Portfolio
Ekaterina Mishchenko
Saint Petersburg
Santiago de Compostela
5 - 24
Lyceum in Pavlovsk
25 - 34
Library for Camino de Santiago pilgrims
Moscow
London
55 - 68
35 - 54
City rooms in Poplar neighbourhood
City of events on Yauza river
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Lyceum in Pavlovsk Saint Petersburg Russia
A learning institution for a small group of students is located in the middle of Pavlovsk park, a former emperor residence near Saint Petersburg. The group of students and their tutors spend the whole study year surrounded by the artificial nature of the park. The nature plays a special role here. The park was thoughfully created centuries ago, and each part of it produces a well-designed effect. The lyceum follows these rules, and brings new life and functions into the museum-like context.
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Passing by the landscape
The former emperor residence surrounded by the park is situated near Saint Petersburg. Its nature is artificial and well-designed to create different impressions. Now it’s a museum, a 600-hectare landscape park, and also the location for the lyceum - the institution with its own life inside this context.
A walk through the park produces the effect that was designed centuries ago. Nothing here is random: the nature turns into full-scale paysage paintings that can be observed either from viewpoints or on the way between them. These paintings change with weather and seasons.
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Amphitheatre, a viewpoint in the park
The way through the park
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Landscape pictures along the way
Saint Petersburg
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Lyceum in Pavlovsk
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Saint Petersburg and Pavlovsk
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Pavlovsk park and the site location
Seeing the landscape
The park’s landscape consists of roads and viewpoints, and the impression depends on the viewer. Every road is a part of the landscape, and at the same time produces an infinite number of paysage pictures. The same applies to viewpoints. The park’s landscape has its own rules of passing through, as well as its own specific mode of perception.
Its topography is built to show a viewer a goal and a perspective. And while walking through, the viewer sees an infinite number of compositions created by trees. They are built on contrast of different kinds of trees, of groups and isolated trees. Every step through the park changes their geometry and scale relationship. The view and the movement here exist simultaneously.
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The ways through the landscape and trees compositions around, sketches
Saint Petersburg
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Lyceum in Pavlovsk
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Perception of the landscape in a walk though the park, scheme
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Pavlovsk park: pedestrian traffic intensity and the site location
Spots and windows in the park: the lyceum site
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Views of the future lyceum seen from different viewpoints in the park
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Map of the ways around and views on the lyceu
Saint Petersburg
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Lyceum in Pavlovsk
um territory
Every building in the park is a part of the landscape. At the same time, the landscape is framed by buildings. They are seen from afar and stand out of the background formed by the trees. At a closer distance, a building shapes one’s view of the landscape. Getting inside it, one sees a new version of the landscape, that was impossible before the building appeared in it.
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The idea of the building, sketch
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Landscape shaped by the window, model (1:100) in the park
Buildings in the park: the lyceum The lyceum is situated on the plot that connects two big parts of the park, the formal garden and the landscape park. Its exact location on the plot was found as a result of long walks around and many thoughts on how the building is seen at a distance - by the ones that walk by, and by those who approach it. Brought together, these buildings form a new link between the two parts of the surrounding area. Passing by and through them, one can see the park’s
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The lyceum in the landscape, plan
nature at a new angle. The frames shaped by the buildings divide the infinite landscape into a certain number of paysage paintings. They will never stay the same, changing with the seasons and the weather. The materiality of the three concrete buildings emphasizes their contrast with the surrounding area: they are a part of the park, but stand out of the background. The metaphor of a frame still works.
Saint Petersburg
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Lyceum in Pavlovsk
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The lyceum in the park, model (1:100, lasercut) and landscape
The two main buildings split the functions of the lyceum as an institution for studying and living throughout the year. Their dimensions are identical, though the inside spaces differ - the study building has two floors, and the dormitory - three. The third building, smaller one, provides an open public space - a cafe for the visitors of the park. All three buildings share a common space in the middle - a courtyard half-open to the park. This space is used by the students, but still is a part of the park’s nature.
