Sergei Choban: biography, photo and main buildings

The creator of the project of the famous Moscow skyscraper and the tallest building in Europe - the Federation Tower - architect Sergei Choban was educated at the Leningrad Academic Repin Institute. This university, now called the academy, has always been famous for its talented graduates. Sergei Choban successfully combines work in Russia and Germany, heading his own bureau.

There and here

Famous architects have already done his first works due to the originality of the used art forms and exceptionally well-crafted details of very unusual facades. Sergei Choban, even the most simple rectangular buildings knew how to serve, like a real artist.

• DomAquaree in Berlin - the reconstruction of the historic building in the city center, the name of this renovated building was due to the sixteen-meter height of the aquarium, the eleven-meter diameter of which includes a panoramic elevator.
• The Benois House in St. Petersburg is a business center building with panoramic glazing, the facade is decorated with amazing ornamentation, made up of motifs taken from the sketches of Benoit, who lived nearby. For this work, Sergei Choban was awarded the "House of the Year" prize - so voted St. Petersburg.

They loved the work of this architect both abroad and at home, because not only aesthetic requirements were satisfied, but all the problems of convenience in operation were solved.

Expensive pleasure

• Cubix in Berlin - the cinema, the largest in the city (about two and a half thousand seats). This building is made in the form of a black cube, the facade lined with granite of a rare color, a lot of glazing. Grateful spectators willingly visit all the halls located one above the other, and are viewed from the Alexanderplatz foyer.
• Residential complex in Granatny Pereulok in Moscow. Sergei Choban, whose photo works invariably evoke delight, not to mention the direct acquaintance with the work of the famous architect, designed the first oval building. But the Moscow authorities insisted on a rectangular shape. Then Choban Sergey Enverovich invented a method by which the building still stood out sharply among absolutely non-standard surroundings. The building was not cheaper, on the contrary, it is the most expensive facade in Moscow: slabs of limestone with which it was faced were mined in Germany, and artistic carving was carried out in China. Work and material by themselves are not cheap, plus such travel.

These are not the only works of the master, which cost the customers in fabulous amounts. However, they were ready to sign any accounts for the ownership of buildings, which will be amazed for many years by onlookers and professionals, since it is truly talented, original and artistically justified.

The best

An ingenious find is Langensippen, a business center on Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt of St. Petersburg. The sixties of the last century left the metal frame of the factory unfinished. Sergei Choban, an architect with a rich imagination, built a glass facade and decorated it with photographs of Rome, which from afar look like a fancy stucco work. In two million euros, only the facade cost - more than a fifth of the total budget of this project.

And, of course, the peak of our admiration: the "Federation" complex in Moscow City - two famous sails with a mast-spire. Already the first tower - "West" (the one that is smaller) - was the winner of the FIABCI competition in 2009. Sergei Choban, an architect whose projects almost always won contests, was never offended by awards.

Early work

Arrived in Germany at the beginning of perestroika is still very little known specialist, Choban already in 1995 headed the Berlin architectural bureau. Moreover, the name of the company included his name: NPS Tchoban Voss. In addition to the Kubix cinema and the DomAquare complex, it has designed such magnificent buildings as the Arndt Gallery, the Synagogue (Münster-Strasse), and many equally interesting buildings in Berlin and other German cities.

In 2003 Sergey Choban resumed his projects in Russia. In 2009, the Tchoban Foundation Museum for Architectural Drawing was organized, where the area of architectural design is considered. A year earlier, one of the most important children of the public work of the master was created: an architectural magazine was created, which was invented by Sergei Kuznetsov and Sergei Tchoban. Speech operates as an organ of the same name, formed as a result of the merger of two bureaus: "Choban and partners" and "SP Project".

Milestones

Almost constantly he oversees Russian pavilions at the Venetian Architectural Biennial, where his projects also receive awards. Since 2011, the town-planning council (the Skolkovo Foundation), and since 2013 - in the Moscow Architectural Council for Urban Development and Architecture. Sergei Choban, whose biography at the very beginning differs little from the existing situations in the works of all his fellow students, purposefully aspired to the heights of the architectural craft.

He was born in Leningrad in 1962, studied first in an art school at the Academy of Arts of the USSR, after which he entered the architecture department at the Repin Institute. From 1986 to 1992 - an ordinary architect Choban Sergey, whose work is known to a very narrow circle of specialists. Next - the beginning of work in the architectural bureau NPS (Nietz, Prasch, Sigl - by the surname of the owners) in Hamburg. For three years he managed to grow up to a leading partner and head the Berlin office of this institution. In 2003, the Moscow architectural firm Choban and partners was opened. It often happens that the way to the demand in the homeland lies through recognition abroad.

