Architecture competition Urban Zoo Coworking Design Challenge 3rd prize winners - APEX PROJECT BUREAU

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the winners of the 3rd prize of our “Urban Zoo Coworking Design Challenge” competition - Darya Khrenova, Ekaterina Zakharova and Ilyas Belyaev from Russian Federation!

3rd prize winners from Russia

APEX project bureau is a contemporary and dynamic company whose mission is to form a brand new workflow mechanism, based on the team of professionals (more than 550 people are now involved) – architects, structural specialists, engineers, all working together, and modern technologies, allowing to build an effective work process at every stage of project design delivery. From the moment of foundation all processes inside the bureau are carried out on the Revit platform – a single environment, which is a complex of programs, implementing the principle of information modeling - BIM.

We are regularly expanding our range of services – from architectural concepts to design of high-tech engineering systems, which allows our clients (the largest developers in Moscow and surrounding regions) to contact us again and again, and for foreign architects to receive local expertise at the highest professional level.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where company/ individuals have been involved?

Over the period of the company's existence, more than 7 million square meters have been designed. Among our projects are residential complexes, industrial buildings, educational, commercial and socio-cultural centers. Our structures include residential complexes (among realized objects - Vander Park, Vavilova, 4, Green Park), industrial buildings (Kama Pulp and Paper Mill), educational (schools and kindergartens at residential complexes), shopping centers (Salaris) and public -cultural centers (GES-2 Museum of Contemporary Art, a multifunctional complex with renovation of Badaevsky Brewery).

During our projects we were able to take part and work side by side with such world-renowned bureaus as the Renzo Piano building workshop, Herzog & de Meuron, MVRDV, SOM and many others. Our methodology allows us to support international architects at any stage of the project, significantly reducing errors and timing of the design process.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

In our opinion, architects and designers are those people who define the appearance of cities, public spaces; the places that have a big impact, on well-being, emotions and the everyday comfort of common people. That is why this profession has a lot of responsibility for each step you take, as the final product would be used and evaluated by thousands people.

Why do you participate in architecture vision competitions?

For us, it is a unique opportunity to participate in those fields that are not fully developed inside the bureau, or in that typologies that are not required at the moment by the client but will be definitely in demand in future.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture vision competitions?

In any case, we believe that every effort you make will come back to you in the future. You should never consider time spent working as lost, it will enrich your experience and bring its benefits.