По-русски

From Arcs to Dolmens

While working on the competition project for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, ASADOV Architects prioritized the value of the natural and urban environment, aiming to preserve the balance of the location while minimizing the resemblance of the volume that they designed to a “traditional building”. The task was challenging, and the architects created three versions, one of which having been developed after the competition, where their main proposal took third place. However, the point of interest here is not the competition result but the continuity of creative thinking.

26 July 2024
Contest Results
mainImg
Architect:
Alexander Asadov
Andrey Asadov
Firm:
ASADOV architects https://www.asadov.studio

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky comprises industrial zones, five-story buildings, low-rise structures, staircases, winds, and “sopkas”, small hills, many of which are extinct volcanoes. The city is beautiful in its own way, but the hills amidst the diverse architecture are the best highlights, sloping, green, and pristine.

Therefore, ASADOV Architects, working last year on the competition project for a cultural and community center on the central square of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, focused primarily on the appropriateness of the building within the natural context of the nearby Nikolskaya Sopka.

Alexander Asadov, «ASADOV architects», Creative manager of the studio

The place is basically a natural reserve. The hill is very beautiful and sculptural – looking at the pictures, one might think it’s a huge mountain. But in reality, the hill is small, and even a three-story building in front of it will be noticeable. The site is very delicate; if you place a “suitcase” there, the hill will disappear. So, we tried in every way to “dismantle” the building to avoid competing with the hill. Not completely, of course; harsh “deconstruction” would be inappropriate in this case – but we wanted to move away from traditional architecture and create “not quite a building”, but something that looks like it broke off from the hill. We divided the volume into two arcs: one, of lesser height, forms Lenin Square, and the other curves along the base of the hill. This creates a foreground and background: the wings recede into the depth and do not compete with the natural backdrop.

On the roof, we proposed terraces on the bay side and a staircase with an amphitheater to “animate” the building, turning it into a public space that is essentially a continuation of Lenin Square. There is a specific natural and landscape context here: first, the city is located on hills, and people are used to stairs; second, the climate is harsh, often windy and cold, but when the sun comes out, people flock to the square to “catch” it and warm up. We observed how this happens in Lenin Square now, and our terraces and stairs are largely designed to provide additional space for such outings.

In short, we believe the view from the bay side, where the building descends in steps, is the most successful.


zooming
A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Copyright: © ASADOV Architects


zooming
A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Copyright: © ASADOV Architects


  • zooming
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects
  • zooming
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Section views
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects


Interestingly, the amphitheater staircase, with its sharp nose pointing toward the embankment, extends beyond the permitted construction area – but the architects interpreted it as “not a building volume, but part of the square’s landscaping design. There is certain logic in this decision, and it underscores Alexander Asadov’s stated goal of “blending with the space” and becoming part of the environment.

Indeed, Lenin Square, in front of the western part of which the building is designed, is one of the most remarkable centers of the city. Officially, it is indeed its central point, but it is located on a spit separating the bay from Kultuchnoye Lake. Nevertheless, the location remains the city center. Here, not only the Government House, but also the Drama and Comedy Theater is situated, in front of which the city festival “Kamchatka Arbat” is held. Therefore, the space between the hill and the cultural center was conceived by the architects as a pedestrian street – especially since it became clear during the competition, according to the revised brief, that it would have to be car-free – connecting the new building with the square in front of the theater and adapted, among other things, for conducting festivals.

  • zooming
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects
  • zooming
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Master plan
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects


As we can see, the two arcs, one small and one large, converge to form a plan resembling the handwritten letter X. At the point of their intersection on the city side, a “lighthouse” tower emerges, inside which a spiral staircase was planned. From this side, the center looks like a noticeable urban building. It could also serve as a beacon at night, being composed of large triangular bay windows: one opaque plate and one glass plate. During the day, the glass would reflect everything around. The alternating planes and the discrete rotation of the facade arc – more “escaping” from the viewer than presenting itself – also partially work to visually dissolve the volume. At the same time, the end facing the Government House features a narrow vertical window in a broad perspective frame, with one slope serving as a media screen.

zooming
A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Copyright: © ASADOV Architects


  • zooming
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects
  • zooming
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects


The core of the internal space in the project is a triple-height atrium adjacent to the arc of the façade from the side of Lenin Square. Here, the architects propose a fully-fledged winter garden, highly relevant in the harsh climate, with a visually expanding mirrored ceiling and a large amphitheater, the back of which houses the cloakroom. It echoes the external open amphitheater, mirroring it internally.