The lyceum students are divided into two groups of 15 according to their age (12-14 and 14-16). Their program includes main study courses and a number of special ones. The ground floor of the study building provides classrooms for the special subjects, as well as a hall for big events of the lyceum accessible to the public. The ground floor of the dormitory is mostly a common area where all students can meet to have a breakfast, watch a film or play ping-pong.
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Study building a Main hall of the lyceum b Natural science class c Art studio and workshop d Science class and lab e
Cafe for the visitors of the park
Dormitory f Meeting room in the dormitory g Laundry h Dormitory atrium hall i Ground floor bedrooms j Living room k Kitchen
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The three buildings of the lyceum: for studying, for living
Saint Petersburg
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k Lyceum in Pavlovsk
and the cafe open to the public, ground floor plan
First floor spaces are more private and calm. The study building has two baserooms for the two groups of students, as well as a large self-study area and a library. And only bedrroms are situated on the first and second floors of the dormitory. The first floor of the cafe building is also private - students and teachers of the lyceum can have a lunch and a dinner here.
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Study building a Self-study room b Group baseroom c Group baseroom d Library e Administration room
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Cafe for lyceum students
Dormitory g Typical tutror’s bedroom h Typical student bedroom
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The three buildings of the lyceum: for studying, for living
Saint Petersburg
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h Lyceum in Pavlovsk
and the lyceum cafe, first floor plan
Reinforcement net, concrete plaster / 10 mm Insulation fasteners Insulation layer / 200 mm Concrete wall / 200 mm Insulation layer / 100 mm Waterproofing layer Parapet capping Concrete roof panels / 50 mm Gravel / 50 mm Waterproofing layer Vapour control layer / 10 mm Concrete screed / 50 mm Insulation layer / 100 mm Concrete slab / 300 mm
Poured-in-place floor / 10 mm Concrete screed / 50 mm Separating layer / 1 mm Acoustic insulation layer / 10 mm Concrete slab / Ceiling finishing, plaster / 20 mm
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Reinforcement net, concrete plaster / 10 mm Insulation fasteners Insulation layer / 200 mm Concrete wall / 200 mm Interior finishing, plaster / 20 mm
Basement finishing, plaster / 10 mm Basement insulation / 100 mm Waterproofing layer Window Window sill Concrete wall Interior finishing, plaster, 20 mm Poured-in-place floor / 10 mm Concrete screed / 50 mm Separating layer / 1 mm Insulation layer / 100 mm Waterproofing layer Concrete slab / 300 mm Sand bedding layer Insulation layer protection / 10 mm Insulation layer / 100 mm Waterproofing layer Concrete foundation / 250 mm Gravel Concrete strip / 50 mm Insulation layer / 50 mm Sand bedding layer / 50 mm Catch-water drain 500
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Detailed sections: the roof, the wall, the basement
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The study building, section
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Saint Petersburg
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Lyceum in Pavlovsk
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The dormitory building, section
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Saint Petersburg
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Lyceum in Pavlovsk
The rooms in the park Each of the inside spaces - the spacious common areas and the small, private bedrooms, are a part of the park’s nature. Windows are essential to all rooms, especially the bedrooms: each of them is a three-part structure open to the park. It includes a balcony door, a table and a large window sill that is a personal seating place in front of the nature.
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The room of a lyceum student as a part of the Pavlovsk park, model 1:10
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Three options of the bedroom floor pla
Saint Petersburg Lyceum in Pavlovsk
ans: a typical student room, a tutor’s room, a room for a disabled person
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The main hall and the corridor of the lyceum, model 1:50
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The walking library Santiago de Compostela Spain
The walking library is designed for pilgrims of Camino de Santiago. They walk for days and weeks, making stops to have a rest. The library meets their need for cultural experience in the free time after the hours of walking. It is a series of structures along the way where pilgrims can find a book to read and leave it at the next location. Reading pavilions are also meeting places and spots to charge phones or leave messages for other pilgrims. The prototype appears near Santiago de Compostela.
