Nikishin Valery Viktorovich

Valery Viktorovich Nikishin (born 26 February 1955) is a Russian architect working in Nizhny Novgorod, a laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in Literature and the Arts for 2000^[1], and the head of his own creative studio — Creative Workshop of Architect V. V. Nikishin LLC (TMA Nikishin)^[16]. He is one of the masters of the Nizhny Novgorod architectural school of the 1990s–2020s: projects of his that have been built in Nizhny Novgorod include the "In Memory of Kizevetter" residential building at the corner of Ulyanova Street and Semashko Street, the Alekseevsky Ryad shopping complex on Minin Square, the Marshal Grad residential complex on The Oka Descent, and a building of School 800 in Verkhniye Pechyory. He is the winner of the Grand Prix of the all-Russian "Arkhnovatsiya" competition and the winner of the 15th Nizhny Novgorod architecture rating^[13][14].

Education and work before his own studio

Valery Nikishin graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Civil Engineering in 1978 with a degree in architecture. He worked at the design institute Nizhegorodgrazhdanproekt, the city's principal design organization, from which an entire generation of Nizhny Novgorod architects emerged at the turn of the 1980s–1990s, including Aleksandr Kharitonov and the masters who later founded the Pestov and Popov studio.

Nikishin was admitted to the Union of Architects of Russia in 1986; he is listed among the members of the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Organization of the Union of Architects of Russia, with "TMA" (Creative Workshop of the Architect) given as his place of work^[4]. He is a member of the urban planning council under the Main Directorate of Architecture and Urban Planning of the Nizhny Novgorod city administration — an advisory body through which the city's major projects pass and whose work is guided by the city's chief architect.

Nikishin headed his own personal creative studio from 1991^[3]; the city administration referred to him as the director of the "Personal Creative Studio of Architect V. V. Nikishin"^[2]. As a legal entity, the studio was registered as OOO "Creative Studio of Architect V. V. Nikishin" (abbreviated OOO "TMA of V. V. Nikishin"), taxpayer ID (INN) 5260010480; Nikishin himself was the company's director throughout its existence^[16]. The studio operated in the city's Nizhegorodsky District, on Belinsky Street.

The "In Memory of Kizevetter" house on Ulyanova Street

Nikishin's most famous early building in Nizhny Novgorod is the residential house at Ulyanova Street, 40, at the corner with Semashko Street. The house was built in the mid-1990s to a design by Valery Nikishin, Andrey Rubtsov, and Marina Sedova^[5].

The concept of the house is connected with the name of the city's first architect, Georg Kizevetter: in 1995 the architects were commissioned to build a "Kizevetter house" based on his archival drawings — the design found in the archive was attributed to Tikhonovskaya Street (now Ulyanova Street), where a wooden house had burned down in 1839. This was related during a tour for journalists on Architecture Days in 2006 by the event's organizer, Marina Ignatushko, who noted that the link between the drawing and the burned house is disputable^[5].

A classical portico with a pediment, stucco inserts, and a semicircular window at the corner of the building are combined here with modern volumes, bay windows, and a metal structure above the gate. For this mixture the house acquired a second name among locals — the "crazy pie-maker"^[5]. The neighboring plot in the same block is occupied by the house where the psychiatrist Pyotr Kashchenko lived.

The reconstruction project for house no. 40 on Ulyanova Street earned Nikishin a diploma and the audience choice prize for the best work of architecture in the residential buildings category at the 8th international exhibition "Construction and Architecture"^[2].

The eclecticism of this monument of the newest Nizhny Novgorod architecture, from the period of its romantic relationship with the historic city, explains the building's second name — the "crazy pie-maker". The project uses the full set of classical architectural details, even a metal structure above the gate symbolizing Hi-tech.

The 2000 State Prize

On 6 June 2001, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 655, the State Prize of Russia in the field of literature and art for 2000 was awarded in the field of architecture to a group of Nizhny Novgorod architects. Valery Viktorovich Nikishin was named among the ten laureates; the leaders of the authors' team were Evgeny Pestov and Alexander Kharitonov (posthumously), and the remaining laureates were Irina Varicheva, Alexander Zelyaev, Yury Kartsev, Vladimir Kovalenko, Andrey Kopylov, Natalya Pestova, and Andrey Stepovoy^[1].

The prize was awarded not for a single building but for a body of work by the school; the residential building on Ulyanov Street named in the decree is the same street where House No. 40, built to Nikishin's design, stands^[1][5]. Architect Kharitonov Street was later named in the city after Alexander Kharitonov, who died in 1999.

