PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

South African architecture studio SAOTA’s monolithic masterpiece in Moscow celebrates the capital’s character, climate and pinewood forests

- GRAHAM WOOD

IN Russia’s capital city, Moscow, this contemporary home, set among pinewoods on an island in the Moskva River, introduces a revolutionary outward-looking approach to the city’s architectural tradition.

Designed by SAOTA, a South African architecture studio known for advancing the possibilities of 20th-century modernism, this home represents the tradition of the terrace, with its emphasis on an outdoor orientation, but in a context and climatic condition vastly different from the origin of the type.

The pinewoods the site overlooks are a significant motivation for the design’s open, outward-facing orientation and open fragmented glass walls that blur the distinction between what is outside and what is inside. SAOTA’s architectural premise is one of contrasts: the street frontage’s heavy protective presence speaks to the capital’s monolithic architectural character, built to resist the extremes of heat and cold, which can vary 70 degrees between seasons.