Architectural bureau speech Choban Kuznetsov. Architectural bureau SPEECH: close-up

The exhibition, which will be held from May 17 to June 19 at the Multimedia Art Museum, is dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the architectural bureau SPEECH. Founded in 2006 by Sergey Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov, it has become one of the most successful in Russia, having implemented notable projects in Russia and abroad. Entrance for participants is free.

Among them are large-scale urban complexes, and elegant buildings with filigree facades, and extraordinary projects in the field of exhibition design. However, the principle of a multifaceted attitude to the profession is implemented not only in architecture: "Project SPEECH" is also participation in charitable programs, publishing activities, and the creation of one's own architectural media.

MFK Lotus. Alexey Naroditsky

The exposition will be located on two floors of MAMM and will present the most famous buildings and projects of the company, as well as art installations and drawings of its founders. Architectural photography will be the main means of presenting the works - SPEECH objects were shot by the best Russian and foreign masters of this genre. Expressive photographic canvases and original drawings will be complemented by a video interview with Sergey Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov, a library of media projects of the bureau, as well as selected models of buildings already completed and under construction, made specifically for the exhibition.

SPEECH is an architectural bureau, one of the largest and most successful design organizations in Russia. Founded in 2006 by architects Sergey Choban and Sergey Kuznetsov. Specializes in the design of buildings and complexes for various functional purposes, the development of urban planning concepts, as well as the creation of interior solutions. SPEECH projects have been implemented in many Russian cities (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, etc.), as well as abroad (Berlin, Milan, Venice, Minsk, etc.). At the moment, the company employs about 200 people, including not only architects, but also designers, engineers, project managers: combining various specialists in one team allows SPEECH to develop integrated solutions and participate in all stages of work on a project of any complexity.

Among the projects implemented by the bureau are the Grunwald residential complex in the village of Zarechye (Moscow region), an office building on Leninsky Prospekt and the Granatny residential building, 6, the Aquamarine multifunctional complex on Ozerkovskaya Embankment and an office building on Kulneva Street in Moscow, the Palace of Water sports in Kazan, V Lesus Microcity, Five Seas Class A business center in Rostov-on-Don, Main Media Center of the Olympic Games in Sochi, Russian Pavilion at the EXPO-2015 World Exhibition in Milan. Currently, SPEECH projects are used to implement such large-scale projects as the multifunctional complexes VTB Arena-Park, Fili-Grad and Etalon City, the stadiums of FC Krasnodar (together with gmp international) and Luzhniki ( reconstruction), the New Museum Complex of the State Tretyakov Gallery and the residential complex "Heart of the Capital".

In the middle of 2011, SPEECH Choban&Kuznetsov turned 5 years old, a company that in many respects stands out among the leading architectural workshops in Russia. And the point is not only and not so much in the success of the bureau, which confidently overcomes the decline in the architectural and construction market, but in the reason for this success - its own "Spichev" philosophy that permeates the design practice of the team and became the basis for the emergence of a creative tandem of two architects - Sergey Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsova.

The SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov bureau was formed as a result of a long-term cooperation between several design companies: the Berlin office of NPS TCHOBAN VOSS headed by Sergey Choban and its Moscow representative office "Choban and Partners" with the workshop "S.P.Proekt", headed by Sergey Kuznetsov and his partner Pavel Shaburov.

Sergei Tchoban and Sergei Kuznetsov. Photo: Natalya Kovalenko.
For S. Choban, who left for Germany in 1992 and made a successful career there, having gone from an nps employee (Nietz, Prasch, Sigl Architekten BDA, Hamburg) in three years to a partner and head of the branch office of the NPS TCHOBAN VOSS bureau in Berlin, a return to work in Russia was inevitable.

Residential building "Granatny, 6", Moscow. Photo: Alexey Naroditsky.
The volume of construction in our country, unlike in Europe, beat all records in the new millennium. An architect who knows Russian specifics and has experience in Western design practice could not but be in demand here. The beginning of the "expansion to the east" was the victory in the competition for the design of the Federation complex in Moscow City in 2003. The proposal of the architects Sergei Tchoban and Peter Schweiger - two towers, in the form of sails - was and remains perhaps the most spectacular building designed for the City. On the wave of interest in this project, new prospects for expanding activities in Russia opened up for Sergey, for which he needed not just a branch of the Berlin bureau, but something more - a full-fledged company, the leadership of which S. Tchoban could share with a partner whose principles and vision of the strategy development of the project business would coincide with his own.

View of the residential building from the opposite side of Granatny Lane.
Photo: Alexey Naroditsky.
Residential building "Granatny, 6",
Address: Russia, Moscow, Granatny lane, 6.
Ch. project architects: A.Perlich, Y.Kotlyar,
V. Kazul, S. Arutyunov.
Ch. eng. project: L. Makukhina.
Archite. V. Shalyavsky, T. Stolyarov, A. Kozyreva,
A. Sokolnikov.
Customer: Scanklin-invest LLC.
Total area: 15,431 sq. m.
Design: 2004–2007
Construction: 2007–2011

Situational plan.
Residential building "Granatny, 6", the concept of which was inspired by the works of the famous Soviet architect A.K. Burov, is not accidentally compared with a carved jewelry box. A rather laconic three-dimensional composition of three buildings of different heights, connected by glass inserts-transitions, is more than compensated by the richness of the external and internal decoration. Lined with natural stone (granite and limestone), the facades of the house are almost entirely covered with a carved pattern, specially developed for this project based on research into the traditions of Byzantine, Old Russian and Old Moscow stone carving.
Each prototype was used to decorate one of the three buildings. For each element of the facade (pilasters, pier, window sills and lintels), a pattern has been created that matches the chosen style. The same motifs are used in the design of the glass and wrought iron screens covering the lower part of the French balconies. Such filigree work with durable materials guarantees, according to the authors, a special aesthetic expressiveness of the facades of the building, which will only intensify with the passage of time and the impact of adverse urban conditions. The interior decoration of the public areas of the residential complex is also designed in an ornamental spirit and using natural materials. Metal, glass, stone and precious woods, decorated with patterns, create an atmosphere of luxury inside the complex. It is not surprising that the apartments in this building were sold out at the first stage of construction.

The young architect Sergei Kuznetsov became such a like-minded person for S. Tchoban, who has been leading his own design practice since the age of 23, and since 2003 acting as the head of the S.P. Project company. The latter, which started, like many others in the 2000s, with interiors and country houses, has been actively developing, including urban real estate in its sphere of interest. In parallel with the architectural activities, S.P.Proekt specialized in the creation of three-dimensional visualizations, the technical and artistic quality of which in a short time made the bureau one of the leaders in this market. Initially, cooperation between S. Choban and S. Kuznetsov was concentrated in this area, but gradually it began to spread to the field of joint design.

Intense joint work over several years in the early 2000s demonstrated that there is mutual understanding between S. Choban and S. Kuznetsov on many levels, and their tandem is not only viable, but extremely promising.
The merger gave the new company a number of advantages: an increase in the volume and scale of work, the introduction of modern Western methods and design standards, the absence of the need to gain credibility and create a company image from scratch, a combination of dynamism and energy of a young Russian team with the methodicalness and ability to work in market conditions of German partners, as well as the opportunity to develop simultaneously in Russia and in the West.

Situational plan.

Office building on Leninsky Prospekt
Project authors: S. Choban, S. Kuznetsov.
Ch. project architect: S. Kuznetsov.
Ch. eng. project: L. Makukhina.
Archite. A Perlich, T. Varyukhina, A. Kozyreva,
T. Lokteva, E. Murinets.
General contractors: MNR Bau und Bauberatungs
Ges.mbH (Austria),
RD Construction Management (Russia).
Total area: 16,253 sq.m.
Design: 2005–2009
Situational plan. Construction: 2008–2011

View of the office building from Leninsky Prospekt. Photo: Ilya Ivanov.