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Last stop of Camino de Santiago Camino de Santiago goes a long way through the valleys, the hills, the mountains and the towns of Spain, starting hundreds of kilometres away - in Portugal and France. Every day pilgrims stop in a new location. Before reaching their destination Catedral de Santiago de Compostela, the backpackers make the last stop at 27 Monte do Gozo, a few kilometres from the cathedral.
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It is surrounded by hills and fields, and the library site represents a space by San Marcos chapel bounded by a fence, with trees growing around. The trees form natural rooms that invite pilgrims inside and allow them to look around covered by the ceiling of the tree crowns. The floor of these rooms is designed by traces of sunlight passing through the trees, and this is something that has to stay here.
The print that pilgrims get at the stop inside San Marcos chapel
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The view to the fields around the site of the library
Santiago de Compostela
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The walking library
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Santiago de Compostela and the site of the library prototype
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The room under the trees and the sunlight traces
The walking library
The library is a part of this room surrounded and covered by the trees. It follows the topography of the site and its exact position between the trees allows the backpackers to see the surrounding area while reading a book or having a rest. It is formed by book boxes and platforms, which allows to adapt this modular timber construction to different locations along Camino de Santiago.
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The site and the library, model 1:100 (the site model - group work)
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The view out of the library
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Views of the library,
Santiago de Compostela The walking library
y, sketches
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The site and the library, plan
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The library, elevation, side view
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The library, plan
Santiago de Compostela
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The walking library
The library, elevation, front view
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The types of book boxes
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The walking library in the room of trees
Santiago de Compostela
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The walking library
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City rooms in Poplar market London United Kingdom
City rooms - big and small, fast and slow - appear in the middle of Poplar district in East London. Regeneration in urban locations is a provocative debate, and one which can divide communities. Time frames, economics, land pressures, social and spatial organisation are all factors that offer a frame of reference to consider new buildings and infrastructures. In this context, a city room is a part of a bigger urban structure, and at the same time it has its own functions, rules and meanings.
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Poplar market square
Poplar is a district in East London, and Chrisp street market is its central part. This area was rebuilt as part of 1951 Festival of Britain, its architecture is uniform and some of its buildings are in a conservation area. However, the neighbourhood, mostly residential, awaits regeneration, and changes are about to come here in all aspects urban, economic, social.
City rooms are part of this process of adaptation to the changing reality: temporary or permanent, they should not bring dramatic changes, but rather add new qualities to the existing space. Built into the neighbourhood, they meet the needs of its residents and bring the functions that this part of the city lacks.
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Clock tower
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The Market square and the clocktower seen from Chrisp street, sketch
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The market square on Sunday
Chrisp street
Market square
London
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City rooms in Poplar
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The project site - Market square and the surrounding area
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Poplar and Chrisp Street market on the map of London
The idea of a city room
The idea of a city room comes from a quite unusual view of Santiago de Compostela. The town seen late at night gave me the exact impression of being inside a room, where the buildings in narrow streets looked like its walls, and the dark sky turned into its ceiling. The town’s buildings have their own 39 mode of changing quality. Their shops and cafes are full of people in the day. And in the night, the town turns into a room - a closed, calm and private space.
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Santiago de Compostela seen at 4 a.m.
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The central part of Santiago de Compostela: narrow streets and small squares
London
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City rooms in Poplar
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The buildings of the town changing their quality between night and day
The walls of Chrisp street market
The market square is always full of people every day except sunday. They walk in all directions, some of them shopping, others passing through. The shops are standardized, but all different. They spread all over the square, forming their own structures 41 and filling ground floors of the buildings around. Brought together, they form an “inhabitable wall” around the square. Its thickness is defined by the shops’ depth, and it serves as a boundary between the outer public and the inner private parts.