  • zooming
    1 / 5
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects
  • zooming
    2 / 5
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Plan of the 1st floor at 0.000 elevation
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects
  • zooming
    3 / 5
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Plan of the 2nd floor at +4.200 elevation
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects
  • zooming
    4 / 5
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Plan of the 3rd floor at +8.400 elevation
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects
  • zooming
    5 / 5
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The facades
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects


The atrium connects two wings – the museum wing on the city side and the restaurant wing on the “sea” side. However, on the first level under the “restaurant” wing, the architects are placing an ethnic culture center. The functional program also includes a children’s leisure center, a food court with seafood dishes, and a multifunctional hall that can serve as the minor theater stage during festivals.

  • zooming
    1 / 5
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects
  • zooming
    2 / 5
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Events
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects
  • zooming
    3 / 5
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects
  • zooming
    4 / 5
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Scenarios
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects
  • zooming
    5 / 5
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. 3rd floor
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects


Different functions in the project have entrances from different sides.

For the final presentation, ASADOV Architects showcased the most “traditional” option, the one, where, in their own words, it was not entirely possible to move away from the traditional “building” concept.

Thus, aside from the final version, a second, more streamlined form emerged, resembling, according to Alexander Asadov, a giant fish.

  • zooming
    1 / 4
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. An extra version of the facades
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects
  • zooming
    2 / 4
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. An extra version of the facades
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects
  • zooming
    3 / 4
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. An extra version of the facades
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects
  • zooming
    4 / 4
    A public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. An extra version of the facades
    Copyright: © ASADOV Architects


But that’s not everything. The “momentum” from the creative search during the competition was enough for the architects to create another sketch after the completion – simply to understand what image of the cultural center at the foot of the protected hill they really found appropriate if they had it their own way.

“The restrained image of the final version was dictated by the remoteness of the location and self-censorship in the selection of materials”, says Alexander Asadov. “But if we turned the flat vertical pylons into volumetric ones and pushed them forward from the glass toward the square, it would create a “Stonehenge” – a wild, ancient building, stepping back a thousand years”.

Well, maybe this would have been the right thing to do.

Architect:
Alexander Asadov
Andrey Asadov
Firm:
ASADOV architects https://www.asadov.studio

