Architect Portfolio
Elena Meliakova
Education
2021 - 2023
Master of Building Architecture (29,04/30)
Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
2014 - 2019
Bachelor of Architecture with honors
Voronezh State Technical University, Voronezh, Russia
2007 - 2011
Art School with honors
Voronezh, Russia
Contact
elemelka@yandex.ru
+39 351 9727441
Milan, Italy
Work experience
January 2023
Internship at «Design International»
Milan, Italy
May 2020 - October 2020
3DS Max tutor at the local school
Voronezh, Russia
February 2019 - March 2023
Architect of the II category at «Zhilproekt»
Voronezh, Russia
July 2018
Internship at «Archi+»
Voronezh, Russia
May 2017
Internship at «Koopstroi»
Moscow, Russia
Competitions
2022 SKYHIVE, International competition - shortlisted project (further information)
2021 Residential House on Koltsovskaya street — 1st place, realization (in collaboration with Zhilproekt, further information)
Best Residential project 2022, Regional architectural forum — contest grand prize (in collaboration with Zhilproekt)
2020 Central District Hospital for 80 people, All-Russian competition — 2nd place (in collaboration with Zhilproekt, further information)
2019 Best Residential project 2019/20, Regional architectural forum — contest grand prize (in collaboration with Zhilproekt, further information)
2019 Zodchestvo’19, International Architectural festival — winner
2019 Brinkman Garden, All-Russian competition — 3rd place (in collaboration with Zhilproekt, further information)
2018 Designing of Multi-comfort house by Saint Gobain, International competition — semi-final
2018 Wilderness Pavillion Kenya, International competition — top 50
2016 Zodchestvo VRN 2016, Regional competition — Best Student’s project
Workshops
September 2022
Palazzo in Re-Use
Winthertur, Switzerland
Spring 2023
IC Advanced Design Studio with Elding Jonas and Sejima Kazuyo
Milan, Italy
Inujima Community Hub
Spring 2023
In collaboration with Maria Maslova Tutor: Elding Jonas, Sejima Kazuyo
The project is located on a small island off Okayama in the Seto Inland Sea. Back then when the population was growing, this island hosted a large production of granite blocks and a copper refinery. However, nowadays it is a home for only 38 people. The average age of the islanders is about 80 years old and the aging population and depopulation now remarkably limit the development of the settlement.
Functions of the project were defined according to our interview with one of the local residents (Iwai Tomoyuki, also known as Mr. Tomo).
Elderly population needs hospitals, currently once a year a medical ship comes to visit everyone. Younger families need schools for their children.Local residents need workplaces to stop depopulating. We have also found out that the local café Kururi is popular both in and outside Inujima for the delicious food it makes.
The project reflects unicity and transparency of the island. We created a common space where both islanders and guests can interact during events or their everyday life.
Our proposal fits into the existing context and respectfully includes its nearby area into a new complex. The glass volumes are wrapped around the opaque nucleuses just the same as the island is surrounded by the sea. Curved timber roofs are floating above the spaces erasing the borders between internal space and outer world.
Software: Rhinoceros, Revit, AutoCad, 3DS Max
Role: 80% concept + 60% digital modelling + 70% representation + 100% visualization
Concentration of the built environment
Beaten paths based on STRAVA
Wind analysis
- F-Art House - avoid unreasonable proximity
- Coastline - create the passage
- Nearby buildings - alignment as a respect of the local «fabric»
- Fragmentation of the volumes
- Detachment of one building as a health facility
- Functional program
- Visual connection with the coastline and towards F-Art House
- Roofs - reflection of the functional program as a tangible factor
Detailed cross-section: doctor’s room + café
B.E.I.C. Library
Autumn 2022 - Spring 2023
In collaboration with Polina Luneva, Nihal Adil Tutor: Maria Grazia Folli, Corrado Pecora, Marco Imperadori, Giovanni Dotelli
This Library is located in Milan, Porta Vittoria District. The project has bing the impact not only as a new local landmark and a catalyst of the urban regeneration, but also as Europen Center of Knowledge. Even though now this area is relatively gloomy and sketchy, it has great potential to work as a secondary urban center on the city periphery due to convenient transport systems and presence of flourishing city parks.
The purpose was not to create a generic “cultural space”, but a multi-functional structure, characterised by being a place of access to knowledge through different languages of communication, capable of offering services for study and research purposes, especially of interdisciplinary nature.
Inside the library you can find numerous spaces with different functions gently interacting with each other and forming one vibrant system distributed around the building, including the basement as multifunctional spaces. Not only would the core serve as a structural element, but also as a means to dispersing knowledge for those who seek it in the generations to come.
The project implies interesting and justified structural solutions, which are aligned with the main concept of this site. All of them were carefully designed and checked according to European regulations and required structural calculations.
Software: Rhinoceros + Grasshopper, Revit, AutoCad, 3DS Max, Midas, ES-SO SBO Light, Syncro 4D, Velux Dayligh Visualizator.
Role: 40% concept + 30% digital modelling + 30% representation + 100% visualization
Building typologies
ViaCervignano
PassanteFerroviano
Respectful distance from the existing buildings and roads
Local land restrictions effect
Perforating walkable green area
Integration of the B.E.I.C. into the existing green core Facade hierarchy
Final building
Facade concept of vanishing
3D Truss Structure
Laboratories & Offices
BEIC & Laboratories
Science Department
Humanities Department
Art Department
Public Library entrance
Urban Passage
Facade moodboard
ZOL Auditorium
Autumn 2021
In collaboration with Zak Iljas Kosseifi, Okan Xhemaili Tutor: Gian Luca Brunetti, Marco Scaioni, Giacomo Boffi
The school of music, located in via Gallarate 15, Milan, required a new auditorium to be built for public and school performances. The designed auditorium focuses on sustainable solutions such as materiality and acoustical performances. Not only that, the surrounding environment was taken into account as to not invade the site, but merely assimilate itself to compliment the school.
An already existing hallway that connects the classrooms to the gymnasium was the initial starting point of this design. The main transparent facade, as seen in the renders, indicates the new entry point to the performance hall with an inviting space to all public passer bys.
The backside of the auditorium indicates a more private entrance for all performers not affiliated with the school to conduct a performance on behalf of the municipality.
Our structure is exposed as a means of transparency to convey an honest architectural language between design and structure. Glu-laminated timber posts and beams were used in a sequential grid to display a sort of order that will be changed with the elevations.
A hidden water collecting system was designed by using larch boards as a means to cover the exterior elevations, but also allow for easy access to the pipes in case of required maintenance.
Software: Revit, AutoCad, 3DS Max
Role: 30% concept + 20% digital modelling + 30% representation + 100% visualization
Urban Analysis
Acoustic Design
Creating territories of Well-being
Autumn - Spring 2019
Individual project
*The winner in All-Russian competition Zodchestvo’19 Tutor: Natalia Semenova, Petr Kapustin
The aim of this project was to create a universal and clearly structured template which may be applied to the most gloomy and depressive areas in order to transform and further develop them into spaces focused on happiness and well-being.
Nowadays the most people live in big cities. It obviously has a great impact on our mental health, as well as our physical condition. The «big city syndrome» - also known as the chronic fatigue syndrome - is widespread in Russia.
In continential climate architects should consider that the parks will be used nonstop, even in wintertime - hence the number of temporary or semi-permanent structures, which can be transformed into zones for winter sports and rest. These structures also won’t require any serious intervention, which is in line with the regulations banning all capital construction projects on 90% of the park’s territory.
During the developement, I found some regional and national programs devoted to well-being, which means the cost of the construction can be partially covered with the grants.
The main element of the park - The Main Entrance - recalls the most legendary restaurant in our city in times of Soviet Union. It had a hockey puck shape and had an interesting floating effect above the slope. The main volume is hidden below the ground to eliminate any visual obstacles on the hill, yet introducing a big capacity of a building. The dominant element - the donut-shape ring with fragmented public volumes inside.
Software: Revit, AutoCad, 3DS Max
Malmo Lighthouse tower
Spring 2022
*Honorable mention in «SKYHIVE 2022»
In collaboration with Polina Luneva, Nihal Adil, Maria Maslova, Mohammed Mubarak Tutor: Maria Grazia Folli, Corrado Pecora, Marco Imperadori
Vastra Hamnen district in Malmo is a unique and sustainable area with great potential. In the upcoming years the government expects to complete it and introduce a «gate to the city» on its tip.
There is a Turning Torso building, which may be called «questionable» in terms of plastic solution and its interconnection with the context and public. By the introduction of our project we tried to heal this area from extra fragmentation and sub-districts misalignment by the logical and semantical completeion of the district with a new dominant. The tower is on the same site as Kockumskranen - the largest naval crane in the world, which was an important landmark for the citizens. The removal of the crane left an unhealed trauma in Malmo’s inhabitants.
This tower pays homage to the collective memory with the tallness, which is the same as the crane was. The tower becomes a lighthouse, welcoming visitors from the Oresund strait, both from water and from the bridge. The illumination design brings the Northen phenomena to the Southernmost point of SwedenNorthern Lights.
Balancing the the taller Turning Torso, the tower creates a visual gateway to the city of Malmo. The building includes air research laboratory with rental units for the employees. Primary applications include emergency response, air quality, weather forecast, and commerce and transportation, as this city is in a very resourseful and strategic point.
Software: Revit, AutoCad, 3DS Max
Role: 80% concept + 25% digital modelling + 30% representation + 50% visualization
- Øresund Strait
- Pedestrian paths and cycle lanes
- Transport lanes
- Aluminum cladding - light-grey
- Wooden planks - light-brown
- Connecting volumes - transparent
- Ventilated facade
- Green roofing
- Curtain wall
- Building Integrated Photoltaic Panels
Sketches
Architectural proposal - competition
Start of the realisation - 2023
Architectural proposal - competition
elemelka@yandex.ru
+39 351 972 7441