Portfolio Skibnevsky Ivan

IVAN SKIBNEVSKY

EDUCATION
2012-2017
Moscow Architectural Institute
Department of residential and public buildings
Bachelor degree
WORK EXPERIENCE
2016-2019
2015
Sergey Skuratov Architects, architect
Competitions, detail documentation
Moscow
junya.ishigami+associates, intern
Competitions, models, El Croquis publication
Tokyo
WORKSHOPS
IVAN SKIBNEVSKY
adress
Russia, Moscow, 127051
Trubnaja st. 25.2
phone
+7-903-156-16-86
e-mail
vnskbnvsky@gmail.com
languages
russian - native
english - IELTS 7.5
german - beginner
2016
2016
2015-2016
2014
MLA+ urban workshop
Maryino district research/redevelopment
Moscow
Verenitsa: saving wooden temples
Preservation of a 17th century church
Kargopol’, Volosovo
Point of View workshops
Architecture schools research, presentations
Ekaterinburg, Samara
MARCHI summer practice
Sketching, painting workshops
Kirillov, Vologda
COMPETITIONS
CONTENTS
3 Intro
4 The large place. City
7 Chapter 1. Cultural center
10 Сhapter 2. Philharmonie
13 The medium place. Park
15 Chapter 3. Visitor center
19 Chapter 4. Observation tower
software
ArchiCAD, Revit, Rhino+Grasshopper
Adobe PS, IND, IL
QGIS, Excel
handwork skills
sketching, drafting, modelling
3d printing, foam cutting, sculpting
2018
2016-2017
2014
Kemeri Bog competitions by Bee Breeders
Participant
120 hours competitions
Participant
Terradeck. Terraces in landscape design
Finalist, 2nd place
22 The small place. Dacha
24 Chapter 5. Shishkovitsa
27 Chapter 6. Window pavillion
30 Drawings
2

THE TALES OF
THREE PLACES
Everything you do shows your hand.
Everything is a self-portrait.
Everything is a diary.
— Chuck Palahniuk, "Diary"
This portfolio aims to tell about three different places
with their own unique qualities. Being located far from each
other, they differ in sizes, typologies and functions. Each place:
a city, a park and a countryside (dacha) is important for me and
each contains two projects of mine, which either complement
each other or act in contra.
I tend to believe that every single architectural project, conceptual,
educational or the one under construction, tells a story
about its designer. It is technically his self-portrait, projected
onto the landscape.
These projects of mine are never to be realized, which is
why they are only tales. Tales of how once in my life I saw these
sites in my head. And the portfolio, which collects all these tales
that are parts of myself, is therefore me.
3

THE LARGE PLACE.
CITY
Irkutsk, Russia
The first tale is the largest in scale. It meets us with a wonderful
Siberian city of Irkutsk. Being chosen by a chance as a designing
site, the work took me almost a year, which is why it was divided
into two projects, which form a single whole. Even though Irkutsk
is located very far from my place of habitat, I have absolutely no
pity about visiting it and falling in love with its nature, views and
its peculiar self-consciousness.
0
500m
4

SITE INFORMATION
location: Surikova st., Irkutsk, Russia
site area: 4.2 ha
design year: 2016-2017
type: educational program + competition
CONDITIONS
The site is located in the historical center of Irkutsk,
on the embankment of Angara river. Nowadays, the site is
a huge abandoned industrial zone with an old heating station
on the site, several scattered facilities and no approach to water.
COMPETITION TASK
1. to design a residential complex, a trading center
and a Philharmonie
2. to redevelop the Angara embankment
PLOT
After analyzing the territory thoroughly, I came to the decision,
that Irkutsk lacks cultural events and facilities. Nowadays,
there is a large trading quarter in the city, so the idea of creating
a whole cultural quarter appeared to be extremely relevant and
helpful both for the city and its citizens.
Embankment redevelopment will
reconnect the riverline
Cultural quarter together with the trading
center will create a solid entertainment city
structure
2
1
1. Cultural center
2. Philharmonie
5

cafe + tickets
observation tube
food market
temporary exhibitions
retail
restaurant
services
music hall
library + buffet
coworking
music school
open space market hall
offices
art gallery
blackbox theater
art school
services
restaurant
lecture hall
permanent
exhibitions
swimming pool
hotel
The other important aspect of the project was to reconnect
two parts of the embankment, separated by this former industrial
site. Eventually, I excluded residential and trading functions
from the task program and substituted it with cultural functions.
A list of positions was added, such as coworking, art galleries,
a library, an auditorium and others. To preserve the atmosphere
and the history of the place, I also decided to preserve
the heating station.
6

