An architect from a family of nomads erects buildings, each of which is an eco-friendly art object

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the architectural environment, Totan Kuzembaev is considered a master. It has become a laureate of international prizes more than once, and each of its buildings can be safely called a separate eco-friendly art object. The architect also boldly approached the arrangement of his own home. For the 65-year-old architect, this is not a challenge to society at all, but a way of self-expression. For example, in a Moscow apartment filled with unrealistically strange furniture, he is very comfortable.

The architect was born in Kazakhstan into a family of nomads, not far from Baikonur. Perhaps it was the proximity to the cosmodrome that influenced his cosmic way of thinking - at least, his objects on earth cannot be called.

Totan built his first house from raw bricks at the age of 15 on his own plot of land - for his parents. But then he did not even think that he would become an architect. Arriving in Moscow in 1976 to enter a university, he was going to study to be an artist, and went to an architectural one only because there, unlike Stroganovka, they did not demanded to paint a still life. And as a result, he became an architect-urban planner.

Already in the 1980s, Kuzembaev won his first competition in Japan, after which he was repeatedly successful at prestigious foreign exhibitions. 16 years ago, he founded his own architectural studio, where he often collaborates with younger colleagues. Totan Kuzembaev is a member of the Union of Architects of the Russian Federation, awarded the V. I. Bazhenov "For high architectural skill".

In the construction of houses, the architect prefers the style of constructivism and tries to use only natural materials - wood, stone, grass. He even came up with wood bricks. All of his houses have a very unusual shape, but inside they are very extravagant, because, in his opinion, a person needs not only to live in a house, but also to think and come up with something new.

Sleeping in a round wardrobe is convenient

The architect transformed his own apartment in a Stalinist house with a typical layout and banal Soviet wooden herringbone parquet into a non-standard room, every detail of which is an art object. The shelves in the room are a set of horizontal rectangular cells in which books do not stand, but lie. Only 2-3 books can be put on each such shelf. According to the landlord, this is more convenient than pulling a volume out of a long row of books that are tightly packed together.

In the kitchen, the architect has an incredibly long countertop to accommodate everything he needs. And Kuzembaev "chained" the sleeping bed in a round wardrobe, so that while reclining, one could hide from prying eyes. By the way, the cabinet-screen is riddled with thousands of holes, so it is not stuffy or scary in it.

Another original solution: the bathroom and toilet are separated by a mirrored partition, which can be removed if necessary so that the light from the window enters the toilet.

Strange country house

No less extravagantly, Kuzembaev designed his country house in the Moscow region. Here are just a few examples of his architectural solutions.

The ridge of the roof of the house does not go in a straight line, but in a zigzag. Each staircase has two heights. Some of the windows are glazed from floor to ceiling, as is popular in the West, and there is a long and very wide unglazed terrace along the entire building.

However, these are not yet the most original buildings of the architect. The residential art objects he builds for others look even more exotic.

Dragon house

This building in a boarding house near Moscow, which was nicknamed "House-Dragon", was built to fit into the natural landscape as much as possible. When erecting the house, the builders did not cut down the trees and were extremely careful about everything that surrounds it, they even saved the grass with anthills under the house.

The roof of the building on one side turns into a lawn. The other side of the house, adjacent to the golf course, has a panoramic glass wall so that you can watch the game from inside the building.

According to many ratings, this house is one of the ten strangest buildings in the Moscow region.

Fan house

The load-bearing beams of the house are fanned out. The main, almost completely glazed facade of the house turned out to be expanding, and the room itself seems to be merged with nature and more spacious.

House puzzle

Outside, the building is finished with a larch board, and its side facade is made in the form of puzzles. They were obtained from the boards and slats left after the construction, tinted in various colors of natural wood.

House on the water "Elling"

This house, erected on a reservoir near Moscow, is suitable for lovers of watercraft and stands right above the water.

It does not have an attic, and instead of the first floor, it has parking for a boat or yacht. The roof is a translucent membrane.

Smoking room

Any summer resident can put up such an art object, because the house is made of scraps of logs left after construction. Pieces of logs are fastened together with staples.

Inside this cube there is a smoker's bench and a cigarette butts bin. The room is illuminated with a reddish light.

Greenhouse-greenhouse

This greenhouse is an indispensable building for a resident of a country house. It consists not only of a room for growing vegetables and herbs. There is also a porch and a vestibule with temperature and humidity sensors, as well as automatic irrigation and ground heating devices.

The greenhouse is made of wood and aluminum. In the dark, it is illuminated by phytolamps.

In Soviet architecture, there were also original architects. True, it is difficult to call their strange buildings art objects, nevertheless, they are very unusual. For example, the famous Moscow round houses

Text: Anna Belova