Design & Visualisation

Brief

Kiln collaborated with UP Architects (Urban Possible) to submit a proposal for the international competition hosted by the Russian Ministry of Housing. The theme of this competition was to propose housing typologies that could be adopted for multi-residential developments in Russia in a range of development sizes and locations.

 concept

Our proposal represents a highly modular design solution that distills a broad programmatic brief to 5 basic apartment modules. These 5 modules underpin the design of all the required building typologies. Each module is comprised of standardised building blocks, beginning with a starter block then adding successive blocks of 20m² each. Each building block is exactly 3.6m wide, which allows for a consistent grid across all building typologies. The only difference between a medium size and a large size apartment building is the length of the starter module. The grid allows apartment blocks to be slotted and stacked in a variety of configurations, enabling each building to satisfy the required mix. The grid also ensures that structure and services are efficiently stacked, while enabling the interchange of diverse facade expressions.

Facade

Whilst the chassis of each building has been simplified and made modular, the building facades offer vast opportunity for variation in composition and material. The protruding starter modules can be arranged in various geometric patterns. These modules provide relief and depth to the facade, as well as passive shading and natural platforms for balconies to apartments above. The standardised grid allows for flexible interchange of facade treatments. Material selection and detailing can be informed by price category and target market, or tuned to contextual considerations, or climatic conditions. Our design proposal strives to craft an architecture that is modular, efficient and simple, yet equally flexible, comfortable and desirable

Apartment Interiors

We wanted to demonstrate that despite the modular system the quality of the interior spaces could support high quality designed living spaces. We purposefully representing equal sized living spaces in different styles to represent the level of personalisation possible.