Sovremennik Apartments, Moscow Residential Property, Contemporary Russian Architecture, Images
Sovremennik Apartments in Moscow
3 Apr 2020
Sovremennik Apartments
Architects: AI Studio
Location: Moscow area, Russia

Carefully restored neo-classical facades and a newly covered courtyard rooted in traditional Russian architecture are crowned by an expansive contemporary upper extension to Sovremennik Apartments, a Moscow apartment block, which has been reimagined by London-based AI Studio.

Situated in the heart of Moscow within the historical ?Garden Ring? road, the building was originally purpose built as an apartment block in the 1870s, but was promptly adopted as a popular local bathing house.

Since the 20th century, it has largely been utilized as an administrative offices, but Vesper Moscow – the developer who purchased the building in 2016 – had a vision to return it to its original residential use.
When restoring the space, AI Studio aimed to take an ?honest? approach to the redevelopment ? unashamedly allowing the new extension to contrast the original neo-classical style prevalent in central Moscow.

?Although the original building is not formally listed [as a historic monument], we considered it to be a perfect example of classic Moscow architecture,? said the principal of AI Studio, Anton Khmelnitsky. ?So, our approach was to sensitively restore the original fabric of the building, whilst designing an upper extension which provides a distinctive con...