An essential and, at the same time, non-standard plus was the rejection of a rigid division of functions and responsibilities between partners. All functions of the head of the workshop (both administrative and creative) were equally divided between S. Tchoban and S. Kuznetsov. But where, at first glance, the source of problems could be hiding, in fact, the opposite effect worked. Two architects, two distinct leaders, differing in age and life experience, were able to build a system of relationships and management of their company in such a way that their difference works for the result and serves as an incentive for continuous development. And a single system of values and priorities in the profession acts as a common denominator, as the basis for interchangeability in all aspects of the company's activities.
This system is based on several principles that the heads of the SPEECH bureau Choban & Kuznetsov sincerely and consistently profess themselves and actively instill in their employees. They can be formulated as complexity, quality and durability.
The first principle is the method of project management by one team “from and to”. That is, from urban planning studies, through scrupulous study of all stages of design and control over its implementation, to the development of original interior details that continue and develop the main expressive idea of the building.
The second principle is the constant pursuit of the highest possible quality: the quality of the project, the quality of materials, the quality of workmanship. Moreover, this principle of the bureau is equally applicable both to expensive projects and to objects with a limited budget. It's all about the initial installation, determined together with the customer, and the correct allocation of funds. S. Tchoban and S. Kuznetsov, “suffering”, each in their own way, from the extreme stage of perfectionism, manage to infect with this “virus” even customers who are very far from an economically unmotivated striving for perfection.
The third principle is the refusal to create a temporary architecture, or, as the heads of the SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov bureau call it, “pavilion architecture”. For them, the specificity of its interaction with time is of key importance in determining the quality of architecture, which means the aesthetics of the aging process of a building that does not destroy or compromise the original design, but on the contrary, brings a special quality into it, the spirit of truth, which forms the cultural layer of the material world that surrounds a person. . The passage of time can give a building a new value and beauty, or it can lead to its complete degradation, when unreasonable savings at the design and construction stage turn into a sudden dilapidation of the building, especially catastrophically noticeable on the facades.
In addition to material aging, stylistic and artistic obsolescence is of great importance, in which architecture, which until recently seemed sharp and relevant, after a short period of time is already perceived as comical and out of place. The only way to create a durable architecture, which the leaders of the SPEECH bureau Choban & Kuznetsov have come up with for themselves, is careful work to understand the environment and create objects that meet its needs, and perhaps even treat some of its problems. To this is added the development of original details and forms, dictated by unfashionable trends, but by the image of the building and the spirit of the place, as well as the maximum use of materials that can withstand the destructive effects of time and climate.
All these principles, at first glance, have nothing to do with the realities of the modern architectural and construction market in Russia, where the ideology of reducing costs and terms for project development has long supplanted the terms “quality” and “culture of detail” from use. Under these conditions, the declaration of the principles of the work of the SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov bureau may seem like a utopia, smacking of architectural snobbery, fraught with squeezing the bureau, at best, into a narrow segment of elite architecture. This position, with all its prestige, could hardly allow the bureau to develop so actively in the Russian and international markets. But reality has refuted these skeptical predictions.
Since 2006, not only the principles, but also the projects developed on their basis by the architects of the SPEECH bureau Choban & Kuznetsov, have been extremely in demand.
Since the first days of the bureau's functioning, the range, scale and number of projects have steadily increased, as well as their geography. Already in 2009, i.e. 2.5 years after its creation, the portfolio of the bureau consisted of more than 30 projects completed for Moscow, St. Petersburg, cities of Russia and the CIS, including suburban villages, sports and cultural facilities, hotel, residential and office complexes, as well as urban planning concepts.
The starting dynamics of the bureau's development was such that it made it possible to overcome the crisis of 2008, almost without losses. Of course, some of the projects were frozen, and the number of employees decreased for a short time, but the bureau leaders themselves assess the changes that have taken place as positive. The composition of the project portfolio has become more realistic, and the reduction in the number of projects running simultaneously has made it possible to maintain and even improve the “branded” quality of design.
Its level, set and persistently implemented by S. Tchoban and S. Kuznetsov, provided for a thorough study of all elements of the future building. Even in a situation where it was only at the “Project” stage, specialists were involved in the process, who are usually involved only at the stage of detailed design: consultants for facades, for climatic characteristics, unique roofs, etc. And all decisions were developed as carefully as if it were a question of a “worker”. This rather tough way of professional initiation of young architects allowed the founders of the bureau to assemble a team of like-minded people in a short time, form a standard for the work of the bureau, instill in employees the skills of real design, accumulate and constantly expand the base of used parts, assemblies, technologies and materials.
This approach has already resulted in several implemented projects, each of which has set new standards in its segment for design and construction solutions that are not inferior to the level of modern European architecture. These are three complexes that differ in style, but are similar in quality of work with high-quality materials and modern technologies: an office building on Leninsky Prospekt,
residential building "Granatny, 6" in the eponymous lane of Moscow and a multifunctional business complex with the head office of JSC "Bank Saint Petersburg" in St. Petersburg.
Simultaneously with the development and implementation of individual objects, the SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov bureau in its urban planning and large-scale projects began to introduce an unusual team work system and invite several design companies to participate in the work on large-scale, multi-element complexes. So that each would make a project of a separate building, and together they would form a single ensemble. It is important to note here that the resources of the SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov bureau are more than enough to cope with any, even a very large-scale task. But the positive experience of consolidation and the priority of architectural quality have put the quality of the final result of the work in the forefront for SPEEC leaders, the harmony of the created environment depends on the variability within the framework of a single concept. Bureau SPEECH Choban&Kuznetsov is actively inviting leading architectural teams from Russia and the world to work together. Therefore, the Grunwald residential complex has already been built in the Moscow region (concept - jointly with the Ostozhenka bureau, projects of houses - Ostozhenka, Project-Meganom and Mossinepartners, Assmann&Salomon and NPSTchobanVoss).
Now, by order of RGI International, a mini-city “In the Forest” is being designed (other project participants are Assmann & Salomon, LANGHOF (Germany), LLC TPO Reserve, negotiations are underway with William Alsop and Mossinepartners).
In St. Petersburg, work is in full swing on the Embankment of Europe project, developed by a team led by Evgeny Gerasimov (Bureau Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners) and Sergey Tchoban and won a representative international competition. At the initiative of the authors, 10 European architectural bureaus were invited to participate in the development of the project, which, together with the authors of the concept, are working on projects of individual buildings within the framework of a single master plan. They are: Paolo Desideri, ABDR Architetti Associati; Hilmer & Sattler und Albrecht; Rob Krier & Christoph Kohl Architekten; Christoph Langhof; Johanne Nalbach, Nalbach + Nalbach Gesellschaft von Architekten mbH; Ortner & Ortner; Patzschke Planungsgesellschaft mbH; Erick van Egeraat; Cino Zucchi Architetti; Kahlfeldt Architekten Ges. Von Architekten mbH.
For SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov, the Factory Russia project, created in 2010 for the Russian pavilion at the XII Architectural Biennale in Venice, became an interesting and, of course, successful experiment in collective design. This is the concept of the revival of small towns in Russia on the example of the city of Vyshny Volochek, developed by the exposition curators Sergey Tchoban, Pavel Khoroshilov and Grigory Revzin. The project involved the reconstruction of several dilapidated plants and factories in the central part of the city, in order to create new jobs and attract tourists. Individual projects were developed by one of five teams: TPO Reserve, Skuratov architects, Studio 44, Evgeniy Gerasimov and Partners, and SPEECH Choban&Kuznetsov.
Each of them had the right to solve the task of reconstruction in their own ways and in their own way. As a result, a polyphonic picture of the transformation of the city emerged, in which the plurality of solutions only emphasizes their relevance.
Exhibition activity, and the “Factory Russia” project was not the only experience of the SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov bureau in this area (in 2009, the project “(Not) touchable reserve” was shown at the Architecture, in the Berlin gallery “Aedes Land” the exhibition “The New Life of Sretenka”,
Prepared together with Elena Nikulina with the support of RGI), as well as publishing (the heads of the bureau created an architectural journal - the almanac speech) and lecture activities naturally continue the design practice of the bureau. Their philosophy allows introducing a wide range of issues and topics into the range of professional interests: from historical and urban planning studies to the art of architectural graphics. S. Kuznetsov is passionate about the last S. Chobani, so much so that with enviable regularity they make joint forays into the open air, personally “breaking” the encrypted codes of harmony of the most beautiful cities and buildings in the world and decorating the walls of the meeting room in the Moscow office with the obtained “trophies”.
S. Chobani and S. Kuznetsov share their ideology, their trademark “Speech” triad “complexity-quality-durability”, every time they give a lecture or give an interview. They are trying to captivate as many professionals as possible with it, seeing this as the key to raising the general level of architecture in Russia and a chance for a qualitative transformation from the editorial board.
But this "know-how" is not a secret formula for success, but a recipe for hard work, without discounts for yourself and your employees. Their method of work, in which the traditions of architecture, dating back to the Romanesque masters, who sharpened stone patterns that come to life under the sun and rain, are fused with modern requirements and skills of architects, who, willy-nilly, must have the skills and knowledge of an artist, manager, engineer and psychologist . And all in order to be able to do the most important thing in the profession - to build beautiful, high-quality and durable buildings. And this practical philosophy is relevant and in demand not only in Russia, but also in the West. It is not surprising that after only five years SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov is confidently operating both in the Russian and international markets, having proven its worth in practice as a highly professional full-cycle project team.

Interview with the leading partners of the bureau SPEECH Choban&Kuznetsov Sergey Choban and Sergey Kuznetsov

— What problems do you think are the most relevant in modern Russian architecture?
Sergei Tchoban: Since the 1950s, the tradition of detailing characteristic of Russian architecture has been interrupted - rich, rich, warm. Due to Khrushchev's policy of combating "excesses", we today have come to an absolute forgetfulness of the culture of working with a detail,
as well as the lack of understanding of durable and aging well, not only constructively, but also in appearance, architecture.
In combination with the ideas of modernist architecture, understood solely through forms, but lacking the necessary detailing and high-quality elaboration that it eventually acquired in the West, and most importantly, in the absence of technologies and budgets, this situation led to the degradation of the urban environment. The old fund was collapsing, and the new substance, filling in the emerging gaps, was more of a pavilion, temporary character, not differing either in the quality of details, or the quality of materials, or execution. As a result, people in Russia have fundamentally lost confidence in what modern architects and builders are doing. To our shame, the most mediocre environment, created 100 years ago, today looks better, ages better, is more respected by the townsfolk, people settle and work in it with greater desire than in buildings built over the past 20-30 years.
Understanding this fact and the inability to come to terms with it, it seems to me, led Sergey Kuznetsov and me to the conclusion that it is necessary to revive traditions in relation to the surface of the building, to the unity of the building from the facade to the interior and the door handle, to the culture of working with materials that can withstand more than 5, 10, 20 years. This is the only way to start re-forming the environment, the architectural layer, which will not be temporary, pavilion. Confidence in the necessity of this mission rallied us and made it possible. Because the implementation of such projects is extremely costly, not only for developers, but also for us, architects. It is one thing to make some kind of design stage of a “cardboard” shopping center, hand it over and earn money. And it’s quite another thing to develop such projects as an office building on Leninsky Prospekt, Granatny or the Aquatics Stadium in Kazan, where every detail is given with a fight, every element costs us a lot of money, because it is four times more difficult to develop and longer than using an ordinary typical part, even if it looks quite modern. We consciously sacrifice here both our time and, in the end, our commercial interests, because we believe that these goals are much more important.

