1st Dachnaya

From an initial mixed-use proposal to an aparthotel concept. The project was scaled down after utility capacity was clarified.

2025–2026Concept and revised development direction

Explored aparthotel concept; the larger scenario was later set aside.

Brief: Establish what could be developed effectively on two neighbouring plots with an open brief and a challenging context.
Our work: Reviewed constraints and potential uses, compared massing options and developed an aparthotel concept with plans, sections, parking and façades.
Result: A detailed concept and a basis for revising the scale: after water and electricity capacity was clarified, the study continued with smaller buildings.

What to build

The client initially brought three frontage plots in Vladivostok. One was excluded because of legal obstacles, leaving two neighbouring sites. There was no fixed building brief: the first task was to establish what could be developed effectively in this location.

Mixed use was the starting hypothesis. Yet the term alone does not define a project: we needed to identify which uses to combine, their scale and what each could gain from the site. The programme was to emerge from the investigation rather than precede it.

We therefore began with planning analysis and massing studies. Site constraints, surroundings, terrain and the potential programme were examined together. The aim was to establish the development envelope and find spatial advantages that could support a more specific architectural concept.

Reading the context

The frontage offered visibility and transport connections, but did not make every development type equally appropriate. A major road runs nearby and a cemetery stands opposite. In this context, permanent housing, particularly in a taller building, did not appear to us the most obvious direction.

The investigation was shaped by the decision rather than a predetermined checklist. We reviewed nearby social infrastructure, commercial premises, large and small offices, and hotels. Even while taking a cautious view of housing, we examined its supporting context, including access to everyday services.

Attention gradually shifted towards hospitality and commercial uses. The social-infrastructure review also suggested examining a kindergarten. These working hypotheses were tested against the site's spatial capacity and refined through massing studies.

Independent phases

Massing studies tested different arrangements of the volumes. Combining the plots offered spatial advantages: instead of two separate boundaries, we could work with a more continuous site. The diagrams compared building configurations and the distribution of principal uses to make the implications visible.

Following discussion with the client, independent delivery became the priority. The ability to approve and start each site separately mattered more than the advantages of combining them. One building could be funded and constructed while the other awaited a further stage of investment.

This delivery strategy informed the architecture. Work continued in parallel on the two plots, preserving the possibility of phased development without making the start of one building depend on the readiness of the other. Potential simplification of approvals provided another argument for independent phases.

Slope and mezzanines

The slope, initially a complication for building placement, also provided opportunities. It helped accommodate parking and entrances at different levels. Access from the rear could reach another floor, connecting the building to the surrounding ground levels in a different way.

Mezzanines became another design tool. Within the storey constraint, we explored more effective use of the internal volume. This arrangement did not appear a universal solution for permanent housing, whereas the more flexible accommodation format allowed it to be tested as part of a hospitality product.

The interior axonometric shows living space, a work area and sleeping places organised at different levels within one unit. Sections and the formal limitations of mezzanines were developed alongside it. Floor heights varied: conventional where sufficient and increased where a more adaptable space was useful.

Apartment with mezzanine levels: living space, work area and sleeping places.

Longitudinal concept section: terrain, parking levels and varying floor heights.

Defining the programme

Once the aparthotel direction was established, the building was developed from the inside. An initial hypothesis became a defined programme: where to locate accommodation, offices and rental premises, which levels should be more flexible, and how to connect them to entrances and parking on the slope.

Sports and wellness facilities, including a spa and gym, supplemented the principal uses; a restaurant was proposed at the upper level. Combining conventional and taller floors allowed different room arrangements. Uses were coordinated with the volumes, rather than inserted after the external form had been completed.

The work progressed to floor and parking plans, the number and sizes of units, the accommodation mix and preliminary interiors. The concept could now support discussion of how the building works: specific rooms, connections and sections. The plans below illustrate this development beyond the final façade imagery.

Distribution of uses within the aparthotel concept.

Explore a room-layout example

Example floor layout of the western building: accommodation types and sizes. Original drawing in Russian.

Reducing perceived scale

Although the proposed development was substantial, we did not want it to read as one enormous building. Surrounding trees informed the façade approach: the largest dark fragments were intended to recede visually towards the greenery, softening their presence against the landscape.

The volume was also divided into horizontal layers. A lighter lower part, intermediate fragments and darker upper blocks create a varied composition. Rather than a continuous façade from ground to roof, the building presents a collection of parts with different scales and characters.

The window pattern reinforces this approach. Small and large openings are placed irregularly, interrupting a repetitive rhythm. Colour, divisions and windows work together to soften the perceived height. The working axonometric explains the composition; the street view shows its relationship to entrances and lower levels.

Working axonometric study: façade fragments, dark volumes and lighter lower levels.

«Our aim was to break up the rhythm and, in doing so, the scale.»
Alexander Gast, architect · translated from Russian

A street-level view of the façade composition.

Why the direction changed

The developed aparthotel was an architectural hypothesis whose delivery depended on issues beyond façades and plans. Utility connections became the principal constraint: the required water and electrical capacity could not be provided for a complex of this scale. Access also remained unresolved.

At the same time, the client clarified another priority: a shorter route from investment to income. Combined with the utility limitations, this changed the direction of the work. Continuing to develop the same large volume no longer matched the conditions in which it would have to be delivered.

The larger aparthotel scenario was set aside and the study returned to smaller buildings. These were examined for lower resource demand, simpler construction and phased delivery. The next task was to test smaller volumes with simpler approvals and lower resource demand.

Project team and period

Chief Project Architect: Alexander Gast. Aparthotel concept architects: Pavel Gorbachev and Olga Vaulina. Coordinator: Olga Nabasova.

Initial planning and massing study: November 2025. Aparthotel album: May 2026. As of October 2026, we are studying smaller-scale development options.