside
The workshop organized by the Genplan Institute of Moscow scored one of the two first places at the “Open City” festival. Its subject is reorganization of municipal cemeteries. Two action plans were proposed, diametrically opposite: one for the downtown and one for the suburbs.
Our Everything
Who is Alexey Shchusev? In the last couple of weeks, since the architect’s 150th birthday, different individuals have answered this question differently. The most detailed, illustrated, and elegantly presented response is an exhibition held in two buildings of the Museum of Architecture on Vozdvizhenka. Four curators, a year and a half of work performed by the entire museum, and exhibition design by Sergey Tchoban and Alexandra Sheiner – in this article, we take you on a tour of the exhibition and show what’s what in it.
For Mental Reboot
At the architectural competition held in 2023 in Novosibirsk, the project by GORA Architects – a pedestrian bridge leading to the town of Bor – was awarded the “Golden Capital” prize. In this country, more than a hundred pedestrian bridges are constructed each year. What makes the Bor bridge different?
Gold Embroidery
A five-story housing complex designed by Stepan Liphart in Kazan, responds to the stylistically diverse context with its form, both integral and agile, and as for the vicinity of the “Ekiyat” movie theater, the complex responds to it with a semblance of theater curtain folds, and active plastique of its balconies, that bear some resemblance to theater boxes. Even if excessively pompous a little bit, the complex does look fresh and modern. One will have a hard time finding Art Deco elements in it, even though the spirit of the 1930s, run through the filter of neo-modernism, is still clearly felt, just as a twist of the Occident.
Reconciliation
The restoration of the Salt Warehouse for the Zvenigorod Museum, on the one hand, was quite accurately implemented according to the design of the People’s Architect, and, on the other hand, it was not without some extra research and adjustments, which, in this case, was quite beneficial for the project. The architects discovered the original paint color, details of the facades, and studied the history of rebuilds of this building. As a result, the imposing character of the empire building, the oldest one in the city, and the differences of later additions were accurately revealed. Most importantly, however, the city got a new cultural and public space, which is already “working” in full swing.
From Moscow to Khabarovsk
This year, the works submitted by the students of the Genplan Institute of Moscow included a proposal for revitalizing Moscow’s “Pravda” complex with its structures designed by Ilia Golosov, landscaping an East Siberian town, located a 12-hour drive away from the nearest big city, and three versions of turning a derelict “pioneer camp” into an educational hub, similar to “Sirius”. Two sites out of three have an interested client, so chances are that the students’ works will be ultimately implemented.