— Do you think the market here is ready to accept such principles? How popular are your ideas?
Sergey Kuznetsov: Our customers, for the most part, grew up on the same “international” and typical architecture that Sergey spoke about. As a result, they have practically no understanding of the quality of architecture, the quality of the urban environment. Recently, people are increasingly feeling the need for a harmonious, ensemble architecture. But it is too early to talk about mass adoption of such principles by the market. It takes time and serious work of a large number of members of the entire professional community involved in real estate. In my experience, both the market and the consumer respond positively to quality proposals, but all this has to be literally pushed through the most difficult stage of negotiations, persuasion and discussion, proving to the customer the benefits of solutions that require certain budgetary and time resources. For example, the construction of an office building on Leninsky Prospekt was preceded by months of debate. Today all these conversations are forgotten. The customer is very pleased with the building and says that he agrees with everything that we proposed. But to achieve, to insist on our own, we managed only at the cost of colossal nervous tension. However, there is no other way but through hard work.

Is such educational activity included in the professional duties of an architect? Or is it an integral part of work in Russia, and here it is necessary to fight with the customer, to convince, to preach?
S. Ch.: To fight - no, to convince - yes. The customer initially, as a rule, does not understand by what means and forces the modern building that he liked was created, for example, somewhere abroad - in Hamburg, Berlin, Paris. He may think that it is not much more difficult than building those "kiosks" that we see everywhere here. But the quality seen there is directly related to the size of the budget, design time, quality of materials, qualifications of workers, thoughtfulness of all steps of planning, design and construction. And the architect has to explain to the customer what exactly needs to be done, how much it costs and how long it will take. Moreover, not only in its own, architectural, part. After all, the quality of work is ensured not only by what and how we design, but also by those whom we attract as builders, whom we recommend as suppliers. It takes a lot of effort and all our experience, including international, to plan and organize the whole process.

— What are the distinctive features of the architecture of SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov?
S.K.: For us, there is no question of what to draw in the project, so that it is immediately clear that it was done by us. We have prioritized the quality of the facility and the quality of the created environment. That's what our customers come to us for. As part of this approach, we strive to achieve in each specific architectural element the level that we consider correct, interesting and beautiful.
When you do what you yourself like and are consistent with your principles, then, without even thinking about how and by whom it will be identified, your work will still be recognized. It doesn't matter what criteria. If all our completed projects are put in a row and compared with a random set of some other projects, it will be obvious that this selection has some distinctive features. But not recurring clichés, but a unity of approach to work.
S. Ch.: Our approach - in terms of the depth of study, the accumulated experience in working with various materials and technologies - is quite rare on the market today. And if on this path we begin to repeat ourselves at the level of the simplest external features, then we will turn the process of architectural design into a process of mass production of a model once brought to perfection. If in 10-15 years we would have 20 very high-quality objects in their development in Moscow, then I would consider it tragic that they are similar to each other. The process of creating architecture is very dependent on the functions and on the place for which the building is being designed, so it cannot be of the same type. The general approach and quality level of solutions should always be recognizable, and the answer to the tasks set should always be absolutely individual.
— Do you think that a similar approach to working with customers and facilities can be adopted by other Russian design companies?
S.K.: If we succeed in spreading our approach to the widest possible circle - for a start, at least professionals - then we will be able to consider that we have made a feasible contribution to the global process of forming a high-quality habitat. It is necessary to change people's perceptions, to demonstrate that there is a different understanding of the fabric of the city, other tools for working with it. Of course, changes will not come tomorrow, but it would be great to take a couple of steps in this direction. And if someone picks it up and develops it further, even better.
S. Ch.: We would be happy if in 10 years not 3-4 offices across Russia would work in this vein, but 20-30. And all this is quite achievable. The speed with which the quality of construction penetrates mass development can be colossal. It is enough to look at the buildings of Paris in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. or Russian architecture of the 1930s-1950s. I believe that it is the mass introduction of work with durable, high-quality materials that will ultimately lead to a reduction in the cost of them, to an improvement in work with them. And this, in turn, will lead to the fact that more people will be able to use them in construction, which means that the level of the environment being formed will change.

Experts have compiled the top 10 architectural bureaus whose projects are being implemented in the primary residential real estate market in the capital

Photo: VTB Arena Park multifunctional complex

The top 10 most sought-after architects whose residential projects are presented in Moscow are headed by the SPEECH architectural bureau led by Sergey Tchoban. The total living area of the projects implemented by him in the capital is 1.93 million square meters. m (19 residential complexes), according to the rating of the real estate company Metrium Group. When compiling the top 10, the company's analysts calculated the area of flats and suites in all projects in the primary market of Moscow and distributed these volumes among workshops.

In second place was Vladimir Plotkin's creative production association "Reserve" - according to his projects, six complexes (759.8 thousand square meters) are currently being built in Moscow. The third place is occupied by the Architectural Bureau of Sergey Skuratov with six projects with a total area of 415.6 thousand square meters. m.

In total, all workshops from the top 10 rating of the most sought-after architects account for 54 residential and apartment complexes with an area of 5.2 million square meters. m. This is a little less than a third of the total living space of all projects currently being implemented on the Moscow primary market, calculated in Metrium Group.

The top 10, in addition to Russian, also includes Western companies. Fifth place in the ranking was taken by the international architectural bureau MLA +, which developed the concept of a new large-scale residential complex in the mass segment - the Domashny microdistrict. Its living area is 337 thousand square meters. m. Also in the top ten were two more foreign architectural bureaus - Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquietectura (Spain) and NBBJ (USA).

Every year, according to Metrium Group, there are more and more objects created by eminent architects in Moscow, while standard projects are in the minority. Today, dozens of architectural companies operate on the Moscow residential real estate market. Among them there are both old-timers who designed buildings back in the days of the Soviet Union, and very young workshops led by young architects. In addition, in recent years, world-famous craftsmen have been increasingly involved in work on the capital's housing market. And if earlier they designed only expensive residential complexes, today they are creating projects in the mass segment, according to the rating of the most popular architectural bureaus. “In the coming years, architects will play leading roles in residential development. This trend is already gaining momentum. If until recently, projects from famous architectural bureaus were extremely rare in the mass segment, today recognized masters are starting to work even outside of Moscow, ”predicts Maria Litinetskaya, managing partner of Metrium Group.

Bureau of Architecture	Project name	Housing type
	"Heart of the Capital"	Apartments
	"Heart of the Capital"	Apartments
	"Etalon City"	Apartments
	"Royal Square"	Apartments
	"Royal Square"	Apartments
	"Savelovsky City"	Apartments
		Apartments
		Apartments
	"Presnya City"	Apartments
	VTB Arena Park	Apartments
	"City on the Tushino River - 2018"	Apartments
	"Water"	Apartments
	"Water"	Apartments
	Atlantic Apartments	Apartments
	"Hometown. October field»	Apartments
	"Fili Grad"	Apartments
	"Fili Grad"	Apartments
	"Iskra-Park"	Apartments
		Apartments
		Apartments
		Apartments
	"Technopark"	Apartments
	"ZILART"	Apartments
	"Garden Quarters"	Apartments
TPO "RESERVE"	"Tricolor"	Apartments
	"Tricolor"	Apartments
		Apartments
	"City on the Tushino River - 2018" (1st stage)	Apartments
	"Golden Star"	Apartments
	"Heritage"	Apartments
	"Garden Quarters"	Apartments
Architectural studio Sergei Skuratov	"Garden Quarters"	Apartments
	AFI Residence Paveletskaya	Apartments
	"ZILART"	Apartments
		Apartments
	"Art House"	Apartments
	"House on Burdenko"	Apartments
"Ostozhenka"	"River Park"	Apartments
		Apartments
	"Garden Quarters"	Apartments
		Apartments
	"Maple DOM"	Apartments
	"Maple DOM"	Apartments
	"Home"	Apartments
		Apartments
		Apartments
		Apartments
		Apartments
		Apartments
	Smolensky De Luxe	Apartments
Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquietectura		Apartments
Bureau of Architecture	"On Melnikov"	Apartments
		Apartments
	Izmailovo Lane	Apartments
	"City of Capitals"	Apartments
	"Legend of Tsvetnoy"	Apartments
	"IQ-Quarter"	Apartments
		Apartments
	"Nakhimovsky, 21"	Apartments
		Apartments
		Apartments
		Apartments
	"Sparrow House"	Apartments
	Gorokhovsky, 12	Apartments
	"Caramel"	Apartments

According to Metrium Group

Sergey Velesevich

High

15.06.17 13:40

The head of workshop No. 1 of the SPEECH bureau, one of the authors of such well-known buildings as the Microcity in the Forest, the Lotus Multifunctional Complex on Odesskaya Street in Moscow and the Russian Pavilion at EXPO-2015 in Milan, presents his graphic and pictorial works. Their main theme, as the name of the exhibition suggests, was all kinds of high-rise dominants. Lighthouses, towers, cathedral spiers, skyscrapers - these are just some of the plots of urban and coastal landscapes by architect Alexei Ilyin.

Venue of the exhibition: Gallery Paper (Bersenevsky per., 2/1)

New heroes of "Moscow Manhattan"

19.11.16 13:22

Two towers will appear in the Moscow City IBC complex, referring to the classics of New York skyscrapers. The customer of the Neva Towers object is Renaissance Development. The project was developed by an international team: SPEECH (Russia), HOK (USA), FXFOWLE (USA).

The new complex is formed by two buildings united by a common stylobate. The height of the towers is about 290 and 338 meters (63 and 77 floors). They are located at a certain distance from the main massif of Moscow City, giving its composition a balanced tripartite quality from certain viewpoints. Due to the isolated position of the towers, their windows will offer views of all directions of the world, including an excellent overview of the entire Moscow City.

For building facades, architect Sergey Tchoban, head of the SPEECH bureau, proposed an elegant and concise solution: a combination of glass and light stone lamellas. “Moscow-City has plenty of high-rise dominants that can boast of extravagant shapes and silhouettes, but there have not yet been towers designed in the tradition of historical skyscrapers, in which the lightness of glass and the massiveness of natural stone complement each other. Such an image is not subject to momentary fashion, it is a classic of the genre, brought to life today. The luxurious view from the windows is combined with the feeling of a solid stone house that will stand for centuries. At the same time, it is important that the complex is designed taking into account all the most modern requests and requirements, providing future residents with a comfortable stay,” Sergei Tchoban commented on the image of the project.

The main function of the new skyscrapers is residential. In total, the complex will have 1,210 apartments, the area of which varies from 60 to 300 square meters. m. The apartments are handed over to buyers in a “white box” state, i.e. completely ready for laying finishing materials and implementing an individual design. Neva Towers also includes office space (28 floors of one of the towers) and a shopping gallery. The parking lot has 2040 parking spaces.

Around the world, innovative skyscraper programs are building on the potential of a “vertical city” that provides its residents with everything they need while minimizing the need to leave its borders. The infrastructure of Neva Towers, according to the concept of "house without borders", will include several non-standard "luxury" options: a panoramic swimming pool in a private park on the roof of a four-story stylobate, a fitness club with a SPA and a hammam, squash courts, virtual golf, its own cinema hall, music and karaoke studio, room for individual lessons.

A special infrastructural advantage of the project is a private park, accessible only to apartment owners, and a spacious square, which is comparable in size to a stadium. Neva Towers promises to become the greenest multifunctional complex in the center of Moscow: its design and construction is carried out in accordance with LEED (leadership in energy and environmental design), the American Green Building Council, the project has been submitted for LEED GOLD certification.

To date, the 21st floor of the 77-storey tower is being built, more than 50% of the structures in the underground part of the complex have already been built. The project is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2019, simultaneously with the completion of the construction of the Moscow City business center and the reconstruction of the Moskva River embankments in this area of the city. Investments in the project will amount to more than 1 billion dollars.

The presentation of Neva Towers took place in the showroom of the project with a memorable modern design from the international company HBA /Hirsch Bedner Associates. The same company, known for projects for Hilton, Marriott, Fairmont, Hyatt, Sheraton, Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, Ritz Carlton, Waldorf Astoria, also designed the interiors of Neva Towers. The showroom is located next to the construction site, where you can see not only the layout of the complex, but also see panoramas on the media wall that will open from the windows of high-rise buildings.

Yard-Museum-City

07.09.16 19:08

On the day of the city, September 10, the Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val invites everyone to a celebration on the occasion of the opening of the courtyard after reconstruction. Through the efforts of the SPEECH bureau and the KROST concern, a new platform for intellectual recreation has appeared in the capital.

On September 10, City Day, the Tretyakov Gallery, together with the KROST Concern, will make a real gift to Moscow and its residents: on this day, the completely reconstructed courtyard of the Gallery on Krymsky Val will open. For a long time the courtyard was closed to the public, last spring for the first time a passage was opened from the side of the embankment. Now, after a large-scale reconstruction carried out by the KROST Concern according to the project of architects Sergey Tchoban and Andrey Perlich (SPEECH bureau), the courtyard will be filled with life, as it was originally intended when designing the museum building. From the next spring-summer season, music and educational programs, discussions, exhibitions, events for children and adults will be held in the courtyard. The reconstructed courtyard will also host events of the Central House of Artists (CHA), with which the Tretyakov Gallery shares the building.

Events for museum guests are timed to coincide with the opening of the courtyard on September 10. The holiday will open with a family program where parents will learn how to talk to children about art, and kids will get a unique interactive experience of interacting with painting, music and architecture; at 15:00 there will be a panel discussion "COURTYARD-MUSEUM-CITY" where participants - Zelfira Tregulova, Alexei Dobashin, Ilya Zalivukhin, Petr Ivanov, Olga Mamaeva, Alina Saprykina, Anna Trapkova - will discuss the development of this space in the urban environment; in the evening, a live music concert awaits guests.

The creation of public park spaces in the capital is a paramount issue for the improvement of a modern city, which has recently attracted more and more public attention. Head of the Concern, member of the Board of Trustees of the Tretyakov Gallery A.A. Dobashin, took the initiative to act as a patron of this social task. “One of the main postulates of the Concern's activity is the formation of an environment inside residential areas through the creation of cascades of parks, professional sports, children's developing parks and places for creativity. The territory should be filled with the main values and infrastructure for life. Thus, in the public space, people are surrounded by a mass of innovations. All this ultimately creates a formula: a beautiful yard on a beautiful street in a beautiful city.”

A large-scale reconstruction of the courtyard space, carried out by the KROST concern, was carried out with special attention to the history of the museum building. The main task was to identify the stylistic relationship of all elements of the architecture of the courtyard with its inherent laconic modernist aesthetics of the late 1970s - early 1980s. The improvement project was developed by the architectural bureau Speech (the authors of the project are Sergey Tchoban, Andrey Perlich). The concept is based on the idea of functional zoning, which creates conditions for a comfortable pastime for people of any age, as well as organizing various events. The territory of the courtyard is divided into zones - a lecture hall, a cafe, a play area and a recreation area. They are connected into a single space by a central alley running from the embankment to the main entrance to the lobby of the Gallery. The renovation of the courtyard also included the replacement of most of its coverings. At the same time, recognizable elements - a decorative rectangular pond raised above the ground and steps made of natural stone leading to it - were preserved. The architects treated the existing green spaces in the most careful way - all the growing trees have been preserved in the yard. The structure of lawns and flower beds has also been preserved, with a completely renewed landscape design.

Project SPEECH

11.05.16 17:52

The exhibition, dedicated to the tenth anniversary of one of the most successful Russian architectural firms, will be held at the Multimedia Art Museum from 17.05 to 19.06.

The new building of the Moscow City Duma. Photo by Dmitry Chebanenko

The bureau, founded in 2006 by Sergei Tchoban and Sergei Kuznetsov, has implemented a representative range of projects in Russia and abroad. Among them are large-scale urban complexes, elegant public buildings and residential buildings, expressive examples of exhibition design. SPEECH buildings differ from each other in function, area, plasticity of forms and decor, but their architectural solution is based on the same key principles - thoughtful composition, proportionality to the surrounding buildings, high-quality finish. interiors down to the smallest detail. And each of them - like the DNA of an object - reflects the essence of the overall design. The theme of “details” is even moved to a separate room.

MFK Lotus. Photo by Alexey Naroditsky

The entire exposition will be located on two floors of the museum. Architectural photography will be the main means of showing works - SPEECH objects were shot by the best Russian and foreign masters of this genre. The photo canvases are accompanied by video interviews with the founders of the bureau - Sergey Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov, as well as their drawings, a library of the bureau's publications and selected models of buildings already completed and under construction, made especially for the exhibition.

SPEECH about ZIL

23.03.16 15:46

April 2, within the framework of the new lecture cycle “ZILART. Architecture for Life”, architect Sergei Tchoban will present a new project of the SPEECH bureau and talk about the basic principles for the formation of modern urban ensembles, and his colleague Dmitry Gureev will lead a tour of a large model of the area being built on the site of the largest Moscow industrial zone.

In the next seven years, the place of the abandoned industrial zone will be residential area ZILART implemented in the concept of "City for Man". Here, houses for 25,000 residents will be erected on 65 hectares, as well as the Hermitage-Moscow Museum Center, drama and puppet theaters, kindergartens and schools, a 14-hectare landscape park will be laid out, an embankment will be equipped, and a 1.2 km long pedestrian boulevard will be laid. and new streets that will be named after Russian avant-garde artists.

Russian architects Yuri Grigoryan, Sergei Tchoban, Sergei Skuratov, Oleg Kharchenko, Evgeny Gerasimov, Alexander Brodsky, Alexander Tsimailo, Nikolai Lyashenko, Ilya Mashkov, as well as world celebrities: Hani Rashid (Asymptote Architecture), Jerry Van Eyck (!melk ), Willem Jan Netelings and Michiel Riedijk (Neutelings Riedijk Architecten).

The purpose of the lecture cycle " ZILART. Architecture for life»- to acquaint Muscovites with how the territory of the former ZIL plant will look like after reconstruction. About what buildings and spaces will appear there, as well as about the concepts and latest trends in modern architecture and urbanism, the authors themselves, the architects who design objects in the ZILART district, will tell.

The first lecture will be given by a well-known architect, managing partner of the SPEECH bureau Sergey Tchoban. He sees the key to the harmonious development of any site - be it the historical center of the city or the territory of a former factory - in the creation of objects thought out in detail from the outside and from the inside, which look modern, but also timeless. One example of the implementation of this approach is a residential building that the SPEECH bureau is designing on the territory of ZILART.

The lecture will be followed by a tour of the layout of the future quarter with an area of more than 110 square meters, made on a scale of 1:100. Dmitry Gureev, the chief project architect of the SPEECH bureau, will act as a guide.
The lecture will be held in ZILART HALL, at the address: st. Avtozavodskaya, 22.

Start at 14:00. A transfer will be organized for visitors from the Avtozavodskaya metro station to the venue of the event and back.
Admission is free, by prior registration on the Time Pad: https://zilart.timepad.ru/event/303932/

Contacts: [email protected]

Under a silver wing

13.05.15 18:39

The National Pavilion of Russia at the World EXPO 2015, which opened on May 1 in Milan, was made in strict accordance with the project of the SPEECH bureau, but in reality it gives a slightly different impression than in 3D.

Photo courtesy of EXPO 2015 press service

The Russian representative office is located almost at the very end of the Decumanus - the main longitudinal axis on which the planning structure of the exhibition, which spreads over 1 million square meters, rests. meters in the Milan suburb of Rho. On the way to our pavilion, you have time to get an impression of how other countries have architecturally designed their presence. If the previous EXPO in Shanghai looked like a collection of free-standing giant sculptures in the open air, then it is not a park, but a street system that is reproduced here. The objects in it are quite dense, many face the front line, and it is not always clear where one pavilion ends and another begins.

Photo by Alexey Naroditsky

Despite the remoteness from the main entrance, Russia, one might say, was lucky. Behind the pavilion of Slovakia, an interval in front of ours, there was a small, side road, so the Russian pavilion has a distinct three-quarter view. Thinking over the silhouette of the building, the architects of the SPEECH bureau — Alexey Ilyin, Marina Kuznetskaya, Andrey Perlich worked on the project under the guidance of Sergey Tchoban — proceeded from possible visual situations and proposed a solution that also strengthened the frontal point.

Photo by Alexey Naroditsky

Theoretically, Sergei Tchoban explained, it was possible to move the entrance closer to the Decumanus, but it seemed more rational to move the building deep into a narrow, rectangular area, and instead of a closed, incomprehensible corridor, make an open path lined with light wood, above which rises the same 30-meter console, intriguing limit of technological possibilities.

Photo by Roland Halbe

I must say that in reality it produces a slightly different impression than in 3D visualizations. On the renders that showed the pavilion out of context and from some points inaccessible from the ground, something bold and defiant, something from the category of “know ours” was seen in this dashing takeaway and scope. In fact, due to the position on the site, there is nothing cocky and provocative in the silhouette of the building. On the contrary, a console with a soft upward curve and polished stainless steel cladding gives the pavilion an open and friendly look, works as a gesture inviting you to enter, and, as the authors also counted on, be sure to take a picture in this giant mirror.

Photo by Roland Halbe

In addition, the mirror effect of dissolving in the reflections of the sky and the greenery of the lawns visually facilitates this impressive, engineering and construction complex structure, erected on a steel frame. It is even difficult to call it a visor, it is rather a silvery wing, from under which an unexpectedly architecturally related Estonian pavilion, designed by the Tallinn bureau Kadarik & Tüür, “emerges” from the side. It also rhymes with the Russian one with the wooden verticals of the side facades, only here these are planks laid in blocks in a checkerboard pattern, and a perky visor, only short and without mirror surfaces.

Such a roll call looks curious and significant, but first of all, it probably speaks of a common source of inspiration - the exhibition architecture of Soviet modernism. We still do not know if the Estonians have said this in their repeatedly changed architectural concept. For Russia, “hello to Montreal” was part of a program based on the idea of continuity and some kind of collective knowledge developed by several generations of Russian architects at international exhibition sites.

Photo by Alexey Naroditsky

In the interior of the lobby, SPEECH, striving for the integrity of the interior and exterior of the building, continued the design of the spectacular street approach with the same light plank flooring and a mirrored ceiling that reflects the oval information desk. Its "ribbed" facades, in turn, echo the decoration of the upper part of the outer walls with wooden lamellas. The extensive use of wood is a commonplace in the architecture of the EXPO 2015 pavilions, a response to the environmental dimension of its Energy for Life theme. In the case of our pavilion, it is also a natural reference to national building traditions.

Photo by Roland Halbe

Photo by Alexey Naroditsky

Prologue to the exposition under the slogan “Growing up for the good of the world. We Cultivate for the Sake of the Future” was the canvas “Bread” by Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky, installed in a glass box in the lobby. It is visible through the transparent facade even on the way to the pavilion. Yuriy Avvakumov, who developed the concept of the exposition (implementation - Simpateka RUS), advocated for the inclusion of works of contemporary Russian art. He came up with an orderly structure, like a periodic table, about the diversity of national cuisine, products and natural resources of Russia, as well as about outstanding scientists who contributed not only to world food security, which is dedicated to EXPO 2015, but also to the development of natural science in general.

Photo by Alexey Naroditsky

The walls of the halls arranged in a zigzag pattern are lined with cells - white, translucent plastic panels. The first hall is covered with images of plants and seeds that academician N. I. Vavilov collected all over the world. With the help of this unique collection (about 323,000 samples in total), which survived during the war in besieged Leningrad, several extinct cultures were restored. Video inclusions on the screens between the tables tell about the activities of Vavilov, as well as V.I. Vernadsky and D.I. Mendeleev.

Photo by Alexey Naroditsky

In the retrofuturistic bar-laboratory in the center of the first hall, guests are treated to national drinks, and in the second there is a tasting area designed in the form of an open cookbook. Here they will serve dishes of national cuisine, photos and recipes of which, including those sewn into QR codes, cover the walls.

Photo by Alexey Naroditsky

In a word, the Russian exposition is characterized by a clear logistics of the route, a visual presentation of information, and a technological design. The whole pavilion creates an image of a solid, seasoned and memorable not with stereotypical images "a la rus", although the souvenir shop could not do without them, but with an expressive architectural accent, symbolizing the aspiration to the future, stylish branding developed by the company "Eventika" and, we hope, tasty food: on the opening day, they only drank in the pavilion - kvass, tarragon and vodka. At that time, the rooftop platform had not yet been opened. But when it is opened, to the system of spacious, flowing public spaces, which is the Russian pavilion, one more will be added - with views of the entire EXPO.

Photo by Alexey Naroditsky

Infinite line of creative energy

17.04.15 14:30

Until May 24, an exhibition of architectural installations INTERNI is open on the territory of the Milan State University. The sculptural composition Living Line, a project by Sergei Tchoban, Sergei Kuznetsov and Agnia Sterligova, occupied the central place in the open-air exposition.

The authoritative Italian design and architecture magazine INTERNI traditionally holds this exhibition as part of the Milan Design Week. This year's theme - "Energy for Creativity" - echoes the theme of the EXPO 2015 opening in May in Milan - "Energy for Life", for which the SPEECH Bureau, led by Sergey Tchoban, designed the Russian pavilion.

The installation, installed in the central part of the courtyard of the complex of buildings dating back to the 14th century, which occupies the University of Milan, was based on the image of the Möbius strip. The composition consists of pylons of different heights lined with mirrored plexiglass. Due to the different angle of rotation of these elements in relation to the sides of the courtyard, as well as their constantly changing height (from 3.5 m to 6 m), Living Line is perceived as a mirage, an optical illusion. It seems that its surface and the line that unites the pylons at their highest point are constantly moving, creating more and more reflections of the famous Renaissance facade of the University. Living Line looks especially impressive at night, when an LED lights up at the top of each of the pylons and a luminous line hangs in the darkness of the courtyard.

“Energy for Creativity” is an incredibly interesting and capacious topic, because it concerns every person in one way or another,” Sergei Tchoban said, speaking on April 13 at a press conference dedicated to the opening of the INTERNI exhibition. - We sought to create an object that actively interacts with its surroundings, in this case, with the space of the Main Courtyard of the University of Statale. On our part, this is not just a tribute to the beautiful context, but a deep conviction that the best buildings of the past were and remain the most important sources of inspiration for designers, and their rethinking is one of the most creative tasks of modern architecture.”

Among the authors of the INTERNI-2015 exhibition are such eminent architects and designers as Kengo Kuma, Philippe Starck, Daniel Libeskind, Alessandro and Francesco Mendini and others. Russian architects Sergei Tchoban and Sergei Kuznetsov have participated in the exhibition for the fourth year in a row (the last two years together with Agnia Sterligova): last year, their installation U-Cloud was included in the top 10 most significant art events of Milan Design Week.

Implementation of the Living Line project - VELKO company.

Continuity and sustainability

03.03.15 20:40

The Russian pavilion at EXPO 2015, which starts on May 1 in Milan, is being designed by SPEECH. Based on the previous experience of domestic exhibition architecture, the team of authors led by Sergei Tchoban creates a new image that is memorable and challenging architectural technologies.

Working with exhibition spaces is an important part of the SPEECH practice. It is filled with expositions of graphics in the Pushkin Museum im. Pushkin, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Berlin Museum of Architectural Drawing, participation in the INTERNI installations in Milan, the concept of the Russian pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2010 and 2012.

A recent work is the design of Jan Vanrith's Losing Face exhibition at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center.

Exhibition architecture is temporary, and, on the one hand, it gives designers more freedom than objects designed for years, on the other hand, it has its own specific laws. “First of all, you need to create a script, a story. The exposition always has a theme that should unfold in space, in a certain sequence of rooms or zones, and movement in this case prevails over static ... Another feature is the tendency of exposition spaces to be closed, closed ... energy goes from inside to outside and forms the appearance of the building, ”- Sergey Tchoban explained during

However, the main factor that determined the appearance of the building, which is now being built in Milan, was the continuity of the architecture of the pavilions, made at different times for such exhibitions by Konstantin Melnikov, Boris Iofan, Mikhail Posokhin.

Mikhail Posokhin. USSR pavilion at EXPO-67

Sergey Tchoban noticed the combination of a clear, lapidary volume with an expressive entrance zone that unites the works of Soviet architects, for example, underlined, as with a stroke of a pen, the overhang of the roof. The head of the SPEECH bureau finds prototypes of such plastic solutions in ancient Russian architecture - in particular, in the details of the Mirozhsky Monastery in Pskov. The Milan pavilion takes the experience of its predecessors as a kind of collective knowledge and develops it to the limit of modern building technologies.

The "stroke of the pen" here impresses with its size. The 30-meter cantilever structure, smoothly rising above the approach to the building and the glass lobby, will be clearly visible from different points of the EXPO Park. Inside the pavilion, the movement is organized in such a way that after viewing the exposition, which unfolds from the bottom up, visitors get to the roof, where a long console turns into an alley, from where an overview of the entire exhibition area opens. Evening events are planned on the rooftop. In addition, the "visor" was invented as a kind of installation - the mirror surface of the lower, metal, lining will reflect the incoming and outgoing guests. The side facades of the pavilion are planned to be finished with wood, which will also remind you of the traditions of Russian architecture.

The theme of the 2015 World Expo is Feeding the Planet. Energy for life. The content of the exposition, the concept of which is being developed jointly with SPEECH by Yuri Avvakumov, has not yet been disclosed. But it is known that, among other things, it will tell about the outstanding Russian scientists who laid the foundation for the food sustainability of our country, and above all, about Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov, under whose leadership the world's largest collection of seeds of cultivated plants was created.

