Fire and Ice: Architecture of Contradictions

The Hotel complex designed by TOTEMENT / PAPER for Kamchatka, reinterprets the nature and the culture of the peninsula, at the same time challenging the cataclysms of the earthquake endangered zone, using the modern technologies to create pure, open, and beautiful architecture.

Written by:
Julia Tarabarina
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

26 December 2018

Object

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky – the main and basically the only center of the peninsula, whose remoteness has long since become proverbial, and whose nature attracts fans of exotic tourism from Europe and Asia – hitherto did not have a modern hotel either for tourists or for business partners of the Kamchatka companies, or even for high-ranking statesmen. Such a hotel – memorable architecture, up-to-date services, two restaurants (one of them commanding beautiful views), 4 stars – is now being built by the project of TOTEMENT on the bank of the Kultuchnoe Lake in the center of the city.

The hotel got a land site of an irregular shape, stretching along the bank of the lake, a road, and – on the opposite side – a steep slope that as much as cancelled all the views from the north windows. On top of the hill, there is a couple of standard five-story houses, rather old and shabby. The south side, on the other hand, commands a view of the hills and the lake, landscaping a fragment of whose bank is also a part of the hotel project. The place is complex but not without some certain advantages. In addition to the hotel, it was planned from the very start to place here an office center, a fitness-and-spa center, and a conference hall, whose capacity in the course of work grew up to an impressive figure of 450 seats.

zooming — Kamchatka Hotel © TOTEMENT/PAPER

The complexity of the land site and the wide range of functions became the reason for a long search for the right concept: the architects kept moving their volumes around, coming up with various shapes and floor plans. However, it must be recognized that the necessity to pack so many functions on such a small site lying on a slope of the mountain into a volumetric figure so much like origami is a task that can best be handled by TOTEMENT / PAPER with their passion for challenging goals that prompt contrastive, sophisticated but thought-out and self-consistent solutions, just as with their love for tectonic solid geometry and the culture of the Far East. These challenges became for them a chance for a detailed research and painstaking work.

When it turned out that the land site lying to the west of the main one – provided it was cleared from engineering lines – could also be added to the main “trapeze” of the construction blueprint, an opposition of two towers formed: a 15-story hotel tower in the eastern part, and an 11-story office tower in the eastern part. This opposition at once took on an image character: the hotel tower, streamlined and charcoal black, with a glittering drop of the backlit red marquee on top – a veritable volcano with a cloud of smoke on top of it just before the beginning of the eruption. The office tower is made of glass, with facets of broad planes and prominent corners as opposed to the rounded corners of the hotel. The glass is covered with a wealth of white triangles meant to mask the bands of the intermediate floors and partially to protect it from the direct sunlight but first of all to make the volume more integral and more “icy” – a semblance of an icy mountain slightly melted on the corner which is turned southeast in the direction of the Petrovskaya Mount, like a spot of pure glass.

The first thing that comes to mind is the “fire and ice” metaphor, and the authors basically agree with that. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the towers took the extreme left and right positions, the space between them occupied by a glass podium that not only included a few entrance areas, a lobby, a fitness center and a conference hall but also became the space of visual interpretation and the conceptual tension between the two poles. While we have a conditional “fire” in the east and “ice” in the west, between them there is a space that is essentially earth with all of its beauties and controversies.

The fitness-and-spa center is inscribed into the bottom floors of the office block like a volumetric puzzle figure. It has seven pools in it, including a large one with courses of the sportive length of 25 meters, a padding pool for the toddlers and a spa bath; also, there are four small ones, more like large bathtubs, which are part of the Korean bath meant to cater for the visitors from this neighboring country; such baths are quite common here in the Far East, and they enjoy great popularity.

The western wall of the swimming pool is completely white and is dissected with large-stroke graphic ornaments, which, first of all, are based on основан на petroglyphs and the traditional Kamchatka decor, and, second, was designed by the authors as a semblance of broken-ice pattern at the foot of the ice mountain. Routed out to the façade, this “shaman” ornamental wall raises its “head” and starts looking like some kind of a jagged dragon that scans the surroundings with his asymmetric eyes.

The conference hall is located more to the east and resembles another totem animal: Levon Airapetov and Valeria Preobrazhenskaya call it a “teddy bear”, not without tenderness. It indeed does look like a bear: a six-angle, yet still streamlined, body of the hall in the second tier, and four large legs of an also streamlined and complex configuration – the legs are volumetric, there are supports hidden within their walls, and inside they will have meeting rooms or maybe cafes. All the volumes – the “legs” and “body” alike – are covered with corrugated metal panels of a copper color, which makes our imaginary bear look like a shaman statuette cut from a figured piece of wood, some kind of northern birch tree. On the inside, the ceiling of the hall is flat, but, in order to provide for a support-free structure, there is a lot of girders above it – their enclosed space also contains the ventilation equipment. On the outside, the space of the girders stands out above the roof of the podium like a flattened dome that looks like the back of the bear or maybe the top of an extinct volcano.