"Federation", "Nevskaya Town Hall" and other

In the 90s of the last century, it became not only honorable, but also extremely profitable, to build in Russia - this business has become multi-billion. It was then that Sergei Tchoban, rewards and name already received, returned to the country and converted all his European glory into a stream of fees. Orders do not bypass him: he designed the "Federation" for the Mirax Group, and in St. Petersburg he has two similar projects, the area equal to the whole area, not even a small one.

This "Nevskaya Town Hall" and "Embankment of Europe" - two projects for developers of "VTB" in the city, which takes care of its own historical environment. Choban almost does not know the setbacks - stopped projects or unsuccessful competitions. And with a smile he remembers the first years of the architecture of the Podiansky, from which the School of Children's Art in St. Petersburg and the memorable interiors in the Moscow Fashion House have turned out. Much more boring was in the 1990's to learn German and German construction legislation.

West Germany

NPS - a company engaged in the design of hotels, business centers, shopping complexes, theaters. Cioban was lucky: the projects went one by one, the conveyor. Several of them became a turning point in his life: with the light hand of the Petersburg architect the appearance of the famous Alexanderplatz has changed noticeably. Choban reconstructed the shopping center, built in 1929 in the style of constructivism, and next built a nine-figure cube of the cinema. This, by the way, is the first and only absolutely new building, built in the ensemble of the square from the moment of the reunification of the GDR and the FRG.

And now the moment has come when the founders of the bureau gave way to the young generation. Nietz, Prasch and Sigl began to be called modestly - NPS, and to this abbreviation were added the names of two peers - Thoban and Voss (Eckerhard Foss is also young and no less talented). By the early 2000s, they had erected several dozen beautiful buildings. However, once an unexpected incident allowed the new project to cover with grandiosity all previous work.

Competition

In 2002, developer-eccentric S. Polonsky was looking for an architect for a three-hundred-meter skyscraper in Moscow City. All the works on this square were conducted by the employees of the creative workshop "Mosproject-2", but Polonsky did not intend to solve his problem so simply. The head of Mosproekt A.Asadov after the developer's refusal from his services wrote on the piece of paper the phone of Choban, with whom he was familiar at the Berlin exhibition of projects. Thus, Choban was the only Russian among the contestants for the project of the tower "Federation".

The silhouette of this giant was invented quickly - right on the plane. But to increase the chances of winning, Sergei invited P. Schweger to cooperate, which in the construction of skyscrapers was already a real dock. The project won them, Polonsky was pleased, and the Moscow authorities also willingly opted for the only Russian, albeit a German firm, architect. After this large order in the homeland of Choban, the real glory was overtaken. The project was subjected to a powerful PR, and a few months later the contours of the yet-built Federation Tower were already familiar to the widest sections of the Russian population.

Monuments of the era

"Nevskaya Town Hall" - a huge business complex, which consists of the building of the city administration and office buildings, in the project - not far from Smolny. And that means a lot. The norms of the town-planning constitution of St. Petersburg prohibit the construction of buildings above forty-two meters. The best designer was determined by the competition, in the course of which all the participants met this height regulation.

In addition to Choban, whose construction with a transparent dome is much higher - fifty-five meters. And it was this project that was adopted. Because the administration building should rise above the others, however in the project this height does not look dominant. It's like a small splash. The project was not only adopted, as a result of this choice, a special meeting of the town planning council took place, where other building rules were adopted, and the permissible height increased to fifty-five meters - exactly the right size.

"Did all the monuments were created in the eighteenth century?" - as if asked by the architect. And then he says: "Each era should be created by hand!"

Money

Sergei Choban, whose awards have brought more than a dozen various contests and prizes, "is," naturally, expensive. It is about him that the Russian and German press in the field of architecture writes very sympathetically, and he himself publishes a magazine highly appreciated by his colleagues. Customers, too, are not upset by Choban's high fees, since he is not building for the average consumer. Of course, Zaha Hadid or Norman Foster would have demanded less. However, prominent Moscow architects receive a reward several times less than Choban.

Projects "Federation" or "Nevskaya Town Hall" can cost from twenty to thirty million dollars, but from here specialists are paid: designers of all engineering systems, designers and so on. Business in circulation "weighs" about seven million euros a year, and personal income (before taxes) can be estimated in hundreds of thousands. But Choban and his team are engaged not only in the design of public buildings, from time to time they do not shun the construction of mansions - without any tenders and with a clearly stipulated fee. However, infrequently.

A crisis

The construction industry has suffered greatly from the economic crisis of recent years. Along with this market, the design bureaus, even many of the known ones, suffered losses. In Moscow, Erik van Egherat and Norman Foster curtailed their projects: the customers started financial difficulties. Moscow architects also close their offices or reduce the number of employees very significantly.

And Choban reduced fifteen percent of employees in offices located in Russia. However, the works did not stop: an office center is being built on Ozerkovskaya Embankment (Moscow), a club house in Granatny Lane (ibid.), Novatek office buildings were designed. Because the architect does not live in a beautiful past and not in the distant future, but in today's day. And he does not like to hang in the clouds.