СHAPTER 1.
CULTURAL CENTER
One part of the quarter is the cultural center. Due
to the site’s adjacent positions to important historical buildings,
such as numerous churches and the town hall, the significant
aspect of the project was to be simple, light and reflective.
Keeping in mind this and the number of functions, the spatial
solution turned out to be a composition of white prisms, which intersect
each other and seem to flow on the site space. Prisms are
arranged that way, so that light and air transfuse the complex
in various directions.
7

The old heating station is being preserved, so it also filled
up with a variety of functions, which blend with those in the new
building. Pedestrian routes, bridges and open spaces create
a lot of opportunities for people to spend their time both inside
and open-air. Underground parking allows keeping all the vehicles
off the street.
Thereby, the city gains a whole public quarter, that affects
positively its cultural life, marketing (hotel, food court, coworking)
and other aspects.
8

Purity and freshness of the new building combined with heaviness
and age of the heating station create a very expressive
pair: glass and brick blend together to create a single whole.
While the bearing walls of the station are thick and rough, white
prisms are covered with u-profile beams filled with aerogel.
This way new building seem white from the street and yet
allow diffused light inside, which is important for such spaces
as galleries and the library. Where direct sun rays are necessary
either aerogel is missing or glass changes with perforated metal
panels.
9

СHAPTER 2. PHILHARMONIE
The second part of the project is the city Philharmonie
for 1200 people. Due to its location alongside Angara river,
its shape is stretched in length. Being relatively low and made
of weathering steel, the building mimics an old rusted barge,
very common to Irkutsk.
Structure aims to attract attention and simultaneously calm
the embankment view after it being filled with motley modern
residential architecture. Even though the total length of the building
is approximately 300 meters, its body is split into three parts
to allow citizens to gain access to water.
places/city/philharmonie
10

The main conception of this heavy appearance is to deliberately
create a form that would be irrelevant and heterogeneous.
This will lead to citizens to be shocked, to have questions and
eventually to lure them inside due to their curiosity.
On the inside however the absolute contrary awaits for
them - soft, comfortable and haptic interior in addition to charming
qualities of music will create dissonance in peoples minds
and hopefully turn them into more open-minded ones.
places/city/philharmonie
11

Concert hall of the Philharmonie is hidden inside the tough
core, like a yolk in an egg. The building around it consists
of three parts: cafe with a ticket office, the main part with a lobby
and concert hall itself and the third part -music school, which can
also be used by artists to prepare to a concert or by musicians
to perform little chamber concerts.
12

THE MEDIUM PLACE.
PARK
Kemeri national park, Latvia
The second tale narrates about a true nature cradle,
hidden in one of the greenest countries in the middle of Europe.
A magnificent nature park with a heart of a bog, surrounded
by pine forests charmed me almost instantly, so when there were
two competitions held on this site, without hesitation I decided
to participate in both.
0
500m
13

SITE INFORMATION
location: Kemeri, Jurmala region, Latvia
site area: 382 km2
design year: 2018
type: architectural competitions
CONDITIONS
The site is located in the middle of Latvia. There is an entrance
to the park and a few walking routes, leading to the bog
and back. Nowadays, park facilities are prepared neither
for a big quantity of visitors nor for people with disabilities.
COMPETITION TASK
1. to develop an entrance field and design a visitor center
2. to redevelop access to the bog and design a new
observation tower
PLOT
Nature is the main character on this playground, it dictates
specific rules on its possessions, so it was important to create
humble and relevant structures on one hand, and to keep my
own dignity and style on the other.
ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION
GREAT KEMERI BOG
VISITOR CENTER
COMPETITION CONDITIONS
PARTNERS:
The center of ther park is a picturesque
bog, which is surrounded by pine trees
14

