Moscow's mammoths: projects

Most new apartment buildings in the Moscow region are quite awesome: an endless repetition of stacked containers. Inhuman blocks of up to one thousand dwellings are no exception. At first sight 'The Elephants' by Lyzlov Architects appears to be just one more such megalith. But this judgement would be too hasty for the huge 26-storey volumes have been manipulated in quite a subtle way. The central street bisecting the site is flanked by lower slabs of three to six floors, so as to create a classic street profile. Perpendicular to this street are the two main elephant volumes, facing the adjacent park. Connecting the two volumes was not easy, but it was achieved by cutting huge passageways and the result is even elegant.

Nikolas Lyzlov explains that the association with two elephants occurred during the design process and subsequently gave rise to the design of legs, feet and nails. Having a 'story' to explain the design is seen as a big plus in Russia. The national love for literature and poetry makes Russians very susceptible to such associations. This is in clear contrast to design explanations in Western Europe, where concepts tend to be based on more rational and analytical processes.

This complex stands out by virtue of its scale. It is a physical statement: size matters. Its monstrous 420,000 m² makes it inhuman and awesome at the same time. The fenestration and white metal cladding seems to reduce the scale without denying it. Although the buildings contain offices, a fitness centre and a kindergarten as well as apartments, there is no sign of this in the facade. The only encroachment on this 'untouchability' is courtesy of the fire regulations. About halfway up the 35 floors, a horizontal slab juts out of the facade. It appears that fire regulations are different above a certain height.

Most of the work by Group Reserve, led by Vladimir Plotkin, reveals a modernist signature and a lot of self-confidence. Scale clearly doesn't matter to them, a no-nonsense approach that is certainly appropriate to the demands of present-day Moscow.

Project Meganom is an ad hoc collaboration of individually operating architects. Anton Mossin has his office in the trendy Artplay complex, a former factory in Timura Frunze Street, which also contains the offices of Project Russia, Art Blah and Tchoban. One of Mossin's projects illustrates a new trend in Moscow housing: the 'settlement'. Traditionally, Moscow has known only two categories of housing: apartments in the city centre and dachas outside it. The dachas have since been turned into luxury villas. The 'settlement' offers something in between and may well be what the growing (upper) middle class is looking for.

The aim of this project is to offer each inhabitant a private and luxurious apartment in green surroundings while also creating relatively high density. Parking space, a spa and service areas are hidden in a green, artificial hill, cut-through by the roads to the garages. The three blocks on top of this hill contain one apartment per floor, offering each dwelling a private entrance hall and a 360-degree view that is maximized by alternating the position of the blocks. This upmarket settlement is probably only the first in a long line.

Although the principal architect, Aleksandr Skokan, is already in his sixties, the firm was founded as recently as 1992. Like many 'older' architects, Skokan's professional life under communism was confined to teaching and researching at the MARCHI, the Moscow Institute for Architecture. In the early 1990s it finally became possible for architects to set up in private practice. The name Ostozhenka refers to the firm's first assignment, the reconstruction of the neighbourhood between Ostozhenka Street and the Moscow River embankment. The new buildings conform to the scale and refinement of the historical surroundings. The area is now one of the most fashionable and expensive in central Moscow with buildings by, among others, Project Meganom and Skuratov. Context is also a very important factor in other works by Ostozhenka who have set a norm for responsible architecture in Moscow. They take all interests in account – the context, the client and the occupants – and so the style of their designs varies.

One of their recent designs is for a residential complex in Lyubertsy, a suburb in eastern Moscow. In contrast to the luxury of the Ostozhenka neighbourhood, this project has a very high density and small apartments. The location is a leftover space in a high-rise district. The main problem was how to realize the high density without compromising the daylighting and views of the existing housing. The solution was an open ensemble of three 25-storey towers. The towers are set on a base containing a sports and health centre. To maximize the transparency, the towers have a triangular shape and taper towards the top. With a lot of effort, the designers managed to soften the austere requirements and create an elegant solution for the site and for the buildings' future inhabitants.

Buromoscow is one of the new small firms that have entered the Moscow market. Architects Olga Aleksakova and Andreas Huhn were educated in Holland and Germany. While working at Rem Koolhaas's Office for Metropolitan Architecture they (re)discovered Moscow and decided to take a chance there. Together with Julia Bourdova they now have a growing portfolio. Their background is visible in their approach to design questions, which is both conceptual and aesthetic. Their first major assignment was to redesign the facade of a building with a floor space of 41,000 m² that was already under construction. The possibilities were accordingly limited, but by exploiting the standard prefabrication process they managed to change the appearance of the block. The castings for the staircase screens were altered and a free-flower structure appeared. The facade panels were decorated with brick tiles in different colours, resulting in a wood- or even textile-like surface. This surface was further adorned with a pattern of small projecting balconies, which the architects hope will avoid being built- or glassed-in. However minimal these measures may appear, they are very effective. The fact that at the moment the office has almost more work than it can handle is indeed no surprise.