26 July 2024

Headlines now
Object
​About Uzbekistan With Love
The restoration of the National Pavilion of Uzbekistan at VDNKh, completed in 2025, was at times like a detective story and at times like a drama. Many architectural details seemed to have been irretrievably lost, the 25-meter-high rotunda was on the verge of collapse, and the nuances of the decoration had to be reconstructed from split-second frames of a color documentary film. But the MV-PROEKT architectural bureau managed to untangle this web of problems and literally reassemble one of the most graceful buildings at VDNKh.
Object
​Lighthouse on the Cliff
One of the neighborhoods in Desnarechye, a large-scale district under construction in New Moscow, is being designed by the architectural company Krupny Plan (KPLN). The site has its advantages and challenges: on the one hand, the river is close by and the landscape is expressive; on the other, there is a highway and a change in elevation. The architects decided to emphasize the site’s existing “texture”: they placed a lighthouse-like tower as a landmark on the natural high ground, made the podium a continuation of the cliff, and reflected the proximity of the river in the architecture of the sectional buildings.
Object
Geology-Scale Architecture
A “geological,” nature-inspired form for large-scale complexes is one of the important themes of our time; it suits large volumes much better than pilasters and cornices. The project with the geographical name Latitude 54, proposed by Rais Baishev and the architects of Ostozhenka, likewise “grows” into the ground through a preserved ravine, while upward it rises in slabs of buildings resembling chalk mountains, with courtyards and terraces carved into their mass like caves. Its distinctive feature is the abundance of shared spaces open to both city residents and local inhabitants, along with an emphasis on high-quality construction. Large expanses of glazing, and even centralized air conditioning. Let us examine the project in context.
Object
​Full-Cycle Art
A school requires order, regulations, and discipline, while creativity calls for freedom, experimentation, and improvisation. In the building of the Siberian Higher School of Musical and Theatrical Arts in Kemerovo, MV-PROEKT made an attempt to reconcile these contradictions: to contain a complex and ever-changing creative life within a strict, rationally organized architectural form.
Object
The Romance of a Saint Petersburg Courtyard
Studio 44’s approach to the redevelopment of the Liviz winery site appears to be an important precedent for Saint Petersburg: the architects are adapting not only designated heritage buildings but also other more-than-a-century old structures, revealing their distinctive character and giving them new public or residential uses. New architecture is interwoven with the old, creating a range of clearly defined or deliberately complex urban spaces. Blocks of different typologies are complemented by a pedestrian promenade that makes the environment much more permeable and lively. And all of this is framed by a sense of romance and nostalgia for the historic city.
Object
The Voice of the Amur
MV-PROJECT has won a competition for the façades of the Khabarovsk Regional Academic Musical Theater. The architects took a bold approach, proposing a striking wave-like envelope inspired by the waters of the Amur, along with landscaped rooftop terraces. The concept won an absolute majority of the public vote. We take a closer look at the proposal, its feasibility, and its rich imagery, which invites associations with the work of Ivan Aivazovsky and Katsushika Hokusai.
Object
A Theater for Figure Skaters, or Cherchez La Femme
Ice arenas are typologically close to industrial buildings: enormous windowless halls with minimal architectural embellishment. In designing Navka Arena, Yuliy Borisov and the UNK architects did not try to fight the utilitarian nature of the structure. Instead, they concentrated all of its expressive elements in one place – the central façade. A parabolic canopy, a monumental sculpture of a figure skater, and her shadow rendered in perforated metal transform an ordinary sports “box” into an architectural statement about ice, movement, and theater.
Object
The Soft Forms of a New Enlightenment
The school that will rise amid the new high-rise neighborhoods of Set and Veer can fairly be called a landmark of the future district. The educational environment was designed by IMAGO, a firm specializing in learning spaces, while the façade concept was selected through a competition. The winner, GAFA, proposed a regular grid of three-dimensional modules that creates an intriguing effect of “soft” architecture. The imagery of this solution appeals to children of different ages and suits the stature of the educational complex, which will be handed over to the highly rated School No. 1329 upon completion.
Object
Projection of a Spiral, Projection of a Wave
Architects from Mezonsproekt have designed a high-rise residential complex of four towers near the intersection of Novaya Riga Highway and the Moskva River. Its landmark status is motivated both by the proximity of Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye and its SberCity development, and by the theme of two intersecting flows: water and traffic. The architects have organized the façade pattern around the supergraphic image of a pixelated spiral, intended to animate – and perhaps even transform – the perception of the buildings’ prismatic volumes.
​The Ever-Changing Mist
T+T Architects has developed a concept for a premium business center featuring “living” façades that change their configuration depending on weather conditions, time of day, and the occupants’ needs, transforming the building into an urban-scale installation. The idea of endless variability continues inside, with interiors designed to accommodate different scenarios of use. Some of the engineering solutions proposed for the project are being introduced to the Russian commercial real estate market for the first time.
Review
​A Small Book of Farewell
