Interview with Mikhail Motyaev, founder of U-kon company
In the 90s of the last century, the founders of the Yukon, Mikhail Motyaev and Pavel Korolev, ran a business associated with translucent structures and composite panels. And we constantly faced a problem: the appearance of the shells depends not only on the beauty of the surfaces, but also on the quality and manufacturability of the fastening system. And there were no such people in Russia at that time! Having studied all kinds of variations of fastening structures, Motyaev M. A. with the participation of German partners, he developed an original ventilated façade subsystem adapted to Russian conditions. It was registered under the trademark “U-kon”. For more than two decades, Yukon Engineering has developed and improved it so that U-kon designs can compete in the global market.
Now the design bureau of the company consists of two departments:
- technical support department - the first, where they consider the project of facades, are ready to offer, optimize possible combinations of fastening, make preliminary calculations, - and subsystem project developers department for each specific building.
These core business units have been strengthened
– design team and scientific and technical, - and in different regions of the country there are designers and technical representatives of the company.
According to the director of development of the company "Yukon Engineering" Maria Dobrodeyeva, the subsystem has undergone significant development in recent years. The company often recalls the experience of rehabilitating the sleeping quarters of Moscow: U-kon received a huge amount of work, with well-functioning production, the same type of installation - everything went according to the same scheme. This was the case ten years ago. Now the company is working on projects where sometimes up to 4-6 types of facade cladding are laid. A flexible, advanced system with a large number of fastening components allows you to find solutions for the most complex architecture. Detailed, deep study of solutions brought U-kon to the market leader. It's like with a watch - there are different ones, but there are Swiss ones …
An engineering perspective on architecture
Mikhail Alexandrovich Motyaev, a mechanical engineer, is confident by education that the main partners of U-kon are architects. Interesting shapes, combinations of cladding materials inspire engineering combinatorics. How does he evaluate architecture himself?
- I have only an emotional look, I don't dissect anything. I understand how the building is arranged inside, but the whole overall impression is important: harmonious - not harmonious, beautiful - ugly, what kind of “aftertaste” remains.
Now I walk near the Corner Place building in Nizhny Novgorod and feel constant admiration for how well thought out and beautiful it is - every detail, how the materials were selected, are not expensive, but they look very worthy. Probably, today it is one of the best objects in Nizhny Novgorod.
I also look at the Aquapark, which is being built on Gagarin Avenue. A controversial object for me, but its main facade with perforation is a godsend for me, a "raisin". And there are - everywhere! - tasteless things when a lot of money is invested, and the overall impression is none, and even negative.
I approach architecture, first of all, from this perspective - I have lived for too long with logic, with a rational mind, now I am learning to approach holistically, not fragmentarily, to live the overall impression.
The company has representative offices in different cities and even countries. Are you positioning yourself as a Nizhny Novgorod company?
- We position ourselves as a company that produces the Yukon system solution. In the late 90s, clients saw Nizhny Novgorod in their accounts, they were a little surprised. Then there was an opinion: if you are not a Moscow company, you are not a “company” for us, you cannot be a federal company. Now everything is different, they know us. Our city is a scientific, engineering center, in its atmosphere, with its character, scientific and production potential is realized.
Kulibin was also a mechanic … A question about "Swiss watches": how do you differentiate yourself from competitors?
“We're just trying to do our job well. In each case, find your own beautiful solution. When I was engaged in translucent structures, I studied a lot of German, Turkish, Italian technologies. The beauty of German systems is transcendental! Our company was brought up on these traditions of quality, beauty, and we support and continue this tradition.
The company has its own market share - complex projects. It is important for us to leave a good mark. Of course, we understand that after 2008 the race for savings began; at the time of the crisis, not technical specialists, but financiers came to the management of the construction site. But we are not happy with the customer, if he comes with the words: "Give us the minimum price - at least the grass will not grow further" …
Ventfacad is a living organism, it is important to comply with many conditions and requirements for it to work. Having a government contract ten years ago, we frankly missed the commercial sector of construction, after that we had to rebuild and catch up. But we did not curtail the development program for the development of new products, for new niches, we launched a stainless steel system, systems for natural brick (under clinker, with grout, without grout), mastered the work with new thin-walled large-format porcelain stoneware. Another new direction is work with solar panels. Probably, we are the most innovative company that not only earns money, but also forms the market, new trends and supports these trends.
Every time - new?
