The embankment of the Big Neva of the Vasilyevsky Island is a place that is very quickly changing its character: in the east part, it starts with Strelka, Stock Exchange, Kunstkamera the old building of the University, and other famous tourist attractions. Then it continues with the Academy of Arts, an exquisite building designed by Vallain Delamont. And it ends with the Dorian portico of the Mining University, an austere, almost harsh statement in the pure dialect of classicism. However, this is where it all ends – the industrial area begins with a port area and ships in the distance.  The city of museums and monuments abruptly gives way to a few constructivist buildings, which back in their days were built to cater for the factories. West of the Mining University, starts the territory of the Baltic Shipyard and a few factories of a smaller scale: ropes, leather, and electrical appliances. Here, on the Neva, one can even now see two atomic icebreakers, Siberia and Urals.

The industrial areas, however, are already being transformed, partially into art clusters – like the Sevkabel factory situated a kilometer and a half away from here – but chiefly into city housing projects. The city, as is the custom in our postindustrial time, is gradually invading the factory grounds, turning them from restricted areas into residential ones, and, to various degrees, public. Specifically, west of the Mining University, the developer company Setl City is building two housing complexes: one of them, situated further away from the river, named “Palazzo” is almost complete – it consists of differently colored sections that take their colors from the neighboring lines of the Vasilyevsky island with a slight enhancement of their brightness. The other housing complex, built by the same developer, has been recently designed by Nikita Yavein’s Studio 44 in a more obliging place – right on the waterfront, next to the Voronikhin portico. The city council considered and approved the project in April.