On a Skate’s Blade

The concept proposed by Aleksey Ivanov outside of the formal competition for the territory that surrounds the future ice arena is based on the image of the arched trail of a skate – but it operates large-scale masses.

Written by:

Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

25 October 2017

Object

“Hockey is absolutely my element and a happy hobby; this spectacular and temperamental game is unquenchable, just as the human thirst for rivalry and self-realization” – Valery Kharlamov.

zooming — Architectural and planning concept of "Novosibirsk Srena" project. Panorama as seen from the bridge. Project, 2016 © Arkhstroydesign

The decision about building a large hockey arena on the left bank of the Ob River before the Oktyabrsky Bridge in Novosibirsk is a part of the federally funded program for developing the children’s and youth’s sports that gained momentum after the Sochi Olympics. The 31-hectare land site is situated on an overgrown and swamped bank of the river, which is particularly wide in these parts, about a kilometer from bank to bank; this area is partially a wild land, but at the same time sort of a riverside resort as well because there is a recently built ski station just outside its southwest border, and a park lying south of it, as well as boat renting stations, a shooting range, and a horse-riding club. Over the bridge, there is a beach. So it comes as no surprise that all around new houses are built. Besides, within a 15-minutes’ walking distance, the campus of the Novosibirsk University is situated, surrounded by a few institutes of a smaller scale, and the “Studencheskaya” metro station – in fact, this is a second center of the city after the main historical one. The transport accessibility is also good: in addition to the metro (they are also going to build the “Sportivnaya” metro station here), the bridge is one of the city’s main thoroughfares. The location is so great that probably hitherto the construction work was delayed solely for the complex hydrological reasons.

Territory survey in the project by Arkhstroydesign

It is planned that the arena will be placed practically on the very edge of the water and will be turned into the centerpiece of this area. Still, this virgin territory is really huge, and the picturesque riverside panoramas are unique as it is. In order to get the best architectural proposal, the authorities announced a competition for the concept of developing the entire area. It is planned that around the arena they will build a residential city block, a hotel, a business center, and a shopping mall. Seven concepts were submitted, and, as for Aleksey Ivanov, he was invited bypassing the competition by the client who was already familiar with “Arkhstroydesign” by their joint work on the project of the “Graphskie Prudy” (“Duke’s Ponds”) villa settlement, which won the company a third-in-a-row victory in International Property Awards. After visiting the awarding ceremony, the client again decided to turn to this firm for working on the concept of developing the territory around the hockey arena in Novosibirsk.

“It must be said that at first we even wanted to refrain from taking part in the competition when we learned that we only had a week to come up with a full version of the concept. But the client convinced us that it was a promising project and we could not remain indifferent to it – Aleksey Ivanov shares.

For working on the concept of the main building – the hockey arena itself – Aleksey Ivanov at once invited a project institute bearing the same name of “Arena”.

The arena project

“Arkhstroydesign” at once focused on the town planning and architectural aspects of developing this land as a whole – specifically, planning and distributing the large-scale housing construction that was to occupy the south part of the territory. “What we needed to do was find the planning solutions already at the master plan stage, so it would “speak” architecture without any detailed development”. The outlines of the riverside territory, which will be turned into a residential area, are close to a trapeze with two appendices: one of them is the reconstructed waterfront with a promenade, the other – the land surrounding a sand quarry, a school, and the extension of the terrain park. The arena is the undisputed center of the composition, and it stood to reason that all the other buildings should be v catered around it. Besides, the architects were to take into account the climatic specifics of the place: in Siberia, роза ветров is a factor, all the more so in the bank of a large river.

The game of hockey defined the architectural and engineering theme of the project. Aleksey Ivanov recalls the Canadian joke that “hockey is figure skating in a war zone”. This is why the photograph of an ice filed that A.Khomyakov proposed to use became an epigraph to his own sketch, in which all the buildings are placed on elliptical lines, exploring the image of arcs drawn on the ice by the blades. This determined the plans of the buildings, the character of the pedestrian flows, and the arrangement of the recreational zones. Most of these buildings – 25-story slabs of sectional houses – also stand in an arc-shaped way, becoming a semblance of some giant sails filled with wind. This shape will yield a maximum number of apartments that command picturesque river views. As for the building that faces the water with one of its side ends, it gradually decreases its height with broad stairs of terraces that will also command fine river views; terraces of the same kind are also there on the main façade of the house that stands lengthwise along the Ob River. In order to address the розой ветров issue, the architects slit the buildings in large arches.