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People seen at the Market square, sketches
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The wall of shops at th
London City rooms in Poplar
he market - standardized, but all different
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The three kinds of the market square shops: different areas and depths
Clocktower gateway
The gateway appears at the entrance to the market. It is formed by a wall, and the clocktower becomes a part of it. The “inhabitable wall” contains a few rooms for the local community, and inside the boundary is a meeting place - a small and calm city room semiclosed by the wall. It is a part of the neighbourhood, but has its own private character. a
Library b Cafe c Coworking space d Local museum e Courtyard
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The clocktower and the gateway, model 1:50 (the clocktower model - group work)
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The clocktower gateway, plan
London
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d City rooms in Poplar
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The exhibition space inside, sketch
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The city room inside the wall, sketch
Seen from the street, the structure looks like a passage to the rest of the square. The inside space turns out to be a yard with the views to the surrounding area. The timber construction contrasts the clocktower without contradicting it. Its materiality and structure suggest its temporary nature. With the upcoming reconstruction of the market area, it may partially and temporarily replace some of the market functions.
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The clocktower and the gateway, sections
London
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City rooms in Poplar
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The view from the Chrisp street
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The view to the inside space
Market city rooms The second, much larger, city room reorganizes the whole market square. The new space includes the existing function of a market, and adds new qualities to it. It still is a central meeting point on the way through the neighbourhood and still works as the main market in Poplar. Now it has a half-enclosed space inside, and the chaotic square turns into a more private courtyard. Although the bustling market life is still here, now there are more quite and calm spaces in the market buildings.
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The clocktower and the existing market, sketches
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Market city room, plans and facades
London
The new buildings appear in the middle of the existing city, and their dimensions are considered to match the surrounding area. Going back to the initial idea of a “city room”, this matching starts with a research of proportions of building heights and street widths of Santiago de Compostela. This process allows to see these relationships, their range and limitations.
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City rooms in Poplar
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Research of buildings proportions,“city room” of Santiago de Compostela
The reorganized market is located on the ground floor of the structure. Getting inside the courtyard space, residents of the neighbourhood find the usual functions here - market stalls and a few cafes. The space is accessible from all sides of the square and the passage through the neighbourhood is still here.
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Market stalls b Cafe
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Market city room, ground floor plan
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London
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City rooms in Poplar
In the existing context, the possible proportions are adapted to the reality and the future requirements. 2
Searching for the new buildings proportions in the existing city
The city rooms located above the usual noise and stir of the market are much calmer. People stop and stay here as long as they need. The first floor is more private and closed, with a few cafes and coworking spaces that can be transformed into offces. One of the buildings has a large meeting room that can be used by residents of the neighbourhood for any community events and everyday purposes.
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Cafe
Coworking / office space
Meeting place for the community 5
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Market city room, first floor plan
London
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City rooms in Poplar
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Market city room, sketches
London City rooms in Poplar
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The inside space opens up at a few sides, as it still works as the important passage way through the neighbourhood. People enter this room, to walk through or stay as long as they want - to shop at the market, have a lunch in a cafe, to work or study in the coworking space, or see their neighbours at a community meeting in the meeting hall. 1-2
Passing through the market city room
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The city of events Moscow Russia Atelier libre
The city of events is a phenomenon that exists only in the theoretic space. It originates from an area on the banks of Yauza river. Starting within the reality, it develops through the depth of history and across the space, considering a larger context than can be perceived directly. It consists of forty individual structures that, brought together, reinterpret the events that are related to the real territory. This theoretical city has no roads - and still all its objects and structures are connected, in the physical and metaphysical ways.
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The reality Moscow and Lefortovo district Some events happen right now, in front of us. Others took place years ago, and have left a trace, or a trace of a trace. They can only be observed through a research. The starting point of this research is Lefortovo district in the eastern part of Moscow. The territory that all further events are related to has the borders defined by drawing a random line on the floor around one’s body on October 1 , 2018. This imaginary line was later projected to the map of the city in 1:200 scale, and the research begun.
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The territory of the future research on the map of Lefortovo district
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Views of the site: the abandoned railway and the tram rails
Moscow
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The city of events
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The map of Moscow and the area near Yauza river that the City of events originates from
The reality reconstruction of the event
The random boundary line contains the real part of the city, with real people and real life taking place there. The mechanism to reinterpret the past events in the reality appears on a leftover part of the unused railway. Years ago it worked as a delivery line for the factory behind the gate, now abandoned.