- Yes, that's right: each new project is a new task. We are not approached with simple projects. Basically, they come with drawings of complex shapes, often with a choice of facings, for which there are no ready-made technical solutions. We do not simplify, we support architects. In essence, we are helping to grow the grain that the architect is planting. The beauty of ventilated facades technology is that you get an ideal plane, ideal geometry, perfect rustic textures. And this ideality is advantageous both for simple shapes, and for complex ones, and even with classic elements of facades.
How reliable is the ventilated facade system?
- At the beginning of the 2000s, we had an object - an oil refinery. The customer had the main question: what happens to the facade of the building during the explosion? In the first experiment, the customer was convinced that the two-storey brick building was thoroughly demolished by the blast wave. In the second experiment - this time with our cladding system - the facade worked like a spar for a car, formed, taking on the entire load. Our ventilation facade took over the entire shock wave, distributed it over the structure, crumpled, folded - no damage to the building! The experts were shocked.
Mikhail Alexandrovich, how do you assess how successful the work of the company is? Are there any personal indicators, in addition to formal reporting? And, the inevitable question, with an eye to 2020: do disappointments happen, and what could they be associated with?
- No disappointments, no expectations … I am ready to accept anything. "Do what you must and come what may." We are working according to the plan, and the business plan is growing as well. In fact, we took radical measures 5-6 years ago, gathering the company on principles that are different for us. The main thing is that we work on software products that allow us to cooperate remotely from anywhere in the world, as long as there is an Internet connection. All divisions are in a common system. The exception is those who work in the shops, producing Yukon components. Priority construction projects in the capital, export orders do not stop - it is important to ensure a smooth process.
Did you know…
- It came intuitively, I trust my inner voice. It took us half a year to create a single virtual space for work. In this situation - if Yukon works and fulfills its plans - it is already a great success!
Differentiated calculations
Vadim Zhigalin, Head of one of the divisions of the Yukon Commercial Department in Moscow, explained how the engineering solutions of the Yukon system are assessed and complex.
Firstly, there are no software systems for calculating ventilation facades anywhere in the world. Yukon applies the principle of differentiated settlement: for individual elements or for individual sections. First, the entire complex is analyzed, and areas with industrial repeatability are selected. According to static calculations, it is possible to perform a complete layout of the subsystem, to generate working documentation.
Secondly, the warranty period for ventilation systems increased from 2 to 5 years not by accident. The system reacts to temperature and weather changes from season to season: the guide expands, transfers the load outward. This affects the position of the cladding - with poor-quality installation, it begins to break, swell or burst. The Yukon has a product that allows you to immediately provide "foolproof". However, the warranty period is already justified by the experience of observing the time of complete stabilization of the system.
On the example of the Olive House in Moscow, one can see how the system of ventilated facades is convincingly adapted to the extensions and recesses of various sizes, providing expressive plasticity of the facade. From the plane of the window to the extreme point of the perspective portal framing it, there are several ledges, and each is decorated with natural stone. The total offset from the plane of the concrete building base is 550 mm, and this entire complex stepped structure is supported by Yukon brackets. The success of the project was due to the close tandem and cooperation of the facade installation company and the manufacturer of the subsystem. It was in the discussion, in the interaction that the necessary combination of the U-kon construct was born, which made it possible to realize the architect's plan with millimeter precision
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zooming 1/1 Olive House. Plan
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zooming 1/6 ART View House, St. Petersburg. Facade system U-kon Courtesy of U-kon
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zooming 2/6 Axis Towers, Tbilisi, Georgia. Facade system U-kon Courtesy of U-kon
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zooming 3/6 Residential area Eco Vidnoe 2.0, Moscow. Facade system U-kon Courtesy of U-kon
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zooming 4/6 RC Iskra Park, Moscow. Facade system U-kon Courtesy of U-kon
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zooming 5/6 RC Olive House, Moscow. Facade system U-kon Courtesy of U-kon
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zooming 6/6 LCD Saturday, Moscow. Facade system U-kon Courtesy of U-kon
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zooming 1/6 RC Tsarskaya Square, Moscow. Facade system U-kon Courtesy of U-kon
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zooming 2/6 Club house Tsvet 32, Moscow. Facade system U-kon Courtesy of U-kon
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zooming 3/6 Clubhouse, Vancouver, Canada. Facade system U-kon Courtesy of U-kon
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zooming 4/6 Lcd Basmanny, Moscow. Facade system U-kon Courtesy of U-kon
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zooming 5/6 Club house The Mostman, Moscow. Facade system U-kon Courtesy of U-kon
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zooming 6/6 TRK Five planets. Facade system U-kon Courtesy of U-kon