The curves of the buildings and roads rhyme with the smooth contours of the metallic roof of the arena. It rests on a large semicircular podium that will host cafés, shops, and other retail businesses. The top of the podium will be a usable one; one will be able to walk upon it exiting directly from the arena, and further on the elliptical line of the podium is continued by a pedestrian bridge, which leads to the waterfront with a seasonal park that functions as a skating rink in the wintertime, and as place for bicycle riding in the summertime.

The automobile and pedestrian flows are organized along the same elliptic lines. In the center of the complex, the architects have designed a small (also arc-shaped) artificial creek that is meant to turn into a skating rink in winter. Around the entire perimeter, there are a large number of driveways; the project also includes two public transportation stops - from the side of the waterfront and from the side of the highway at the bridge. The parking garages are situated in the podiums of the buildings, making the most of the terrain relief and the necessity of building a dam here. The architects also propose to make an open-air parking lot for the visitors of the arena upon the metro bridge.

Whether the concept will be finished in detail and then make it to the realization stage, is yet unknown. According to Aleksey Ivanov, the competition-winning concept also looks quite decent to him, worthy of implementing (we will remind you at this point that the proposal by “Arkhstroydesign” comes outside the competition). One way or another, if the interest for winter sports doesn’t die out in this country, and the left bank of the Ob does get a hockey arena, the territory around it, so promising in terms of its location and so complex in terms of engineering work, is sure to be reformed.

25 October 2017

Written by:

Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

Headlines now

Inverted Fortress

This year, there has been no shortage of intriguing architectural ideas around the Omsk airport. The project developed by the architectural company KPLN appeals to Omsk’s history as a wooden fortress that it was back in the day, but transforms the concept of a fortress beyond recognition: it “shaves off” the conical ends of “wooden logs”, then enlarges them, and then flips them over. The result is a hypostyle – a forest of conical columns on point supports, with skylights on top.

The Paradox of the Temporary

The concept of the Russian pavilion for EXPO 2025 in Osaka, proposed by the Wowhaus architects, is the last of the six projects we gathered from the 2022 competition. It is again worth noting that the results of this competition were not finalized due to the cancellation of Russia’s participation in World Expo 2025. It should be mentioned that Wowhaus created three versions for this competition, but only one is being presented, and it can’t be said that this version is thoroughly developed – rather, it is done in the spirit of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, the project is interesting in its paradoxical nature: the architects emphasized the temporary character of the pavilion, and in its bubble-like forms sought to reflect the paradoxes of space and time.

The Forum of Time

The competition project for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025 in Osaka designed by Aleksey Orlov and Arena Project Institute consists of cones and conical funnels connected into a non-trivial composition, where one can feel the hand of architects who have worked extensively with stadiums and other sports facilities. It’s very interesting to delve into its logic, structurally built on the theme of clocks, hourglasses and even sundials. Additionally, the architects have turned the exhibition pavilion into a series of interconnected amphitheaters, which is also highly relevant for world exhibitions. We are reminding you that the competition results were never announced.

Mirrors Everywhere

The project by Sergey Nebotov, Anastasia Gritskova, and the architectural company “Novoe” was created for the Russian pavilion at EXPO 2025, but within the framework of another competition, which, as we learned, took place even earlier, in 2021. At that time, the competition theme was “digital twins”, and there was minimal time for work, so the project, according to the architect himself, was more of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, this project is interesting for its plan bordering on similarity with Baroque projects and the emblem of the exhibition, as well as its diverse and comprehensive reflectiveness.

Report

The Steppe Is Full of Beauty and Freedom

The goal of the exhibition “Dikoe Pole” (“Wild Field”) at the State Historical Museum was to move away from the archaeological listing of valuable items and to create an image of the steppe and nomads that was multidirectional and emotional – in other words, artistic. To achieve this goal, it was important to include works of contemporary art. One such work is the scenography of the exhibition space developed by CHART studio.

The Snowstorm Fish

The next project from the unfinished competition for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025, which will be held in Osaka, Japan, is by Dashi Namdakov and Parsec Architects. The pavilion describes itself as an “architectural/sculptural” one, with its shape clearly reminiscent of abstract sculpture of the 1970s. It complements its program with a meditative hall named “Mendeleev’s Dreams”, and offers its visitors to slide from its roof at the end of the tour.

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.

​On a Skate’s Blade

The concept proposed by Aleksey Ivanov outside of the formal competition for the territory that surrounds the future ice arena is based on the image of the arched trail of a skate – but it operates large-scale masses.

On a Skate’s Blade