To Pestov Evgeny Nikolaevich and Kharitonov Alexander Evgenyevich (posthumously), leaders of the authors' team, architects; Varicheva Irina Vladimirovna, Zelyaev Alexander Igorevich, Kartsev Yury Nikolaevich, Kovalenko Vladimir Alekseevich, Kopylov Andrey Yuryevich, Nikishin Valery Viktorovich, Pestova Natalya Nikolaevna, Stepovoy Andrey Vitalyevich, architects — for a body of work of the Nizhny Novgorod architectural school: residential buildings on Ulyanov Street and Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street, the administrative building of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation branch for Nizhny Novgorod Region, and the building of the Komediya Theatre.

Buildings of the 1990s and 2000s

By the early 2000s, a reference prepared by the Nizhny Novgorod administration listed five projects as the studio's main buildings: the administrative building of Nizhegorodnefteprodukt on Gruzinskaya Street (2000), phases III and IV of the residential building on Belinsky Street (1996), the residential building on Ulyanov Street (1999), the Alekseevsky Ryad shopping complex on Minin Square (1996), and the first phase of the residential building on Trudovaya Street (1999)^[2].

At the 7th Russian festival "Zodchestvo-99," the studio received an incentive prize for its design of a shopping center with an office building on Moscow Highway and a diploma for its design of a parking garage on Izhorskaya Street^[2]. Nikishin was a diploma winner at the all-Russian "Zodchestvo" festival in 1999, 2000, and 2003.

"Zodchestvo-2013": Two Awards in One Year

In 2013, Nikishin's studio received two awards at the all-Russian "Zodchestvo" festival at once. The Gold Badge in the category of built works went to the shopping complex on Arkady Gaidar Street near building No. 26 in the Avtozavodsky District of Nizhny Novgorod; the design team consisted of Valery Nikishin, Andrey Rubtsov and Maria Merzlyakova, with Tatyana Kaznova as chief project engineer^[6][7]. The building, known to locals as the "Mart" shopping center, is designed as a single volume with deeply recessed glazing that follows the line of the escalators.

The Silver Badge in the category of multi-apartment residential building projects went to the residential building on Chernigovskaya Street — the work of the same team with the participation of Irina Slepova^[6][7].

The jury was won over by the novelty and quality of the architecture, which are very hard to achieve in a typology such as housing.

The "Marshal Grad" Residential Complex

In October 2014, Nikishin, as director of the limited liability company "Creative Studio of Architect V. V. Nikishin," presented a project for a large residential complex on the former site of the rear services school in the Sovetsky District, bounded by Studencheskaya Street, the The Oka Descent and Gagarin Avenue. The complex, with 160,000 square meters of housing, was conceived as eight buildings — four horseshoe-shaped ones and four towers ranging from 8 to 25 stories — with a kindergarten for 250 children, a fitness and wellness complex, and a two-level parking structure; the client was the limited liability company "Obyektstroy"^[9].

The completed complex was named "Marshal Grad." Its first phase, finished by 2017 by a design team consisting of Valery Nikishin, Andrey Rubtsov and Irina Slepova, was among the finalists of the 12th Nizhny Novgorod Architecture Rating^[8]. The towers, with their checkerboard-patterned facades, are visible from the far side of the river and have become a prominent part of the panorama of the Oka's high bank.

"School 800" in Verkhniye Pechyory

The main work of the workshop in the 2020s was the building of "School 800" — an educational center created for the 800th anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod. The design of the 1,500-seat building in the Verkhniye Pechyory microdistrict was developed by OOO "TMA Nikishina V. V." on commission from the First Concession Company "Prosveshchenie"; the city's architectural council approved it on November 6, 2020^[10][11]. The head of the authors' team was Valery Nikishin, the chief architect of the project was Andrey Rubtsov, and the lead architects were Irina Slepova and Maria Merzlyakova^[14].

The site on the slope of the Pechyorsky Ravine, with its change in elevation, required a separate slope-stabilization project; the building is laid out as an arc of varying height — from two to five stories — with functionally connected blocks^[10][11]. Inside is a glazed atrium running the full height of the building, around which the teaching and recreational spaces are arranged; the building's area is 26 thousand square meters, and it contains 88 classrooms, three gyms, and a 500-seat assembly hall^[12][15].

The building at 4a Nizhne-Pecherskaya Street was completed in the fall of 2022, and classes began there in February 2023^[15]. In June 2023, "School 800" received the Grand Prix of the 6th Open All-Russian Architectural Competition "Arkhnovatsiya"^[13], and in March 2024 it became one of the two winners of the 15th Nizhny Novgorod Architecture Rating — together with the gallery on Osharskaya Street^[14].