CHAPTER 3.
VISITOR CENTER
The first project in Kemeri national park is the visitor center
and the entry field surrounding it. The site is surrounded by a dense
pine forest, it is almost completely plane and it pierced with just
one pathway. The visitor center would be the only permanent
structure on the site, but the zoning consists also of a parking lot
for 100 cars and 4 buses, a camping site and a playground.
Children playing features are scattered all over the site, so it is
one big playground.
The site is defined by a field on one side of the road, but I
decided to involve the adjacent field in the project too, enlarging
this whole entrance complex. The idea is to supply it with stone
and wooden sculptures, external furniture and different plants
and therefore turn it into a chamber landscape park, which
could hold various concerts and exhibitions.
15

When one enters
the meadow, he sees
a typical vernacular building
with a sloped roof and made
of timber. But as one starts
getting closer, a peculiar
metamorphosis is happening
with the building.
I imagined that there is
an unseen border between
Kemeri and outer life,
and the field plays a role
of the gates to nature. Keeping
this in mind, the visitor
center is placed right on this
border.
Eventually, it looks all
serious and rectangular
on the “human side”, but
starts imitating or even melting
into nature on its side.
Straight lines turn to curves,
air and light start sneaking
inside: a building merges
with nature.
To sum up, the visitor
center has two appearances,
two personalities, while
remaining a single whole.
16

6.800
All the staff rooms, storages and bathrooms are fitted compactly
in one part of the building, whereas the rest of it houses
a multifunctional 7 meters high open space. Its main function
is the cafe with a souvenir shop, but a different furniture arrangement
can easily turn the space to either an auditorium or
an exhibition hall.
The building is made of wood: a core made of glued timber
frames and the decking made of silver discoloured aspen.
The visitor center is effective in terms of vandalism since elevation
decking could be easily replaced and windows and doors have
shutters.
4.050
5
2
4
1
3
+6.500
+3.500
7
±0.000
section 1-1
6
2
1
+8.000
+3.500
±0.000
±0.000
1. aluminium coping
2. sealing
3. 50 mm rigid-foam insulation
4. 20 mm oriented strand board
5. 130 mm mineral wool
6. vapor barrier
7. 120/240 mm squared pine beam
8. 150/450 glue-laminated pine beam
9. heated aluminium box gutter
10. double glazing in softwood frame
11. 12 mm veneer plywood
12. 30 mm silver fir planks
13. reinforced concrete slab
8
2
1
section 2-2
-0.500
9
17

Conception of the building’s expansion under nature’s
influence leads to a picturesque opening in the open space.
Opening’s plane is slightly turned to the sun path to allow
more light inside. Under the window frame, there is a custom
metal pattern inspired by a pattern of the bog. Sun rays that
go through the pattern create a charming atmosphere, which
allows the building to claim itself as a temple of nature.
18

CHAPTER 4.
OBSERVATION TOWER
If one will continue his journey, he will enter the walking
route leading to the bog. After walking for some time a surrealistic
dark structure will show up on the way. One may be surprised
to know that the horizontal structure is an observation tower.
Nevertheless, the explanation is the most simple: stairs are
changed to the ramps so the inclination becomes more gentle.
A tower lies down and yet lift its visitors to the height of 6 meters.
19

One of the competition’s most significant tasks was to create
the tower accessible for people with disabilities. Almost instantly
an idea of an incredibly long ramp came to my mind. After
placing it on the plane site, the ramp structure was bent to create
unique perspective views both on the exterior and on the top
of the tower. The structure exists as a part of the walking path, so
a random visitor will be almost forced to get inside and make it
to the top.
20

+7.200
+6.000
inner elevation
+3.000
R = 170 m
±0.000
plan
Tower’s structural idea is simple and compact: two parallel
ramps go in different directions and then there is a plane diagonal
path that connects tops of the ramps.
This way you climb up by one ramp and get down by another.
Decking of the tower is made by “yakisugi” technology
- a burnt wood greatly withstands precipitation and decay.
plan fragment
21

THE SMALL PLACE.
DACHA
Teatral'naya station, Moscow region
This tale is the smallest and the most private one. It tells a story
about a place I grew up, then left it for a long time and then
returned back there to as a place for meditation and creativity
experiments.
0
100m
22