The project of the Russian pavilion also touches upon the theme of rational use of resources, consonant with the discourse of the upcoming EXPO. According to Sergei Tchoban, he and his SPEECH colleagues Alexei Ilyin and Marina Kuznetskaya were striving for a simple and dignified statement, for a form that can be reused in some other context, which is one of the hallmarks of sustainability in architecture.

Facades of the new building of the Tretyakov Gallery: project by the SPEECH bureau. Winner of competition

31.07.13 16:04

The architectural idea of the façade is white frames of various formats, forming a symbolic wall with "live" paintings, on which moving silhouettes of visitors are superimposed on glass with a pattern.

The new face of the Tretyakov Gallery: the winner of the facade competition has been named

03.07.13 17:25

The competition was announced by the Moscow Committee for Architecture at the end of May, that is, the participants were given a little more than a month to develop the concept. The project was supervised by the Board of Trustees of the Tretyakov Gallery, as well as personally by the chief architect of Moscow, Sergei Kuznetsov. He also headed the jury, which included Evgeny Ass, Yuri Grigoryan, Nikolai Shumakov, Mikhail Posokhin, Hans Shtimmann, former director for construction and urban development of the municipality of Berlin, and others. Andrey Bokov, the author of the project for the new museum complex of the State Tretyakov Gallery, the head of the State Unitary Enterprise Mosproekt-4, acted as an expert. After consultations with the professional community, 6 bureaus were invited to participate in the competition: TPO "Reserve", bureau "Tsimailo, Lyashenko and Partners", UNK Project, Ostozhenka, SPEECH and TOTEMENT / PAPER.

Andrey Bokov, Sergey Kuznetsov, Irina Lebedeva, Hans Shtimmann at a press conference

Today, Wednesday, July 3, at a press conference at the Moscow Committee for Architecture, the general director of the Tretyakov Gallery, Irina Lebedeva, announced the names of the winners. The first place was awarded by the jury to the concept of the SPEECH bureau, the second place went to the team of architects from TOTEMENT/PAPER, and the third place went to TPO "Reserve".

Exposition of the participants' works

Then Irina Lebedeva told reporters about the history of the competition. The project of the new building, located in the northern part of the museum complex and overlooking the embankment, was created in the middle of the last decade by State Unitary Enterprise Mosproekt-4. However, time passed, the construction was delayed, and there was a need to modernize the project. “At the same time, we must preserve the main parameters of the building - building site, height, area,” says Irina Lebedeva. - The winning concept fully meets the needs of the Tretyakov Gallery and corresponds to the image of the museum of the new millennium. This is not just a stand-alone building, but an element of the complex, commensurate with a person and a pedestrian zone in Lavrushinsky Lane. This is a modern stylization that creates an associative link with the existing building.”

According to the chief architect of Moscow, Sergei Kuznetsov, the jury's decision was the result of heated debate and a search for a compromise. The strengths of the winning concept are the respectful attitude of the authors to the urban context, their modern architectural language, the recognizability of the object and the unmistakable identification as part of the Tretyakov Gallery. The chief architect emphasized that the variant proposed by SPEECH is not the final one, for sure the figurative solution of the facades will be finalized, somehow adjusted during the design.

SPEECH bureau concept

The building, which will house the workshops of restorers, additional expositions and storerooms, should be completed in 2018. According to Sergey Kuznetsov, the revision of the facade concept will not affect the project budget, because in any case, the share of facade design in the overall cost structure is about 10%.

Bureau concept TOTEMENT/PAPER - 2nd place

The concept of TPO "Reserve" - 3rd place

Architecture for drawing

10.06.13 10:30

On June 1, the Museum of Architectural Drawing opened in Berlin. The first object of SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov in Europe is a small building and a unique institution that has become a great personal affair of the authors of the project.

Thirteen years ago, at the little-known Bassenge auction, the architect and artist Sergei Tchoban was lucky enough to purchase for ridiculous, as he recalls, money (about 1,000 euros) a drawing by Pietro di Gottardo Gonzaga "Architectural fantasy for theatrical scenery." From this began his, today numbering hundreds of works by first-class masters of the 18th and 19th centuries. In 2009, a charitable foundation was founded - the Tchoban Foundation Museum for Architectural Drawing, which by now has formed a solid collection of works by outstanding architects of our time. The museum that opened in Berlin is part of the Foundation's program. The Russian bureau SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov not only designed the building, but also invested in its implementation by ordering project support in Germany from the German bureau nps tchoban voss.

Patricia Parinejad

The driving force behind the project was the personal love of its authors Sergei Tchoban and Sergei Kuznetsov for architectural drawing, which occupies a significant place in their practice, as well as the confidence of partners that this type of art in the modern world deserves more attention and special space. . “Society's interest in architecture, in what it was, what it has become, in the way architects think, is growing. Drawings allow you to penetrate the creative process, reveal the path to the project. Often, graphics are all that remains to us as a legacy from architectural designs and structures, ”this is how Sergey Tchoban justified the relevance of the museum, introducing it to a group of Russian journalists.

There are collections of architectural graphics in many art institutions around the world, but no one has yet built separate museums for them. At the same time, the exhibition and storage of drawings is a special topic, which to a large extent determined the appearance and technical characteristics of the building that appeared on Kristinenstraße in East Berlin. Here, in the Prenzlauerberg district, on the territory of the former Pfefferberg factory complex, the Aedes architectural gallery, the Ikeda contemporary art gallery, and art workshops have already settled.

Patricia Parinejad

Thus, the museum became part of an art cluster developing in the bowels of a residential area. Noticeably different from its "neighbors", the new building has proportionately fit into the compact urban environment, closely adjoining the firewall of a residential building.

Patricia Parinejad

The total area of the museum building is 498 square meters. It looks like a tower of five volumes stacked on top of each other in a picturesque stack. Each - corresponds to the floor. The four lower blocks are cast from concrete using 3D technology. From the second level, due to the breaks in the facade planes and the offset of the corner elements, the effect of dynamic balance arises, the tiers are displaced relative to each other. The uppermost block is transparent, set perpendicular to the base. Extensive facade fields without windows overlooking the square, as well as narrow windows of the lower level, give the building the character of a small fortress, which emphasizes the cultural and material value of its contents.

Patricia Parinejad

The concrete walls of the building are worked out with relief images. When you begin to consider them, the main metaphor of the building opens up. The volumes seem to be made up of many architectural drawings that define the "matrix" of visual perception, proportional to the details of the brick and plastered facades of neighboring buildings. The design code is based on the motifs of the very first drawing for the theatrical scenery of Gonzaga, which laid the foundation for the collection of Sergei Tchoban. “Sheets” are layered on top of each other - somewhere they are visible frontally, somewhere dense rows of their sections protrude. The shade of concrete - "milk slightly diluted with tea" - seems to be specially chosen so that the surface evokes associations with paper or parchment slightly darkened with time. Thus, the facades of the museum clearly inform about its specialization, prepare visitors for a meeting with the masterpieces of world architectural graphics.

Roland Halbe

With its sculptural, “carved” geometry of the blocks, the idea of cantilever extensions, this building, on the one hand, continues the line of buildings of the German bureau of Sergei Tchoban nps tchoban voss. Such, for example, as the Berlin NHow Hotel (pictured above), where a recording studio is located in a mirrored “transverse” console on the roof. On the other hand, the principles that SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov develops in their Russian buildings are obvious. First of all, this is the attitude to the surface, the desire to enrich it with details that are interesting to the human eye, as well as the unity of the design concept, sustained to the smallest detail.

As in some of the bureau's Moscow objects (buildings on Leninsky Prospekt and Granatny Lane), the theme stated on the museum's facade continues in the interior space. Behind the front door of an impressive look and weight, a foyer opens up, designed as a home library, paneled with wood with the same pattern as the outside. Here you can sit, look through books and catalogs, buy tickets, and then take the elevator or stairs to the exhibition halls.

Press service of SPEECH bureau Choban&Kuznetsov

There are two exhibition halls - on the second and third floors. In terms of spatial sensations, they again look like cabinets in a collector's house. For admiring the graphics, such a chamber, intimate format is probably optimal. This aesthetic pleasure does not tolerate fuss and crowding, large museum spaces are not very good for it, especially where there is a lot of natural light, which is harmful to graphics. In the halls of this museum, which can accommodate up to about 70 works (depending on size), no more than 30 people will feel comfortable (therefore, most likely, a visit will be organized by appointment). The ratio of the length and width of the premises, their configuration is calculated in such a way as to provide visitors with the opportunity of free movement, a view from a distance, and at the same time the maximum area for hanging works. The curvature of the consoles creates spatial intrigue, eliminating the feeling of isolation and limitation inherent in rectangular halls.

There are no windows in the rooms intended for the exhibition. For lighting, a static system was chosen, which gives an even "curtain" light with an ultraviolet spectrum approaching zero. The load-bearing concrete walls of the building itself also create ideal conditions in terms of demonstrating and preserving drawings. According to Sergei Tchoban, they work like thermos shells, resist any changes in the environment and cause high energy efficiency.

The required 45% humidity is maintained in the halls, and sensitive devices make it possible to control this level every minute.

Above the exhibition space is a storage facility equipped with convenient mobile stands and cabinets. At the very top there is a transparent hall for meetings and chamber conferences, from where you can go to an open terrace with a panoramic view.

Patricia Parinejad

Exceptional storage conditions allowed the Museum of Architectural Drawing to begin its work with an exhibition of originals by Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Fifteen of his drawings from the Paestum series have not been exhibited anywhere else in this form, and even in the Sir John Soane Museum in London, where they came from, copies, not originals, are hung in the halls. In this exposition, the uniqueness of each leaf is emphasized by the exhibition design. The works are placed at large intervals, and each is presented as a "Mona Lisa", accentuated by a color background, in one room - dark red, in the other - gray.