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The mechanism consists of a specially designed folding ladder connected to the leftover part of the railway. When closed, it is not obvious to people passing by. And by unfolding it, climbing on top and looking through the “lens”, one gets the perfect view behind the closed gate and the idea of the railway to the abandoned factory. Our eyes follow the trace of the trains that used to pass by this place years ago. 1
The abandoned railway
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The instrument of reproducing the past events
Moscow
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The city of events
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Reproducing the past: the unfolded ladder leads to the hole in the gate and allows to see the railway that used to work at the abandoned factory
The past the events related to the territory A part of the city contains more than we see, and is related to even larger events and processes of the past. We don’t change the point on the map, but change the viewpoint. The tram line passing through the territory is a part of Moscow’s first tram circle that appeared a century ago. The evolution of ways to move through the city creates a palimpsest of spaces related to its different periods. The mode and the speed of movement through the city predict the viewer’s idea of it.
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These modes change from long-lasting views of a pedestrian or a tram passanger to the fragmentation of the metro and the postcard-like view of a car passenger. All of them are distilled and reinterpreted in a form including a station of Moscow metro, a tram line, car lanes, a walking lane, and a central viewpoint arch, with the angle of view coinciding with the human one. 1
Fragment of the past events: axonometry
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The process of the fragment forming
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The zine describing the events published as a p
Moscow The city of events
part of the project
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6 The first Moscow tram circle going through the site
7 Fragment of the past events, model (1:200)
The unreal the city of events The real historic events, analysed and reinterpreted through coincidences, connect the real part of Moscow near the Yauza river with the global context. The collection of facts allows fragments of history to gain tangible semantic boundaries that form the autonomy – the city of events. It can be thought of as a lattice of spatial and temporal axes, subordinate to the third — the time axis, which forms the collective memory of the place.
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The city of events (group project) and the history hotel, model (1:200)
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The city of events group project, model (1:200)
Moscow
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The city of events
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The history hotel, axonometry
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The real city turning into the city of events: 40 event sites and the axes
The history hotel in the city of events The reinterpretation of historic events connected to the part of Moscow results in a research into the memoirs of a few different, quite famous, people who came to visit Moscow in the soviet period. Their real impressions allow to find a perfect place for each of them in the City of events depending on the part of the reality that was available to them in soviet Moscow.
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In the City of events all historic events may exist simultaneosly. So, according to its rules, Walter Benjamin, Le Corbusier, Aldo Rossi, André Gide, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Lion Feuchtwanger could stay in the same place. They find themselves on the railway station of the imaginary city and make their way to the hotel. Their spaces appear in the thickness of the walls, just like the events appear in the depth of history. These spaces are distillations of the real prototypes - the rooms and houses where these people actually lived or that they designed. Brought together, they form a tower where each floor belongs to a certain protagonist. 1
The City of events: the route of foreigners in and the hotel
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The history hotel in the city of events, axonometry
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Moscow
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f a Co-op interieur described by Walter Benjamin b Le Cabanon by Le Corbusier c Lion Feuchtwanger’s office d André Gide’s living room e Aldo Rossi, monument f Ludwig Wittgenstein’s hut in Norway
The city of events
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Prototypes of the spaces included in the structure
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The fragment of the history hotel, model 1:50
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The history hotel, model 1:200
Moscow
Each protagonist’s space can be accessed by one of the two staircases. They lead to different rooms depending on each person’s political views and relationship with the soviet power. So does differ the orientation of their window views: the tower is a part of the City of events, and each protagonist can see a certain part of the historic events that shape the whole imaginary city. The city of events is derived from the historic reality and lives by its own rules. So does one of its parts - the hotel for the foreigners that actually came to Moscow years ago and left their impressions of the reality they saw.
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The history hotel, sections
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The traces of events on the site