The book dedicated to Valery Kanyashin, published by his colleagues at Ostozhenka Architects, is remarkably small. It fits comfortably in the palm of your hand, more like sketchbook than an actual architectural monograph. Combined with its tiny print run, the result is an intentionally unglamorous, decidedly non-representational publication – one that is made “for friends”. Yet the way it weaves together projects, texts, photographs, and drawings is remarkably subtle. Perhaps this is precisely how one comes to understand a person, at least a little, by tracing the course of their creative life.
Object
Win-Win
For Perm, the opening of the new home for its Art Gallery – guardian of the famous collection of Perm wooden sculpture – marks the end of a 35-year search for a building worthy of a collection that had long outgrown the city cathedral that had served as its only home. Sergey Tchoban considers the project one of the most important of his career in Russia and emphasizes that it deliberately avoids “iconic” architecture in favor of contextual appropriateness. We traveled to Perm to explore both the building and its extensive new exhibition, and found that, much like Tchoban’s other museum projects, it is conceived in a distinctly contemporary way: the old and the new do not merely coexist but reinforce one another through contrast, sharpening the visitor’s perception of the museum.
Object
A Score for 12th Line
“Amo”, a residential complex designed by Stepan Liphart on Vasilyevsky Island, brings together three architectural ideas: the cour d’honneur, a piazzetta-like courtyard, and imagery borrowed from Renaissance architecture. Together, these elements make a contemporary apartment complex feel more humane, extending the theme of individuality in residential design. The effect is achieved through a carefully calibrated vocabulary of moderately standardized components: recessed façade panels enriched with sgraffito ornament, a disciplined hierarchy of cornices and moldings, and a series of bespoke decorative details. The development combines residential and hotel sections that frame the restored wooden mansion of the Brömme brothers.
Object
Riverfront Façade
The Premium residential complex, designed by KPLN, has been built in the town of Pushkino, just outside Moscow, on the banks of the Serebryanka River. Its two towers reinforce the scale of the high-rise development that emerged here in the 2000s, while introducing a bolder architectural form that reads more effectively from a distance, along with a system of contrasts and design strategies responding to the site’s waterfront setting. One of the project’s distinctive features is a series of metal discs that conceal air-conditioning units while serving as an additional decorative layer.
Object
A Construction Set for Adult Life
In the project by Atrium, the new building for Moscow’s School No. 2107, designed to accommodate 1,100 students, is above all a carefully organized system of learning and recreational spaces. On the one hand, it is complex and highly articulated; on the other, it remains intuitive, safe, and conducive to personal growth. In a sense, it serves as a model of life in the city – a place where one must communicate, make decisions, plan ahead, and find a balance between work and leisure. All of these scenarios are reflected, to varying degrees, in the building’s architecture.
Object
Axis of Rotation
One of the installations in the Masters exhibition at Arch Moscow featured a futuristic yet entirely feasible project by Vladimir Plotkin and TPO Reserve – a tower that could be assembled from prefabricated factory-made modules. The concept even incorporates the possibility of slow rotation (!). Using the same module, one could create a residential block, a giant cantilevered “arrow”, or virtually any other configuration you could possibly think of. Let us take a closer look at the module itself.
A New Magazine and a New Ranking
The magazine Expert.Urban has only just appeared, apparently timed to coincide with Arch Moscow. It is published with the support of VEB.RF and Strelka KB. We have not yet had time to read it cover to cover, but the impression so far is that it consists of about eighty percent interviews. It also features a distinctly “Strelka-style” initiative: a ranking of the “Best Architect of Moscow in the 21st Century”. So, who came out on top? Sergey Skuratov. Yuri Grigoryan took second place, and Sergei Tchoban came third.
Interview
Oleg Shapiro: “We design life as a whole, in all of its diversity”
Wowhaus has long since outgrown its association with “urban improvement” projects alone. One of its newer directions is neo-industrialization. Another is large-scale master planning. Yet work on Gorky Park is once again underway – only now on a more systematic and far-reaching level. In this interview, we simultaneously revisit Rem Koolhaas, Strelka, and the history of attention to the “urban environment”, while also exploring what exactly Wowhaus is working on today and how the company operates – with its nine divisions and approximately 160 employees.
Object
Red Card for Copyright
The development concept for the territory of Shinnik Stadium in Yaroslavl, prepared by PI ARENA, took second place in an open call competition. The architects proposed a unified structure combining a football arena, a hotel, and the headquarters of PSB Bank, with carefully considered usage scenarios. However, the competition was organized in such a way that the team ultimately chose to forgo the prize money in order to retain their copyright.
News
CinemaHologram
Not long ago, the Moscow authorities approved the project for a new House of Cinema complex by Kleinewelt Architekten. The original 1968 building could not be preserved – yet the architects managed to save its stained-glass panels, metal reliefs, and even the volumetric parameters of the structure, which will continue to house the Union of Cinematographers and cinema halls. The project’s main focal point, however, will be a residential tower. We examine its sculptural qualities and its allusions within the Moscow context.
