РУEN
Pool terrace of Kromka Bora House framed by white architecture and pine trees

Name of the project

Kromka Bora — a contemporary house with a pool and a double-height living space

Main character

Private client

Setting

Private house, Sochi

Kromka Bora

Overview

The house occupies the final plot on the street, at its quietest and most visually open point. A pine forest begins directly across from the main façade, and this view became one of the project’s defining references. Panoramic glazing in the study opens the landscape as a natural continuation of the interior — one of the client’s principal wishes.

The architecture is contemporary and precisely composed. Clean volumes, broad white planes, a graphic glazing rhythm, glass balustrades, and warm accents of dark timber create a restrained yet assured character. The material palette and architectural language reflect the preferences of a long-standing client: less distraction, greater clarity, proportion, and quality.

  1. Street façade of the white two-storey house with a dark timber entrance and garage
  2. Garage courtyard with broad concrete steps and a transparent garage wall
  3. Garden façade with floor-to-ceiling glazing, pool terrace, and open garage
  4. Poolside lounge terrace facing the pine forest

Despite a relatively compact area of approximately 250 m², excluding the terrace, garage, boiler room, and basement level, the house is planned with exceptional efficiency. Its everyday scenario is centred on the owners. Their adult children now visit as guests, so the layout prioritises daily comfort, privacy, and the ability to welcome family without compromising space.

A generous kitchen and living room with a double-height ceiling forms the heart of the house. Sliding panoramic glazing connects it to the terrace and pool, dissolving the boundary between interior and garden. The architecture is therefore experienced not as a closed volume, but as a sequence of connected spaces filled with air, daylight, and long views.

The garage received equal attention. Its end wall is transparent, turning a functional room into part of the overall architectural composition and the courtyard’s visual sequence. Carefully designed lighting gives the garage depth after dark, while an accessible roof terrace extends the house’s outdoor living programme.

A private barbecue area is set into a shallow depression in the garden. Together with the pool, open terraces, and softly integrated planting, it completes the house as a contemporary, calm, and deeply personal place to live.

Other case studies

The name Zariza

Engraving of historic Tsaritsyn by Adam Olearius, 1636

In 1663, a book by Adam Olearius, a German scholar and secretary to the Holstein embassy to Russia and Persia, included a plate with six engraved views of Russian cities.

Tetus, Samara, Soratof, Zariza, Tzornogar, Kusmamedianski. Olearius passed Tsaritsyn on 6 September 1636.

Partners and clients sometimes jokingly associate our name with royalty. We do not mind, although for us it is rooted above all in the history of a place.

The city’s name is associated with the Tsaritsa River. One explanation traces it to the Turkic “sary-su”, meaning “yellow river”; another links it to “yellow sand”.

The fortress in the engraving stands at a meeting of currents: goods and embassies travelled along the river, and routes crossed here. This image resonates with us. Design and implementation also form a system of many factors, whose parts need to work together.

The studio’s name is tied to the history of Tsaritsyn, a city at the confluence of the Volga and Tsaritsa rivers. Our first office opened here, near the Architecture University. The studio began work on 21 December 2012, the day a 5,125-year cycle of the Maya calendar came to a close.

“Art” was added later, when we registered the domain. The name retains our connection to our place of origin, while the studio’s work has long reached beyond its geography.

Brand Identity

Brand identity is a combination of visual, verbal, and emotional characteristics that make your brand recognizable and unique. It is a holistic system of meanings, images, and values that reflects the essence of the company and shapes how it is perceived by the audience.