Awake at night –
the sound of the water jar
cracking in the cold.
— Matsuo Basho
2
SITE INFORMATION
location: Teatral'naya st., Moscow region, Russia
site area: 900 m2
design year: 2016 -
type: ambitions realization
CONDITIONS
The site is an old countryside of my family, which is located
not far from Moscow. It is relatively a small piece of land surrounded
by 5 other countrysides. Grown-up trees are scattered
everywhere on the site: there are pines, birches, oaks, apple
trees, maples and many other. Because of all the trees' branches,
it gets dark early in the morning, which causes a tiny bit
of melancholy when alone in the evening.
PLOT
Together with my brother, we used to spend almost every
summer here when we were children. Many years have passed
since that time, but since 2016 I have revived this tradition. I
enjoy staying there tidying up the site, meditating and at some
point, I realized that I could materialize some of my design
ideas.
1
1. Shishkovitsa
2. Window pavillion
0
10m
23

CHAPTER 5.
SHISHKOVITSA
60 mm
2000 mm
The first such idea came to my mind when i was tidying
the site and suddenly collected a huge amount of cones. Its
shape and the ability to transform due to the weather inspired
me a lot and I decided to cast it into a single structure.
It was only the next year after I had collected them that
together with my friend Victoria Matryuk we started assembling
it, and only even a year after that we finished it. But there was no
rush, the work was meditative and painstaking.
60 mm
1300 mm
34 elements 22 elements
24

After a few sketches and ideas we decided to crown the entrance
to the house with an arched shape made out of cones.
We created a digital model in a computer and carefully
started assembling the structure. Technically the whole form is
a metal grid attached to the portico ceiling, and cones attached
to the grid on different heights with a transparent fishing line.
Hanging in the entrance this cone form creates a cozy, meditative
and welcoming atmosphere.
25

At first, the grid was attached to the ceiling. Then a total
quantity of 748 cones was attached to the fishing line and
hanged on a specific height, dictated by the digital model. It was
a truly painstaking work to put one row of cones after another.
We started our work in early may - when it became warm
and paused in late october, when it became chilly. The structure
consists of cones from surroundings and also a few were picked
in the Alps during a ski trip.
26

CHAPTER 6.
WINDOW PAVILLION
The idea of the second project was in a way similar - collecting
and recycling, but this time my intentions were more
grandiose - it was all about collecting old window frames.
It attracted my attention that all these frames lying
on the dump were different and unique, all from different houses,
keeping different stories. I decided to assemble a structure,
a little houses out of them and began collecting.
+2.700
±0.000
27

1. Dump treasures: 32 unique window frames 2. Frames in miniature are a jigsaw puzzle 3. Solution to a puzzle creates a project.
The total amount of collected window frames was 31 plus
one door. Since these frames were my initial, I decided to copy
them in miniature and solve a puzzle of how could they fit together.
Based on its size and structural abilities, I created four
elevations, and then a 3d model of the house.
A wooden skeleton, floor decks and transparent roof and it
will all set up. Unfortunately, it is still hard for me to make some
time and finish the project in situ.
28

There are a lot of trees on the site, and I dreamed of a tea
house, where you could sit, enjoy the tea, listen to the whispering
of leaves, birds’ songs or raindrops falling onto the roof and
ground. Alone or with someone by my side, I believe the place
would turn out to be meditative and lyrical.
29

DRAWINGS
I have been drawing since early childhood, always getting
classwork paper sheets filled with lines and figures and characters,
whereas everybody else had nice clean textbooks. Never
attending art school before the Moscow Architectural Institute
took away some practicing time, but granted me my own distinctive
style.
I do believe that sometimes the Thinking Hand wakes up
before mind does, so sometimes I start drawing without having
any idea of what will it be. I have also figured out an interesting
behaviour speciality of myself: I draw mostly patterns at work,
plants at home and architecture on planar.
left: lying snow pattern
30

above: a cloud
above right: snowflakes were falling and i recorded their paths
bottom right: stones
31

vnskbnvsky@gmail.com
+7-903-156-16-86
Moscow, Russia