The winning project

The creative team "Northern Style" of the SPbGASU Faculty of Architecture achieved great success and high recognition at the International Architecture and Design Award "Golden Trezzini". It became the winner in the professional nomination "Best architectural project of the museum", presenting the project of the Museum of precious minerals of the Yakut Land.

The project was developed by senior lecturer Igor Khramov and associate professor Aleksandr Ponomarev (Department of History and Theory of Architecture), senior lecturer at the Department of Architectural Environment Design Marina Khramova, students of the Department of Urban Planning Anzhelika Ivanikhina, Ksenia Chernyak (fourth year), Polina Ipatova (third year) and first-year student of the Department of Architectural and Urban-Planning Heritage in the direction of "Reconstruction and Restoration of Architectural Heritage" Ekaterina Manzhinskaya.

The creative team "Northern Style" is a multiple winner of all-Russian architectural competitions, the author of a number of scientific articles revealing new technologies in design and adaptive architecture. The team considers its main task to be the disclosure of architecture not just as an element of the environment, but as a performance, competently integrated into the design environment.

"The concept submitted for the award involves building a museum in the form of a crystal as a symbol of the countless riches of the Russian land, hovering among the Lena Pillars in the protected areas of Yakutia. The building is made in the form of a crystal - a tetrahedron of frame spatial structures, hanging above the ground and resting on the slopes of the pillars by means of a bridge-beam. It is planned to place it at a considerable height so that the structure personifies a precious stone, as if just mined from the depths of the earth! According to our plan, the visitor, finding himself in the halls of the museum, travels along a transparent crystal lattice filled with all sorts of precious stones. Admiring the riches of the Russian land and the grandiose views, a person realizes that the space of the museum is inextricably linked with the picturesque breadth of the Lena expanses," explained Igor Khramov.

It should be noted that SPbGASU previously won the Golden Trezzini award in student nominations, and this year it became the winner among professionals for the first time.

"In my opinion, the victory became possible thanks to the concept of clever integration of the architectural object into the design environment. The Lena Pillars are an incredible asset of the Yakut land, and our project comes to be an inseparable part of this space and picturesqueness. First of all, we are grateful to the teachers for organizing a creative, professional and at the same time delicate atmosphere in the team. Working in a team allowed me to avoid any particular difficulties in developing the project. The only thing we had to think about was how to combine functionality, a laconic appearance, uniqueness and the very essence of the idea in the project," said Ekaterina Manzhinskaya.

She entered our university after graduating from the St Petersburg Academy of Urban Environment Management, Urban Development and Printing, majoring in Architecture. She regards her victory at the Golden Trezzini as proof that architecture should be conceptually significant and creatively filled, and considers it an honor to be part of the team “where ideas have no limits, where modern architecture is boldly and confidently developed, making it unique.”

To recall, the International Architecture and Design Award "Golden Trezzini" was founded in 2018. The jury of the award is an international expert community of a new type, which unites representatives of the diplomatic corps of different countries, government bodies, the academic community, cultural and artistic figures, as well as professionals in the field of architecture, design, scenography and museum affairs. It includes more than 200 experts from 34 countries. The Honorary Chairman of the International Council of the Golden Trezzini Award is the President of the World Club of Petersburgers, General Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky.