Archi.ru: Yuliy, the UNK project bureau was founded by three architects - you, Nikolai Milovidov and Yulia Tryaskina. The first thing you pay attention to when studying your CV is the presence of work experience in foreign architectural companies, and in all three cases it is from this experience that your career begins. Do I understand correctly that this experience turned out to be decisive for you when creating your own company, and having decided to work in Russia, you deliberately used the Western model of organizing the architectural business?
Julius Borisov: Yes, the formation of us as architects really took place in the West. Nikolay Milovidov worked as an architect at the Swiss firm Fela Plannings AG, Yulia Tryaskina at the American bureau HOK, and I myself studied at the Bauhaus in Dessau and began my career at the Berlin bureau Smidt & partners. While we were learning the basics of the profession there, here in Moscow, the so-called "Luzhkov" style continued to flourish, which was accompanied by an unrestrained rise in real estate prices, and the main criterion for the quality of an object was the very ability to agree on square meters. Unfortunately or fortunately, this experience completely passed us by - on the contrary, working in Western companies, we, as our father, learned that the quality of an object can only be measured by the totality of its architectural, functional and operational characteristics. We decided that we will work in the same way here. And while the orgy continued around the coordination and construction of an insane amount of square meters, we worked on small projects in which we could implement our principles. These are private houses, apartments, office interiors and retail objects. Now, when high-quality architecture is slowly beginning to be in demand in the city as well, we are starting to go into volumetric design.
Archi.ru: What do you call quality architecture?
Y. B.: High-quality architecture is architecture that is not ashamed of. Which does not cause either rejection, or the desire to urgently change or, at least, correct something. Quality is when people use a building every day and stop noticing that it is there. From the point of view of the end user, the quality of the architecture is compliance with the technical specifications for a reasonable price.
Archi.ru: In other words, does the functionality of the designed object definitely prevail for you over the form?
Y. B.: You cannot emphasize any one quality. Ideally, it seems to me, the building should be such that, despite the modern look and modern materials used, it looks in the urban fabric as if it has always existed there. Another question is that functionality is really usually opposed to form, and if we keep this antithesis in mind, then yes, functionality is definitely more important for us. The question of form, style is secondary, everything starts with a task and initial data, and everything is created for them and for their sake. We are deeply convinced that in any style you can make a high-quality thing, and a very bad one. There are mediocre classics, there are mediocre hi-tech. That is why the UNK project does not have a single recognizable style; it is much more important for us to clearly adhere once and for all to the chosen course on the consistency, rationality and honesty of the project.
Archi.ru: Last year alone, UNK project received several professional awards for projects of office interiors, retail and housing projects. Does this mean that the bureau has not only style preferences, but also preferences for any one typology?
Y. B.: Our main specialization is people. In its most varied forms: a resting person, a working person, a living person. We had experience in creating an industrial facility - we built a plant with a very complex technology, but this is an isolated case. We mainly work with people and for the sake of people, designing housing, offices, shopping centers, show rooms, villages. Fortunately for us, a modern person prefers a multifunctional space, so there is simply no need to specialize in any one typology.
Archi.ru: And among the three of you, the leading architects of the bureau, do you have any preferences in terms of typology?
Y. B.: Julia is most often responsible for the beauty and retail sector, Nikolay is well versed in offices, and I am more inclined to volumetric design. However, this does not mean that each of us works strictly in one genre: our favorite method is synergy, we constantly exchange experiences. That is why we do not have teams of architects formed once and for all - a team of authors is assembled for each project. One thing is invariable: we develop each object to the smallest detail - such attention to detail has become a habit and has become our credo, also because for a very long time we have been working mainly on small objects. Each of our employees has accumulated a huge store of knowledge - figuratively speaking, someone knows how to masterfully design door handles, someone has stained-glass windows - and now this knowledge helps us to work out very large objects as carefully as possible, giving them individuality.
Archi.ru: Do you continue to tackle small objects now? Probably, now they are only of interest to you as a kind of testing ground for new creative ideas?
Y. B.: To be honest, I don't like the word "polygon". We don't experiment with clients. When we consider an incoming project, we evaluate it from different angles, including from the point of view of the possibility of self-expression, but the area has never been the main reason for us to agree to a job or refuse it. Yes, we can take on a project with zero profit if we see interesting opportunities in it. But regardless of whether we are designing a large object or a small one, we work at the same high level.
