Barvikha is an elegant suburban village on the Moscow River, just beyond the Moscow Ring Road. It is famous for the Barvikha Sanatorium, the health resort of the President of Russia. During the Soviet era, officials and leading intellectuals chose Barvikha as the location for their state dachas, and many of Russia’s wealthiest individuals have built private luxury villas here since the late 1990s.

The site lies between the main road leading to Moscow and the Moscow River. The site is located in a valley with east and west facing slopes, extensive vegetation and a small river which flows into the Moscow River.

The brief was to design a residential development with optimal density, appropriate in scale and quantum to the site and its surrounding area.

The scheme comprises two contemporary variants based on a villa typology. Between eight and ten buildings, configured as apartment blocks or individual villas, are arranged in stepped formation on both sides of the valley in order to maximise privacy, while enhancing views out over the valley and to the Moscow River beyond. The masterplan creates a successful balance of private, semi-private and shared space. Generous terraces create transitional living space, with views out over the valleys beyond. Vehicular access is via a concealed road cut into the hillsides between the buildings and the site boundary, leading to car parking located at ground level within each block.