Motel, Moscow

Any frequent traveller to Russia will be aware that finding accommodation in this immense country is somewhat of a problem, even in the European part. Russia still has an acute shortage of short-term accommodation options, not only in quantity but in variety too. Thus, any new addition is good news for all, including the Russians themselves.

One of the most recent additions, the Fox Lodge motel, is noteworthy for several reasons: it reflects a change in Russian living patterns, it has a very distinct architectural expression, it is an adjunct to a sports/shooting complex rather than a regular hotel, it was designed and built in Russia (which may surprise some Westerners) and, finally, it was designed by a woman (which will surprise many Russians).

The Fox Lodge motel is the latest built addition to a sports and shooting complex on the outskirts of Moscow. In the words of Svetlana Golovina, designer of the project and head of X.Y.Z. architects, who have been involved since its inception some ten years ago, the complex arose purely from the personal passion of the client, and that passion was shooting.

Golovina and her associates have realized several other structures on the site in recent years, including the main clubhouse with restaurant, library and offices, a tea pavilion, the shooting ranges themselves and several cottages for short-term accommodation. The latest development phase introduces leisure and relaxation into this mix. It includes the recently completed motel and a health centre connected to a long, wooden terraced lakefront that is planned for the near future.

What in retrospect might appear to have been a deliberately staged development of the site is nothing of the sort. 'Shooting' was the sole idea presented to the architects at the beginning; there was no development plan for the site. This 'programmatic void' presented the architects with a delicate situation, as the project proceeded without any masterplan; in the end, the lack of strategy from the client's side pushed the architects into making proposals of their own – like the motel. Although the programmatic void allowed some fine ideas to emerge, progress was laborious, as all the buildings that now make up the complex are the result of the architects' (successful) efforts to convince the client of the feasibility and merit of their ideas. The client was not especially sensitive to good design, either, so in the end, it was only thanks to the persistence and stubbornness of the design team that some good architecture got built. It seems that the sweat paid off.

Asked about the snake-like form of the Fox Lodge Motel, a kind of architectural expression not seen in her previous work, Golovina says that it just seemed the right way to do it – it was as if her pencil did it for her. More prosaically, it can be seen as a logical response to the meandering, hilly landscape; the final form of the building fits right into the scenery. So the shape was not an issue in this project, as it arose quite naturally at an early stage. The real challenge was turning this complex form into something that would be simple and cheap to build. Various, sometimes expensive and technologically sophisticated, approaches were tested and discarded before the architects arrived at the definitive solution using simple wood.

Making the skin of the 'snake' out of wooden shingles in exactly the same way as traditional Russian wooden churches have been made is what gives this building added significance. It is a moment where new meets old, connecting the project to the site and turning a high-tech design into traditional architecture. Ironically, the architects were not specifically looking for this kind of connection – their risky proposal for something contemporary inadvertently propelled them back into history.