Archi.ru: Not so long ago, you began to cooperate on a permanent basis with the British architectural company Scott Brownrigg. What does this partnership give you?
Y. B.: At some stage, we realized that we did not have enough knowledge about new materials and modern technologies, advanced experience, if you like. And we entered into an agreement with British partners on mutual work. This cooperation gives a lot to both sides - we learn to apply new technologies, borrow some techniques, and our English colleagues got the opportunity to work more confidently in Russia and the CIS countries.
Archi.ru: Do I understand correctly that now you involve English partners in the development of almost all of your projects, and not only in those cases when, say, according to the terms of the tender, it is necessary to act as an international team?
Y. B.: Of course. We invite our foreign colleagues whenever we see that their participation in the project will provide a better result. Customers willingly agree to this - a project developed jointly with the British may be somewhat more expensive, but the final result, taking into account deadlines, construction costs, etc., turns out to be unambiguously more profitable. A well-executed project also gives savings during subsequent operation - fortunately, our customers either already know this from their own experience, or know how to listen to our opinion.
Archi.ru: Do you often take part in competitions?
Y. B.: We love closed contests with clear rules of the game and a guarantee of the customer's serious intentions. There are also such contests, participation in which and victory in which is a matter of principle. For example, last year's open competition for a project
residential development in the Technopark district in Skolkovo. We feel so confident in the field of low-rise construction, we know it thoroughly, that here we did not even need Western partners. Winning was a matter of principle. And we won. Now the process of project implementation is being gradually launched.
Archi.ru: How many people work in the bureau today?
Y. B.: More than 50.
Archi.ru: I specifically clarified, because a few years ago, Yulia said in an interview that more than 25 people in the bureau would never work, otherwise the assembly line could not be avoided …
Y. B.: The number of orders is increasing, and so is the number of employees. At the end of last year, we even moved to a new office with a larger area in order to accommodate the entire expanded staff of the office. However, the main principle remains unchanged: we invite only those people who are able to come up with an original idea and develop an interesting concept to work in the UNK project. We do not have a design institute, but a creative mobile office.
Archi.ru: How comfortable is it for you as architects to work in modern Moscow?
Y. B.: Well, you know, this is such an ambiguous question … The lower the quality of the environment in the city, the more work the architect has - and in this sense, we are very comfortable in Moscow. On the other hand, right now the situation is really changing for the better - the pursuit of square meters is a thing of the past, today both developers and the authorities are interested in high-quality comfortable architecture appearing in the city. At least at the level of declarations, the architectural guide tries to make life easier for designers, simplify the approval procedure, etc. In general, we do not regret that we are working right here and now.
Archi.ru: There are a lot of projects in your portfolio, developed for various regions of the Russian Federation …
Y. B.: Yes, we designed in St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Krasnoyarsk and a number of other cities. Now there is such a tendency: Moscow customers are looking for pro-Western or Western architects, regional ones - for Moscow ones. Fortunately, we feel confident in both sectors.
Archi.ru: Do you consider it necessary to educate the customer, develop his taste and thereby contribute to the emergence of high-quality architecture?
Y. B.: The mission, of course, is honorable, but in reality it turns out that it is very difficult and often pointless to form a customer … In the end, we are not an educational center. We are not interested in customers who are only interested in square meters. But they, in turn, do not need us at all. Basically, we work with commercial structures that are ready to invest in an interesting and high-quality result. And while interacting with them, we, of course, fight for solutions that we consider to be correct and organic.
Archi.ru: How acute is the problem of the quality of construction for you? It is generally accepted that in our country it negates 90 percent of correct and organic decisions …
Y. B.: As architects working in Russia, we are, of course, faced with this problem. But, in my opinion, most often unfinished projects are hidden behind poor-quality construction. Since we carry out our projects at a very high level, we make the working documentation ourselves and, thanks also to our English partners, offer the customer only the best materials, then we ensure the high quality of construction. True, I will not hide that often you have to spend colossal energy to convince the customer to make a choice in favor of high-quality materials. But here we know exactly what we are fighting for.
