Alex Nerovnya is an architect based in Moscow who works with a team of fellow architects and designers. With a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the Moscow Architectural Institute, Alex’s signature style and approach to architecture is guided by fundamental principles of honest minimalism, alliance with the environment, energy, and universal accessibility.
Q: When did you become passionate about architecture?
A: I can’t say that figuring out my passions and the professional direction I want to go in happened quickly and effortlessly. I have always enjoyed the general professional sphere of architecture and construction, when I was in high school, I would spend hours watching massive construction sites in Moscow. It was not until I enrolled into one of undergraduate programs in the Moscow Architectural Institute that I managed to solidify my passions into a somewhat definite direction of architectural design.
Q: What inspires your designs?
A: First of all, I pay attention to something all people, not only architects, notice in the first place—the beauty and harmony of the building’s exterior, primarily—of a main façade. The ergonomics and a good experience of people using the building is my second, but not any less important, focal point of attention.
Q: Regarding the Slovenian Village project, how did this concept begin?
A: We had a client that was exploring a few opportunities to create a small-scale village of private villas near lake Bohinj in Slovenia. We kept in touch for quite some time, bouncing around ideas, from somewhat basic to pretty crazy ones. Some of the results of our creative work you can now see on our Instagram. As of right now, we are waiting for our client to figure out the financing so that this project could be brought to life.
Q: Is there a strategic approach to merging environment and architecture?
A: I adore using architecture to interact with the natural environment. By utilizing glass walls, we are able to visually erase the separation between the indoors and the outdoors. One of the beautiful effects of this approach is that throughout the day, the mood and feeling of the interior changes drastically due to a massive role of natural light, penetrating through the glass.
Q: What factors must be considered when designing a structure that is energy efficient?
A: As always, when you go through the necessary steps of conceptual design, it is necessary to take into account the factors of the area where the building will be located, the location of the house relative to east and west, its exposure to light. The main factor that affects the energy efficiency of a building is the usage of electricity (light, heat) and water. Therefore, we pay a lot of attention to the research of new building materials, which allows us to maximize the usage of natural light and keep the heat inside the house.
Q: What materials do you like to work with the most?
A: Most of all we like to work with multi-chambered windows, lightweight innovative materials and metal frame structures.
Q: It seems glass is incorporated a lot in the Slovenian Village project? Is that intentional? If so, why?
A: Yes, of course, the inclusion of glass in the Slovenian village concept was intentional. This is an incredibly beautiful place in Slovenia, a real natural monument. By visualizing the villas there, we sought to provide guests with as many opportunities as possible to enjoy the surrounding landscape, even if they are inside the house.
Q: How would describe your signature style?
A: I am a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright and I like to imagine my style to be contemporary minimalism, a 21 century’s take on Wright’s architectural philosophy
Q: What inspires you creatively?
A: Scandinavian nature, with its cold rivers, rocky hills, mysterious forests and harsh seacoasts, to name a few things. Wild nature in general, and humans’ ability to live in alliance with it through smart usage of innovative materials.
Q: Are there any future projects you and the team are working on that you would like to share, and where is the best place for people to view your work?
A: Most projects that we work on are conceptual designs, and we try to post as much visual content from these projects as we can. We currently have a significant backlog of projects, that we’re trying to work through in due time. We’re a pretty small team, and our production capacity so far is not catching up to the demand for architectural designs from across the world, as well as for new material in social media.
We have recently started working in an entirely new setting for us—the Middle East, specifically Kuwait. No major disclosures so far, but there is a high chance that you will see more middle eastern-themed ideas on our channel soon. There’s also a website, en.alex-nerovnya.com, that is soon going to be updated in a major way—we’re thinking of including about 10 more detailed project descriptions and a full-fledged blog platform.
