The brick discussion became an "exclamation mark" at the end of the program of events that accompanied the first all-Russian Brick competition for young architects. Thanks to this program of lectures and workshops, the competition became not only an interesting professional exercise for participants aged 30 and younger, but also played an educational role and allowed famous masters of brick architecture to talk about their creative credo, achievements and ideas, to think again about their commitment to brick and discuss your work with colleagues. About the winners of the Archi.ru competition in detail
told here.
Architects took part in the Brick Discussion
Sergey Skuratov (Sergey Skuratov Architects), Mikhail Beilin (Citizenstudio), chief architect of the city of Kazan Ilsiyar Tukhvatullina and members of the jury of the Brick Competition: Natalia Sidorova (DNA Architectural Group) and Alexey Kozyr (Alexey Kozyr's Architectural Workshop). Among the speakers was also the managing director of ARCHITAIL North-West, Yuri Khitrov, and the discussion was moderated by Vladimir Frolov, editor-in-chief of Project Baltia magazine.
The brick discussion took place in the ARTPLAY PORTAL communications space, its recording can be viewed on the IGTV Instagram of the ARCHITALE company and on the YouTube channel
ARTPLAY TODAY.
Each of the participants in the discussion devoted their presentation to the topics of their buildings and projects made of bricks, which, in their opinion, best reflect the various qualities of this material. But ARTPLAY PORTAL also spoke about the philosophy of brick architecture.
So, Sergei Skuratov spoke about his "relationship" with brick, which is almost 30 years old. This is his favorite material, he builds from it a lot and often, but in each new project he opens it from a new side, because bricks have many properties and qualities: each brick is unique and different from others. An important component of this material for the head of Sergey Skuratov Architects is his “human essence”: the energy, intelligence of a person, the warmth of his hands, which are in every brick.
Among the projects described by Sergey Skuratov, a key place was taken by the Art House complex with facades of clinker bricks fired in a ring kiln (currently supplied by ARCHITAIL). Uneven bricks deformed from a very high firing temperature were used in the lower part of the building, and with increasing height the masonry becomes more and more even, but more bricks appear in it with a characteristic metallic luster, playing beautifully in the sun. So the organic, "down-to-earth" part is replaced by a smooth, "technological" one. The author of the project compares his house to a mushroom that has just been taken out of the ground. Below, around the leg, earth has adhered, and above it becomes clean and neat.
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zooming 1/4 Residential complex "Art House" © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
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zooming 2/4 Residential complex "Art House" © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
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zooming 3/4 Residential complex "Art House" © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
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zooming 4/4 Residential complex "Art House" © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
The theme of the story was the house on Burdenko Street, where five types of mix of many brick colors were used on the facades to get away from the “Soviet” monotony of masonry as much as possible.
"Garden Quarters" is an example of an ensemble solution, where bricks unite different buildings into one, this is a basic element of the design code, while reminding of the industrial past of this territory. The versatility of this material is emphasized by the curly masonry climbing wall created on the facade of the substation.
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zooming 1/4 Residential complex "Sadovye kvartaly" © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
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zooming 2/4 Residential complex "Sadovye kvartaly" © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
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zooming 3/4 "Sadovye kvartaly" residential complex © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
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zooming 4/4 Residential complex "Sadovye kvartaly" © Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS
Residential complex "Egodom" in the north of Moscow is a story about the town-planning role of this material. The house plays the role of a dominant in this historical part of the city with monuments of brick architecture, and for its facades it was possible to choose a spectacular organic mix of two types of bricks.
Natalia Sidorova spoke about the palette of brick buildings of the DNA Architectural Group, from the earliest to the most recent examples.
So, the business center on Vavilova Street, surrounded by buildings of different times, received a clear regular facade with an asymmetrical sculptural volume with a mix of three tones of brick.
The key project for DNK ag is the Rassvet residential complex surrounded by historic brick buildings on Krasnaya Presnya. Here, brick is also a "contextual" material that blends the new structure into its surroundings. Different types of textured masonry were used on the facades, slightly differing from each other and giving the complex a variety. Natalya Sidorova emphasized that a brick of a special format was made for building 3.20 at the Safonovsky Klinker plant in the Smolensk region, despite the sufficient “budget” of the project. According to her, this is a reflection of an important modern trend - the growing customization of brick production. As a result, as the architect said, the resulting facades look very attractive, and looking at the photographs, many do not believe that this is Moscow and not Western Europe.
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zooming 1/3 Renovation of the building "Dawn 3:20 Loftstudio" © DNK ag
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zooming 2/3 Renovation of the building "Dawn 3:20 Loftstudio" © DNK ag
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zooming 3/3 Renovation of the building "Dawn 3:20 Loftstudio" © DNK ag
The project of the DNK ag quarter in the Zilart massif is a collage of various ornamental masonry and types of formation of a brick facade, demonstrating the limitless possibilities of this material.
The legendary handmade transom brick Kolumba of the Danish manufacturer Petersen Tegl deserves a special mention: its architects used it in private construction. Natalya Sidorova and her supporter Sergei Skuratov expressed their admiration for this unique plant - a family business that has existed since the 18th century - where dedicated specialists achieve the true "spirituality" of this material.
Alexey Kozyr spoke about his completed and not yet implemented brick projects.
A private villa, more precisely, a palazzo in Skolkovo, received facades of Belgian bricks, matched to the bark of pine trees growing nearby, taking into account the proximity to metal, spectral glass and granite, which were also used in the project. The audience was also shown a project of a theater on Strelka in Nizhny Novgorod - one of the most brick-built cities in Russia; Alexander Ponomarev was a co-author here. The complex shape of the glass water lily contrasts with the brick ornamental volume, where the patterns are reminiscent of Russian architectural traditions. Trump also reminded that not only the facing brick is important and necessary: construction, rough is also a valuable, high-quality material, which should not be forgotten.
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zooming 1/4 Project of the theater on Strelka in Nizhny Novgorod © Andrey Kozyr, Alexander Ponomarev
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zooming 2/4 Project of the theater on Strelka in Nizhny Novgorod © Andrey Kozyr, Alexander Ponomarev
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zooming 3/4 Project of the theater on Strelka in Nizhny Novgorod © Andrey Kozyr, Alexander Ponomarev
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zooming 4/4 Project of the theater on Strelka in Nizhny Novgorod © Andrey Kozyr, Alexander Ponomarev
Mikhail Beilin devoted his speech mainly to unrealized projects, including a tender proposal to fit a brick water tower in Shcherbinka outside Moscow into the baths.
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zooming 1/4 Water Tower © Citizenstudio
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zooming 2/4 Water Tower © Citizenstudio
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zooming 3/4 Water Tower © Citizenstudio
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zooming 4/4 Water Tower © Citizenstudio
Also presented was a residential quarter of towers, sectional houses and townhouses, inspired by Soviet brick and "ceramic" architecture - the so-called TsKovskaya houses in the Arbat lanes with modernist buildings in the south-west of Moscow.
In the process of implementation is a residential complex in the very center of Moscow, where together with the bureau "Megan" Citizenstudio is engaged in the restoration of architectural monuments and the reconstruction of lost historical buildings. In the course of complex discussions, various options for the design of facades arose there, including the traditional for Moscow painted brick and various types of volumetric masonry.
The chief architect of Kazan, Ilyasar Tukhvatullina, devoted her speech to transferring her experience of working with bricks to the young part of the audience and shared her experience. She also called on all young architects to fight for their idea and for the materials they designed, because "only an architect knows how the object will look in the end."
The discussion ended with an impromptu award ceremony for those laureates of the Brick Competition who were not present at the main ceremony in St. Petersburg. Apart from other prizes, they were awarded commemorative signs - bricks, specially designed for this purpose by the St. Petersburg artist Andrei Shreter. The winners were also awarded books by the competition partner, DOM publishers, and issues of Project Baltia magazine.