Around the conference hall “spins” the space of the bottom floors: the architects even tried to calculate the scenarios of the visitors’ behavior during the conference break. The starting space is the foyer. There are three main entrances in the building, the foyer uniting two of them: one, which leads to the hotel lobby, and the second one, the central, between the fitness center and the conference hall. In addition, the height difference of the land site is over five meters, and the entrance, which is on the hotel side, leads us by a broad staircase directly to the second tier, to the conference hall entrance, while the central entrance leads to the first floor. The space beneath the supports of the hall is lowered still a little more in order to eliminate the feeling of an oppressive ceiling – from three sides, the descents lead to a rather cozy and interesting space, surrounded by the rounded sides of the “bear’s legs” – the meeting rooms – while overhead we see a lot of bent plates, as the metallic hide were cut crosswise; this motif is continued on the ceiling of the first tier, while at one point this called structure flows down to the floor in a “stalactite” fashion, forming an exotic column.

Closer to the side of the main façade and the central entrance, the foyer is double-height; further on, it is divided into two tiers by a balcony. The floor and ceiling of the second tier are more sedate, black and white, and geometric. The two types of patterns – the flowing and languid, akin to a volcano with its wisps of ashes and streams of lava, and the icy and jagged – finally meet, the lava flowing below, the ice piling up on top of it – which is basically the case from time to time on Kamchatka.

The fourth tier of the hotel hosts a restaurant that commands a view of the podium’s roof; its supports of parabolic outlines, masking the T-shaped supports are a metaphor of the boats that the Kamchatka fishermen would dry standing them up on end on the shore. The wavy ceiling symbolizes the water.

The Sky Bar on the top floor is covered by a water-drop-shaped curved metallic awning, which is meant to reflect its red floor, forming a semblance of a cloud of smoke above a smoldering volcano. The metallic pillars in this instance are a metaphor of cataclysm, just like the “cracks” of the lamps in the ceiling. But then again, the corrugated geometric “shaman” patterns on the walls stress the “controllability” of the cataclysm, as if saying: yes, we are on top of the volcano but, paradoxically, we are safe here.

It is obvious enough that the richness of the form and content is combined here with the degree of detailed treatment, which at some points gets close to the point of “total design”. We will stress it again at this point that the project is more than just a concept proposal – TOTEMENT prepared all the working documentation, selected all the decoration materials, mostly from the geographically close Chinese manufacturers.

A single chapter of the story must be written about the work with the regulations of the seismically dangerous zone. “If you are to comply with all of the regulations, you will only be able to build a very small box of hideous proportions, and with tiny windows” – Valeria Preobrazhenskaya confesses. On the territory of the hotel, the architects were required to provide for a possibility of a 9 баллов earthquake, and immediately across the road – up to 10 points. In these circumstances, the architects made all the stability calculations together with the Central Research Institute of Construction Structures, the only institute that seriously explores this topic in this country; they used shielded and seismic supports – simplistically speaking, this technique consists in equipping the numerous basement highs with shock absorbers of rubber and steel, which made it possible to reduce the 9-point limit to an 8-point. The architects also developed and got the required approvals for several special conditions; they also invited to work, in particular, the same fire safety specialists who worked in Zaryadye Park. All of this is a brief summary of some absolutely titanic efforts, which resulted in large stained glass windows of the podium, floor windows in the offices and some of the hotel rooms, an incredible amount of cantilevered structures designed for this place, although quite restrained, since everything was inscribed in real calculations, and passed all necessary approvals.

Some editors-in-chief of well-known industry magazines are in the habit of saying: “Anyone can come up with a cool-looking thing – but can you actually build it?” Speaking on this particular subject, we will say that incredible efforts were invested not only in designing this complex, sophisticated and meaningful form but also in implementing it, starting with complex engineering calculations and ending the detailed layout of all the façade panels in order to make sure that they come together to form a beautiful ornament. As far as I know, the work took about two years, and was done with detailed analysis of every detail. The client considered the design of the hotel rooms on a 1:1 model, comparing it to the proposal by a Korean company. Ultimately, the TOTEMENT proposal was chosen. Today, the framework of the building has been fully cast in concrete.

26 December 2018

Headlines now

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.

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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.

​Fire and Ice: Architecture of Contradictions

The Hotel complex designed by TOTEMENT / PAPER for Kamchatka, reinterprets the nature and the culture of the peninsula, at the same time challenging the cataclysms of the earthquake endangered zone, using the modern technologies to create pure, open, and beautiful architecture.

Fire and Ice: Architecture of Contradictions