The assessment was not unreserved. Reviewing the results of the rating, Archi.ru columnist Yulia Tarabarina wrote about stuffiness in the rooms and a shortage of ventilation windows, about the absence of the promised amphitheater-style public space, and about haste: the school was designed in a year and a half and built in one year, in order to be ready for the city's jubilee^[14].

Haste is the main drawback; the head of the bureau, Valery Nikishin, touched on it briefly at the ceremony.

Creative credo and recognition

The city administration described Nikishin's professional interests as the design and construction of residential and public buildings; his hobbies include painting and sculpture, as well as music and fishing. He speaks German and is the author of more than thirty realized projects of residential and public buildings and of publications in Russian and foreign architectural journals.

Among Nizhny Novgorod architects of his generation, Andrey Rubtsov and Marina Sedova passed through Nikishin's studio^[3]. The studio's work is discussed in studies on the history of 20th-century Nizhny Novgorod architecture, a field pursued by Olga Orelskaya; Nikishin's buildings are usually grouped together with the works of Viktor Bykov, the studio of Pestov and Kharitonov, and buildings on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, Slavyanskaya, and Osharskaya streets^[5].

After the completion of "School 800," the studio wound down its operations: in March 2024, Archi.ru reported that Nikishin's TMA had closed^[14]; an entry on the termination of the activity of the limited liability company "Creative Studio of Architect V. V. Nikishin" was made in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities on 20 February 2026^[16].

The workshop does not keep any slogan that emphasizes its exclusivity; we simply try to approach every project by making the fullest use of our potential, without dividing projects into primary and secondary ones.

See also

• Nizhegorodgrazhdanproekt — the design institute where the architect's career began
• Aleksandr Kharitonov — co-leader of the author team of the 2000 State Prize laureates
• Pestov and Popov Creative Workshop — a workshop of the same Nizhny Novgorod school
• Georg Ivanovich Kizevetter — the architect after whom the building on Ulyanov Street is named
• Verkhniye Pechyory — the microdistrict where the "School 800" building stands

Sources

1. kremlin.ru — Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 06.06.2001 No. 655 — On the Awarding of the State Prizes of the Russian Federation in Literature and Art for 2000
2. web.archive.org — Administration of the City of Nizhny Novgorod — Leading Professionals of the Nizhny Novgorod School of Architecture: Nikishin Valery Viktorovich (web archive copy) (archive)
3. web.archive.org — Architects of Nizhny Novgorod: A Brief Reference — Nashe Vremya: Nikishin Valery (web archive copy) (archive)
4. web.archive.org — Administration of the City of Nizhny Novgorod — List of Architects and Designers: Members of the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Branch of the Union of Architects of Russia (web archive copy) (archive)
5. nta-pfo.ru — NTA-Privolzhye, October 3, 2006 — Nizhny Novgorod Architects Introduced Journalists to the City's Modern Architecture (archive)
6. zodchestvo.com — Zodchestvo Festival — 2013 Laureates: Gold and Silver Badges (archive)
7. archi.ru — Alla Pavlikova, Archi.ru, December 26, 2013 — Heroes of Zodchestvo
8. archi.ru — Archi.ru, February 16, 2018 — Finalists of the 12th Nizhny Novgorod Architecture Rating Announced (archive)
9. Kommersant (Privolzhye) — Kommersant, October 30, 2014 — A New Residential Complex to Be Built in Nizhny Novgorod Near the Oka Descent (archive)
10. GiperNN — GiperNN, November 25, 2020 — "School 800" for 1,500 Pupils to Be Built in Verkhniye Pechyory in the Shape of an Arc (archive)
11. V gorode N — Architectural Council Approves Design of a 1,500-Pupil School in Verkhniye Pechyory (archive)
12. GiperNN — Anna Sinarevskaya, GiperNN, December 1, 2022 — "School 800" at the Start: What the Building in Verkhniye Pechyory Looks Like Inside (archive)
13. archi.ru — Archi.ru, June 28, 2023 — Arkhnovatsiya 2023: Laureates. Grand Prix Goes to School 800, Designed by Nikishin V. V.'s Creative Workshop (archive)
14. archi.ru — Yulia Tarabarina, Archi.ru, March 17, 2024 — Two, Five, Ten, Nineteen: The Nizhny Novgorod Rating (archive)
15. shkola800.ru — School 800 — Verkhniye Pechyory Building (archive)
16. egrul.nalog.ru — Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Federal Tax Service of Russia — LLC "Creative Workshop of Architect Nikishin V. V.", INN 5260010480, OGRN 1025203022371 (archive)