Contest Results
Form as Method: TPO Reserve
At the core of the concept developed by Vladimir Plotkin and TPO Reserve lies an unconventional morphology that addresses functional challenges beyond purely formal concerns. Above all, however, it serves expressiveness and creates a rare kind of spatial and emotional experience, as becomes evident when examining the project’s key solutions. We studied it in detail, and it was all worth it. Our interpretation is that what drives this project is neither style nor even metaphor, but rather a method.
Object
Mound of Memory
The competition proposal for a memorial complex on the Pulkovo Heights by Studio 44 will not be realized, yet it deserves attention as an intriguing example of how architecture can symbolize traumatic events and thereby contribute to their processing and integration into human experience. The architects also succeed in combining memorial and recreational functions without slipping either into excessive dramatization or oversimplification. The project develops ideas explored in two earlier competition entries that likewise remained unbuilt – the Museum of the Siege of Leningrad and the Tuchkov Buyan park. It also recalls the mound-like hill that Alexander Nikolsky embodied in the form of the now-lost stadium on Krestovsky Island.
Object
Home Base
Working on the new building for Letovo Junior School – opened to students in autumn 2025 in the MSU Valley – the architects of UNK, following the client’s vision, subordinated both façades and interiors to the theme of “home”. Multiple variations of pitched roofs, a city skyline traced across glass balustrades, wooden textures, and a whole series of micro-spaces for retreat within public areas are all at the disposal of primary and middle school students. We take a closer look at the new school building – and at how it interprets current trends in educational environments.
Object
Doubles Match
The architecture of the Tennis Palace built in Luzhniki Olympic Complex, designed by Arena Design Institute, was shaped by three factors: the proximity of the brutalist Druzhba Arena, the closeness of the Moskva River and the metro bridge overpass, as well as the specifics of the function – tennis courts require large spans, abundant light, yet at the same time protection from direct sunlight. The architects divided the building into several blocks, playing on contrast, which is further emphasized by the façades developed in collaboration with TPO Reserve and Vladimir Plotkin.
Object
Microdynamics of Macroprocesses
Given the proximity of the multifunctional complex SOLOS to Sokolniki Park and to a major transport hub, Kleinewelt Architekten embedded in the design of the two high-rise towers a sense of dynamism more characteristic of natural phenomena than of man-made objects. Without the authors’ diagrams, this logic is not easy to decipher, although the eye immediately detects a pattern and tries to grasp it. It seems to us that one tower contains the impulse of a bud about to open, while the other evokes the movement of a lithospheric plate. Let us try to unravel it together.
Report
The Space of Post-Cubism
Sergei Tchoban and Alexandra Sheiner, of Studio CHART, created for the exhibition of “post-cubist” sculpture by Beatrice Sandomirskaya – a talented and even “mainstream” artist, yet almost unknown even to art historians – a space akin to her sculptural language: solidly built, confidently stereometric, and subtly expressive. It curves, emphasizing the mass of the sculpture, envelops the viewer, and guides them from one perspective to another, from a generic “shrine” to a “Madonna”.
Object
The Value of Open Space
For the site near the Barrikadnaya Metro Station, Sergey Skuratov developed five projects between 2020 and 2025. Two of them were ones that won the client’s invitation-only competitions. The fifth was recently selected by the Mayor of Moscow for implementation. The project is vivid and sculptural, expressive, eye-catching, and engaging – very much in line with the spirit of our time. And yet, this project is mid-rise rather than tall. In its northwestern part, near the metro and Druzhinnikovskaya Street, it shapes a comfortable urban environment. On the opposite side, it opens up, allowing sunlight into the courtyard and creating a spatial pause within the dense city fabric. How it is organized, what geometric principles underlie it, and why it takes this form – all this is explored in our article.
Coming From the Cold
The ArchBukhta Festival remains one of the few events in Russia where participants go through the entire process of creating an architectural object – from concept to construction. And they do so on the shores of Lake Baikal, in dedication to it. This year, GAFA took part and shared its experience: a local legend, a team-specific design code, friendship, as well as ice skating and endurance in freezing temperatures all contributed to gaining something more than just an award.
Object
​Gothic Panorama
The Panorama residential complex is known for the fact that there is no panorama in it, nor is there a panorama of it – instead, there is a “viewing slit” that opens up a glimpse of the Neo-Gothic Polish church. And the opening itself is Gothic, S-shaped. It was also this building that started the fashion for colored pixelated facades and colored glass in Moscow; yet it has remained the best example so far. Anatoly Belov on irony in the Panorama residential complex. In memory of Valery Knyashin.
Object
Symphony of Water and Brick
The Alter residential complex, designed by Stepan Liphart and built on a bend of the Okhta River, is an example of a “drawn house”: the number of original architectural details is virtually immeasurable. As a result, ribs, projections, and recesses create a picturesque silhouette even without a significant variation in height. Both composition and material respond to the proximity of the river and to the red-brick factory building dating back to the early 20th century. The project was also significantly shaped by recommendations from the city’s chief architect. More details in our article.