Press service of SPEECH bureau Choban&Kuznetsov

Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Paestum. Italy. View of the Basilica from the south. 47.5x69 cm. From the collection of the Sir John Soane Museum in London

Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Paestum. Italy. View of the Temple of Neptune from the north. 47.5x69 cm. From the collection of the Sir John Soane Museum in London

Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Paestum. Italy. View of the Basilica and the Temple of Neptune. 47.5x69 cm. From the collection of the Sir John Soane Museum in London

Exhibition “Paestum Piranesi. Unknown Drawings by the Master” is a mobile edition that will travel to New York in August, where it will be shown at the Morgan Library. And the Berlin Museum of Architectural Drawing, meanwhile, will be preparing for the next exhibition dedicated to modernist and classicist trends in Soviet architecture. In total, it is planned to hold 4 exhibitions a year, and only one of them will be based on the materials of the Sergei Tchoban Foundation. First of all, they were formed for exchange with other institutions, and in addition to the John Soane Museum, there are already agreements with the École des Beaux-Arts, MoMa, the State Museum of Architecture named after A.V. Shchusev.

The history of architectural graphics will alternate in the program with the present - monographic exhibitions of current masters, for the display of whose works the museum also provides projection equipment.

Press service of SPEECH bureau Choban&Kuznetsov

At the opening ceremony: Aedes founder Christine Feireis, chief architect of Moscow, co-author of the museum project Sergey Kuznetsov, director of the John Soane Museum in London Helen Dorey, head of the SPEECH bureau, co-author of the museum project Sergey Tchoban, director of the architectural archive of the Berlin Academy of Arts Eva-Maria Barkhofen.

Press service of SPEECH bureau Choban&Kuznetsov

The curatorial board of the young institution included Eva-Maria Barkhofen, director of the architectural archive of the Berlin Academy of Arts, and Christine Feireis, founder of the Aedes architecture gallery and forum, who recently received the honor of being invited to the Pritzker Prize jury. The new private museum immediately declared itself at the highest international level, and this is a considerable merit of its building, where almost everything is conditioned by the culture of drawing, which until now played a rather reverse, subordinate role in the history of architecture.

Sergei Choban. Drawing for the museum project

Patricia Parinejad

Among the exhibition projects that can be seen in the Central House of Artists until May 26, space occupies a central place. According to the established tradition of large solo exhibitions, the stand was located in the hall on the second floor, at the busiest crossroads of the ARCH Moscow routes. And this is not even a stand, but an independent architectural object - with facades, not coincidentally "cut through" drawings on architectural motifs, and a three-hall interior space. Similar "carved" drawings cover the walls of the Museum of Architectural Graphics, which will open in Berlin on June 1. Exhibition at ARCH Moscow - prologue to this event. The authors of the project, Sergey Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov, who until recently headed the SPEECH bureau together, present in this exposition an object that is of particular value to them, and reveal their personal path from drawing to building. They have a word.

Sergei Choban. Museum of Architectural Drawing

At the exhibition you can see works created by colleagues during joint trips to the open air - in Rome, Venice, New York. The project of the Museum of Architectural Drawing, the construction of which was completed in Berlin, will also be presented. This is not only the first building of SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov in Europe, but also a manifesto of creative principles, a dedication to "architecture worthy of being painted."

Museum of Architectural Drawing in Berlin, designed by SPEECH Tchoban&Kuznetsov

One of the most important problems in the practice of the bureau - the life of architectural objects in time - will be discussed at the lectures of Sergey Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov May 23, at 13-30, in the conference hall of the Central House of Artists.

Architects of the past built "for centuries" from natural, beautifully aging materials. In the modern world, when using innovative technologies for the sake of a spectacular image, it is not always taken into account how buildings will look in 50 years. In their lecture, according to the organizers, Sergey Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov will try to figure out what is more important: eternal or actual, natural and innovative, calm or aggressive; and how the choice of one or another model of interaction between architecture and time affects the environmental parameters of cities. The event is presented by TATLIN publishing house. ARCH Moscow will host the premiere of a new monograph published by him in the Tatlin Mono series, dedicated to Choban & Kuznetsov's SPEECH Bureau.

Board of Trustees of the Polytechnic Museum. Its head, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Igor Ivanovich Shuvalov, leaving the conference hall where the meeting was held, announced the winning project and commented to the media representatives: “All six works that we have considered are of the highest world level. Experts recognized that they correspond to the leading modern trends. It's a pity, but one winner had to be chosen. The opinion of the Board of Trustees coincided with the choice of the Jury. The project of the Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas and the Russian company SPEECH won. Now our task is to acquaint the general public, the Moscow State University community, and city residents with this work, so that they perceive the project as their own.”

Then, at a press conference in the hall of the Polytechnic Museum, which housed an exhibition of finalists' projects, the leading architect of the FUKSAS bureau, Christian Sullivan, spoke in more detail about the project to journalists.

According to the author's idea, there should be a space open to the city around the Museum and Educational Center. The integrity of the area surrounding the building is ensured by its "basement" floor - a transparent, visually and physically permeable parallelepiped. It will concentrate various public functions (information center, cafe, conference rooms...). This is a kind of forum for meetings and communication, and at the same time - a "pedestal" for the main form, similar to a giant abstract sculpture with a complex outline. The four-part structure, which contrasts with the geometrically simple, open base, will house exhibition halls on several levels.

Parts of this bizarre, one-piece “formation” communicate with each other through atriums along the vertical and through passages along the horizontal, which will make it possible to create unified exposition spaces. At the same time, cut-out "sleeves" are convenient for holding separate exhibitions, arranging lecture halls and cinema halls. The interior space is characterized by functional flexibility, due to the development concept of the Polytechnic Museum. This was noted by the head of the British company Event Communications that developed it, James Alexander, one of the jury members who was present at the press conference. He also drew attention to the high level of the competition, for which the team of the Strelka Institute, headed by Denis Leontiev, was responsible.

The image of the building, according to Sullivan, was based on the idea of a certain developing natural form, a complex organism that is in the process of growth. Parts of the volume symbolize the four natural elements. The bluish hue is due to the planned finishing material - patinated copper. “We believe that this material is quite organic for the Moscow landscape and suitable for the local climate,” he said. Against the background of its "neighbors" on Lomonosovsky Prospekt - the Dominion residential area and the Second Academic Building of Moscow State University - the building will clearly stand out, but not dominate. Its height - 35 meters - is the smallest among the presented solutions.

According to Yulia Shakhnovskaya, Deputy General Director of the Polytechnic Museum, the approximate construction costs are estimated at $180 million, and this will be off-budget funds. According to "insider" information, the winning project is not the most expensive of the six considered. At the same time, this is a noticeable, iconic architecture, which, obviously, the customers wanted to see here. It was important for them that the building of the Museum and Educational Center provoked the curiosity of students, residents and guests of the city, attracted attention and “invited” them to go inside.

Christian Sullivan (Studio FUKSAS), Yulia Shakhnovskaya (Polytechnic Museum), James Alexander (Event Communications)

As the representatives of the Jury (James Alexander and Yulia Shakhnovskaya) emphasized at the press conference, the work of the FUKSAS bureau and the SPEECH bureau Choban & Kuznetsov won in terms of the combination of merits. This is an expressive futuristic image that meets the mission of the Museum and Educational Center, and the integrity and elaboration of the concept, and compliance with the functional program and technical standards. The form, intricate in appearance, according to German and Russian construction experts, is not the most difficult to implement, which is planned to be completed in 2017.

P.S. Prior to the announcement of the results, the winning project was listed on the competition website and the exhibition at the Polytechnic Museum under the code number 6005. Today, the “veil of anonymity” also fell from five other works, which had intrigued the professional community for several days. Number 6001 turned out to be the work of the Meganom Project (Russia) and John Mcaslan + Partners, 6002 - the project of 3XN A / S (Denmark) and Asadov Architectural Studio (Russia), 6003 - Mecanoo International B.V. (Netherlands) and TPO "Reserve" (Russia), 6004 - "Farshid Moussavi Architecture" (Great Britain) and Architectural Bureau "Rozhdestvenka" (Russia), 6006 - "Leeser Architecture" (USA) and "ABD Architects" (Russia).

While the Jury was considering the conclusions of the technical expertise, a popular vote was going on on the competition website. Here, the leaders (according to unofficial data so far) were first taken by the project of 3XN A / S (Denmark) and the Asadov Architectural Studio (Russia) - in the photo above. (They say he was also one of the strong competitors of the winning project in the rating of professionals). But then fans of Farshid Moussavi's creativity joined the popular vote, and thanks to their activity, the Farshid Moussavi Architecture project and the Rozhdestvenka Architectural Bureau became the first - according to the Internet audience.

6004 - "Farshid Moussavi Architecture" and Architectural Bureau "Rozhdestvenka"

6001 - Project "Meganom" (Russia) and "John Mcaslan + Partners"

A collection of bathroom furniture and fittings realized with Duravit, and in . Displayed at the Rational booth in the LivingKitchen section of the Cologne Furniture Fair (imm Cologne 2013), the Spira kitchen features recognizable wavy lines, soft silhouettes inspired by Art Deco aesthetics. In a video interview we did at the Rational booth, Sergey Tchoban talks about how this project fits into his practice, what architecture is inspired by, and what role the kitchen plays in a modern interior.

The Spira collection was developed for Rational by order of FTF Holding. The central element is the island, equipped with a convenient cantilever ledge that functions as a table-rack.

Cabinets, cabinets, shelves are covered with black glossy lacquer, the work surface is made of high-strength and, despite the whiteness, non-staining composite material 60 mm thick. The stepped silhouette of the island is highlighted by LED lighting.

