Published on Archi.ru (https://archi.ru)

29.12.2009

Made in ABD

Anna Martovitskaya
Studio:
ABD architects

This article is not about the results of an architectural studio work, not about a project or construction, but tells about creative and work processes. The architects from ABD company, whose constructions have become a standard of quality commercial architecture, agreed to share secrets of bureau work management.

ABD Architects is one of the first specialized architectural offices. Boris Levyant, its founder, is sure their know-how is obvious: focused specialization increases effectiveness many times. However ABD Architects are often involved as a general planner. This brings up the question: who is coordinating the whole process? For this purpose the company has project managers in charge of the all administrative issues of a project. Today there are numerous specialized architectural offices among the private Moscow companies, only ABD has such highly developed project management institute.

"When a project has a manager, a chief project architect has a lot more time for creative work, and is able to take on 3 or 4 large project at one time, - explains Alla Feoktistova, the chief project architect of ABD Architects architecture department. – A chief project architect has only to attend working meeting on each of the objects, but a manager makes all the arrangements, from documents to invitation all the specialists involved in a particular stage. "We help architects not to bother about accounting and the accountant – about the architecture – joking Nick Barabanov, the deputy director general of project management, controlling the ABD Architects managers. - But the primary target is not to help a chief project architect but to improve the quality of interaction between all project members, including the client”. Another significant difference ABD Architects from any other bureau is their approach to the creative process. 'Our product certainly cannot be qualified as signature architecture. I always remind - says Boris Levyant - that ABD Architects is not “Levyant’s bureau” in a creative meaning.

It is more correct to consider our bureau as a creative union of architects, opinion of each of them is important. It is underlined by the usage of word "architect" in the plural: ABD ArchitectS - ALL the architects of ABD ». Moreover, any architectural critic will confidently say the ABD Architects architecture is very recognizable. The secret is simple. Bright personalities work in the bureau, who managed to work out their own language, work of any of the chief project architects results in high quality and stylish business architecture object, easily identified as ABD Architects creation. "We do not deny the creative and social main tasks, but a competent response to a client’s requirement is our priority - says Sergei Kruchkov. – As a rule, we design commercial buildings, and the issue of economic efficiency of an object is one of our most important priorities. The bureau developed some unified answers for possible clients queries, our internal know-how, our rules. In ABD Architects everyone know the ruled and it is the level of quality and service the bureau establishes on the market".

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