The lecture was attended not only by students, as is often the case at such meetings, but people in dark suits with briefcases also confidently walked into the hall, which was confirmed by the words in the title of the lecture about the obligatory trinity in architecture - “architect, customer and builder”. Introducing the architect, the director of the Center for Contemporary Architecture Irina Korobyina said that when she brings another Western architect to Moscow, she will certainly take him “to Klyazma, to Totan,” who, despite all his originality, speaks with them on equal terms and generally has "A strong creative intuition, which sometimes replaces both knowledge and experience."
It must be said that the originality of Kuzembaev is a relative concept; she is one of those identities that fit perfectly into the modern European context. The architect builds mainly from wood, and mainly in the "Pirogovo resort", known in particular for the fact that the "Art-Klyazma" took place there. All this is being built for one customer who has managed to gain fame, if not a patron of arts, but at least a patron of contemporary art and architecture. In addition to Kuzembaev, Alexander Brodsky, group A-B, Nikolay Lyzlov have noted at this artistic yachting resort; but before anyone else in Pirogov he began to build, and Totan Kuzembaev built the most. Totan Kuzembaev began the lecture by confessing his love for the customer, and defined the participants in the process as follows: about an architect (self-critically) - a kind of ancient profession, and besides, "a parasite who enjoys at the expense of another" realizes his fantasies at the expense of the customer. About the customer (politely) - he "wants to realize his dream, while having money." And, finally, about the builders (neutral) - in this series they have the least ambitions, "because their goal is simply to make money." Totan Kuzembaev found his customer, and then the builder, approximately in the middle of his career. At first, in the first half of the 1990s, no one needed architecture, and he was a freelance artist, traveled to Europe and the United States, and sometimes made fireplaces and stairs for country houses. Then the customer with the words - "Shouldn't we do something serious?" - suggested Kuzembaev to build a family nest on the newly purchased land. The house, bent in such a way as to preserve all the trees, was never completed, because the time had come for a "really serious matter" - the reconstruction of the Pirogovo resort, part of the Klyazminskoye reservoir. From that moment, namely from the beginning of the 2000s, the modern development of the Pirogovo resort began, which is now firmly associated with the name of Totan Kuzembaev. The first thing that the architect outlined in the reservoir area was a guest house. The customer's goal was pragmatic - since friends constantly come to him who do not want to leave, then it is necessary to build such a house so that it would not be possible to live in it. To this, the architect came up with a house that would swing from side to side: "the guest will get up in the morning with a hangover and will not understand whether the house is swinging or swinging." This is how the "Swing House" project appeared, which, unfortunately, was not built either. Soon after the site was surveyed, the first real object appeared. "A person always wants to climb higher, after he climbed, he wants to sit there, and after he has sat down, he wants to have a roof over his head." This is how the “Red Guest Houses” appeared - light wooden buildings, standing on high legs and facing the water with a large semicircular balcony. These houses, the architect says, are constantly being bought and relocated by someone - they even call from the South. "House-boathouse" was also born out of a frivolous necessity: a house was needed at the pier, where one could quickly change clothes before boating and put this very boat - that is, a classic boathouse. As a result, a two-story house appeared above the water, insulated for the winter, and they decided to leave the boat on the river. Not far from the house - a bridge stretching to the pier, which was later "snatched up for quotes": in the Moscow region there were still houses with branch bridges leading to teahouses and other gazebos, even if not over the water. If architecture is a reflection of the socio-economic situation in the state, then the house is the face of the customer - the architect believes. As an example, he cites the house of a young man who wished to remain anonymous, who wanted his wife not to meet with his girlfriend, and in general no one saw anyone except himself. So in the "House with a pier" there were 4 entrances and 3 exits - a kind of home labyrinth or a labyrinth for home. In one of the houses, the customer's only request was that his office be located next to the bedroom. On such a simple TK, the architect decided, as he himself says, to break away and drew a straight line diagonally that intersects the circle. The famous "Telescope House" emerged from this drawing, where the main staircase of the house plays the role of a straight line, and a study plays the role of a circle. Of course, Totan Kuzembaev is building not only on the Klyazminskoye reservoir, there are also buildings in the urban environment, but it was there, in the picturesque expanses, near the river that the architect found his - a vacationer - customer. According to the architect, he does not seek to conquer the skies and does not build palaces, but simply enjoys a garage hidden in a hillock, from which in winter you can ride like a slide or a fireplace made of cones.