In the meeting room of the spacious office of the architectural bureau Speech (full name - "Speech Choban & Kuznetsov") on Novoslobodskaya it is cold in a museum way. High white walls are covered with architectural graphics - old Venetian palazzos, Gothic cathedrals, clocks on city halls. “My works are hung on one wall, and Sergey Kuznetsov’s on the opposite wall. Before he became the chief architect, we often traveled together and drew a lot,” explains Sergei Tchoban, co-founder of the bureau, perhaps the most famous Russian architect in the West today. There are no modern buildings in the paintings, only conditional images of cars and pedestrians indicate that the drawings were made now, and not in the 19th century. “Modern architecture doesn’t inspire you as an artist?” “I also have drawings of modern architecture – for example, last year I drew Brasilia by Oscar Niemeyer. But it is clear that modern architecture is less photogenic. It ages worse, the elaboration of details, complex relief and patina in modern architecture are absent - there is nowhere to catch a pencil or a brush.

It was the passion for architectural graphics that played a decisive role in the bizarre development of Tchoban's career. After studying at the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and having worked for a short time with the architect Fabritsky, one of the creators of the Orlyonok children's camp, Choban decided to leave the country at the age of thirty. It was 1991 - a hungry time for Russian architects and, on the contrary, an era of a construction boom in Germany, so Tchoban purposefully began to look for ways to move to where he would have the opportunity to grow professionally. By that time, he had almost no practical architectural experience, but he organized an exhibition of his drawings and paper architecture in Hamburg. He was settled to live with the chairman of the Hamburg Union of Architects, who later hired Tchoban to work at the NPS bureau - to make graphic presentations of the company's projects. Having energetically set to work, the architect, who at first barely spoke German, three years later headed the Berlin branch of the bureau and began to design city objects (for example, the famous Berlin attraction - the Aquare House business center with a 16-meter aquarium, through which you can ride the elevator, and the nine-screen Cubix cinema at Alexanderplatz). Soon the company, in the house of the chief of which Tchoban had once huddled, was already called NPS Tchoban Voss.

“If you order the building of Zaha Hadid, the yield of rentable space will be 50%. And Choban has 75%"

In the early 2000s, when the construction boom finally began in Russia, Tchoban returned as the designer of the most ambitious Moscow project of that time, Europe's tallest Federation Tower. “Since 2000, I have been in Russia, watching what is being built here, the impressions were difficult. The objects that were being built here at that time were, let's say, specific - Tchoban speaks of Luzhkov's style extremely cautiously and politically correct. “But looking at the idea of the Federation Tower, I realized that this was my chance – it was very tempting to return to Russia with such a project.”

Initially, the head of one of the workshops of the Mosproekt-2 Institute, Alexander Asadov, planned to build the tower, but Sergei Polonsky, the owner of the project, who was already distinguished by an eccentric character, certainly wanted a Western architect. Then Asadov advised me to meet Choban in Germany. “I met Sergei in Berlin - from time to time he received groups of Russian architects and showed us all the novelties of architectural Berlin, told us how everything works. It was then very interesting, fresh and unusual information for us,” says Asadov. “When Polonsky’s colleagues said that in any case they would have a foreign architect working for them and that they went to America in search of him, and now they are going to Singapore, I said: “You don’t have to go so far, there is much closer, in Berlin , an architect who will do everything and satisfy you.”

That was the time when Western architectural stars were just beginning to be invited to Russia - Eric van Egerath, Dominique Perrault and Norman Foster. It was customary to believe that they would save Moscow from the hateful Luzhkov architecture, although in the end they really failed to build anything. The return of Tchoban in this context looked especially colorful. “Everyone discussed how he would come now and how he would show everyone here!” - recalls the architect and architectural critic Kirill Ass. But contrary to expectations, Tchoban did not begin to offer flashy ultra-modern projects in the spirit of Western stars, but began to build more than restrainedly, with transparent historical allusions - using Western quality, expensive materials and the latest technologies in a conservative way.

Both colleagues and customers appreciated it. “I work with Choban because I think that I should leave some positive mark on the image of the city, and not build ugly boxes, which are mainly produced by construction companies in St. Petersburg,” says developer Igor Vodopyanov, managing partner of Teorema Management Company, by order of which Tchoban built, in particular, the witty Benois House, covered with reproductions of the costumes of the great theater artist. - Basically, all local architects are adults and therefore very conservative - they are rejected by global architectural trends. And Tchoban designs in a very modern way - and at the same time, rational architecture can be obtained from him. If you order the building of Zaha Hadid, the yield of rentable space will be 50 percent. And Choban has 75.

Choban himself is sure that the main problem of Western stars is that they do not live here, which means that they cannot influence the design and construction process on a daily basis: “In Europe, the constant presence of an architect at a construction site is not necessary. But in Russia, customers and urban planning authorities periodically have doubts, a desire to change something, up to the architect, and therefore control and the undiminished power of persuasion that your ideas are correct are absolutely necessary here. When you look in Moscow and St. Petersburg at the building masterpieces of the past, created by Western architects, you understand that they were not stars at all, but simply people who devoted themselves to Russia.”

Work on the "Federation" not only returned Choban to his homeland, but also gave him a partner. On the project, he began to collaborate with Sergey Kuznetsov, whose bureau specialized in the development of three-dimensional architectural computer graphics - together they soon organized Speech. From that moment on, all projects of the bureau (for example, one of the most expensive and sophisticated residential complexes of recent years at 6, Granatny, or the Novatek office, the first Russian house that meets European energy-efficient design standards) are signed by two names. And now they went out to receive all the numerous prizes together: the long, round-shouldered St. Petersburg intellectual Sergei Tchoban and the strong and short Sergei Kuznetsov, who looked more like a young, ambitious manager than an artist.

However, a year ago, Kuznetsov actually turned into a manager - but already a state one: as part of Sobyanin's rejuvenation of personnel, he was appointed chief architect of Moscow. First of all, he proclaimed his goal to return architectural competitions for city objects to Moscow. “Yuri Mikhailovich held several competitions in the 90s, but the results did not satisfy him, so he rather quickly completely reoriented himself to the practice of direct orders to Moscow state unitary enterprises — large design institutes that we inherited from the Stalin era,” explains Alexei Muratov, chief editor of the architectural magazine "Project Russia". “Now one of Kuznetsov’s ideas is to return to the city the practice of competitive procedures accepted throughout the world.”

The practice is really back. And in new competitions, the Speech bureau began to win with enviable frequency: for example, Tchoban won the right to design a new building for the Polytechnic Museum and a facade for the new building of the Tretyakov Gallery. Formally, there is no conflict of interest in these victories: although the name of Kuznetsov is still listed in the full name of the bureau, according to its founders, since Kuznetsov became the chief architect, he no longer has a share in the company, and he does not take any part in its life .

“If competitions for city objects were held before, I’m sure we would win about the same amount. We are one of the leading offices in Russia, for us this is a completely natural result, as well as for other bureaus that honestly win today's competitions organized by the new chief architect of Moscow,” explains Tchoban. - The fact that architecture is a thing tied to connections is a delusion! I came to Germany and managed to work successfully there. What connections did I have? None. Take my work in Russia: I organized my own office with Sergey, and after seven years it became one of the most prominent architectural firms in the country - where are the connections? Probably, it is easier for someone to say that it was blat. In fact, if a person has abilities in some business, he achieves success. If not, then no. And that's it." Most of Tchoban's and Kuznetsov's colleagues admit that if you put aside past connections and look at the bureau's projects themselves, Speech's victories do not seem forced.

The second frequent complaint of colleagues is that Kuznetsov not only organizes architectural competitions for city objects, but for some reason he himself heads the jury: the chief architect who orders the competitions, leads them himself, and then also wins himself, can destroy his work on the rehabilitation of architectural competitions . Sergei Kuznetsov himself refused to make any comments related to the Speech bureau.

Having lost a partner, Tchoban not only found himself in a position of having to make excuses for victories, but also had to limit the work of the bureau on part of the projects. However, when asked whether he will look for a new partner, he answers unequivocally: “I don’t need any partners. I have three partners in Berlin, there are excellent workshop leaders. It was just that with Sergey it was a creative union of the highest level - it was the greatest luck that we coincided so for some time. I have partners, but the partner is no more.”

Having taken on half a dozen city construction projects single-handedly, Choban now mostly looks out of Moscow. From now on, his goal is to create the first Russian architectural brand that is successful in the West, and, more broadly, to raise the level of all Russian architecture. To do this, he has been publishing the architectural magazine Speech in Russian and English for five years already, and since the new academic year, Choban has been taking a diploma course at Evgeny Assa's architectural school "March" for the first time in his practice. For this, he decided to promote his Russian bureau in Germany - and he has to compete with his own German bureau: recently, under the Speech brand, Tchoban built his own private museum of architectural graphics in Berlin, which instantly earned the Iconic Awards and caused a fair amount of noise in the press. This is indeed largely a missionary story: Tchoban separates purely functional architecture from architecture as high art — and Speech, according to his plan, should only deal with the latter in the West. “If there is a task in Berlin to make just an office building at a high level, I will do it at NPS Tchoban Voss. And the Speech company, I hope, will receive iconic objects in the field of culture. To be honest, I am a great patriot of our country. I was born and raised here, she raised me, - Choban speaks about his most important task with particular inspiration. - In Russia, the quality of architecture is very low. Throughout the country, we can count about thirty relatively strong and interesting bureaus - for example, in Berlin there are about fifty such offices that compete with each other every day. This is despite the fact that in Berlin the population is three million against our one hundred and seventy. How can a country with such a density of architectural thought enter the world market? No way. Now I want to create an architectural brand that would be known not only in Russia.”

And this, of course, in a sense is very in our opinion - that Russian culture is raised by a person who, a few years ago, was considered here to be a German.

Portal for the student. Self-training

High

New heroes of "Moscow Manhattan"

Yard-Museum-City

Project SPEECH

SPEECH about ZIL

Under a silver wing

Infinite line of creative energy

Continuity and sustainability

Facades of the new building of the Tretyakov Gallery: project by the SPEECH bureau. Winner of competition

The new face of the Tretyakov Gallery: the winner of the facade competition has been named

Architecture for drawing

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