The Architecture of Destiny

When one designs buildings, one inadvertently creates the future. Every line on a drawing becomes part of someone's life, every decision shapes the space where ideas will be born, deals struck, families formed. Timur Nugaev, founder of the architectural consultancy NUGAEV, tells how he reached from a small flat on the outskirts of Kazan to the skyscrapers of Dubai, and answers the question of why an architect must not only draw, but calculate, feel and live through each project.

Heritage and the Choice of Path

I often think that 'architecture' in a person is transmitted through DNA. My mother is a distinguished conservation architect, working on remarkable architectural monuments. This code embeds itself from birth and for life, determining not only one's profession but one's way of thinking, perception of space, relationship with the world.
Choosing my profession wasn't easy. In sixth form I stood before a dilemma: law at Kazan State University or the architecture faculty at Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering. Nearly all my relatives were lawyers; it would have been simpler to prepare along those lines and gain admission. But I always sought difficult, more interesting paths. Three days after graduating from the architecture faculty, I registered a legal entity with a fellow student.

From Apprentices to a Group of Companies

We started like everyone else: taking on practice work as apprentices, literally living in cafés and on building sites, giving our first wages to our parents, buying laptops. Over three years our team of two grew to fourteen. In the third or fourth year, we opened a construction company, then came a technical client service and project management division. At our most active, we employed up to sixty people, and including engineering staff and vehicle fleet, nearly a hundred. A group of companies formed, handling the full range of construction work.

Key Projects: From Kazan to Federal Level

The turning point was a project we created, built and supervised as technical clients: the first commercial IT park in Russia, Navigator Campus in Kazan. Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev came to its opening. We brought to Russia some of the first 3D façades, 721 elements of rock panel, assembled directly on site. This small building became a centre of attraction, showing that Russia had something besides Skolkovo.

Eight years on, we were already working in the federal market, and for the past four years, internationally. The geography of our projects covers Tatarstan, Moscow, the Far East, Central Russia. There have been projects, and there are ongoing projects in Turkey, Georgia, Montenegro, Uzbekistan. Currently, we're actively working on projects in the UAE and Bahrain.

The architectural firm's development at federal level began with winning a competition for developing the right bank of the Kazanka River. Then came Art City in Kazan, one of the city's best-known residential complexes, where we were first to apply the idea of enclosed courtyards, parkland environment, the 'fifteen-minute city'. These principles are now used in all Russian residential complexes, and they were established precisely there and then.

Two years ago, we won a competition in Montenegro's capital, Podgorica: renovating a department store into a modern IT and multimedia cluster. This project motivated us to enter international markets. Ten years ago, we participated in a competition in Abu Dhabi for reclaimed land in the southern part; we didn't win but gained valuable experience working in the Middle East.

Dubai: Challenges and Opportunities

Since the beginning of this year, we've been working in Dubai. We've registered a company and are staffing an office. Already, we're working on two properties: one in Dubai, another in Bahrain. Unlike many, we entered the market not through active marketing but with specific projects underway.

Currently our company is managing the renovation of a villa on Palm Jumeirah, eight hundred square metres. We were invited not simply as architects but as representatives of the owner, project manager and chief architect in one. In Bahrain we're designing a VIP hotel with several dozen rooms.

Dubai impressed me in many ways, but what I encountered was the documentation system in the construction sphere. This is part of the smart city strategy until 2040: optimising construction processes, minimising offline meetings, transitioning to electronic interaction with government bodies, automatic infrastructure systems, traffic lights, solar panels and other smart city technologies.

There are difficulties too. The human factor matters anywhere in the world. Here there's a particular way of working: when they say a document will be ready in five days, expect two weeks. One needs to adjust mentally to this pace of work. Even Europeans who've worked here a long time assimilate and accept these rules.

I work with various companies. We have consortia with a British bureau, Swedish construction companies, Turkish contractors. Most often, the builders here are from India, Pakistan and elsewhere.

What distinguishes us from many firms is that we conduct thorough internal assessment by professional criteria, forming a list of designers, architects, contractors with whom we work and will work.

The Philosophy of Comprehensive Approach and Analysis

Our philosophy is a comprehensive approach to architecture from the positions of economics, management and implementation. Not many architects have led a construction company, a client service whilst creating architectural projects. We can soberly assess creative solutions from the standpoint of figures and construction processes.

I believe an architect should address the pain points of people wanting to realise a project. One must visit, look, speak with neighbours, analyse town-planning documents and understand for whom one is doing this. One can build a structure, so people want to live there, or so it sells. These are different approaches.

Many architects draw beautiful projects that don't sit on the territory. Developers compete in the number of features: mini-cinemas, golf, tennis, swimming pools. But many people don't need this; for them transport accessibility or proximity to parks, educational institutions, work might prove more important.

We conduct our own analysis of land plots from the standpoint of potential, examining profitability indicators. Sometimes a client wants to build a residential block, and we say this location is better for commerce because there's substantial pedestrian traffic. Or conversely: why a shopping centre if there's good residential infrastructure here?

Team, Reputation and Project Life Cycle

Over fifteen years we've had branches in Moscow and Kazan; now only the Kazan office remains and we're opening a new one in Dubai. For most of my career I've worked through word of mouth, without active advertising. Contacts, recommendations, reputation: that's what matters.

There was a moment when I dismissed all staff completely and recruited new ones. At that point I understood we'd begun doing mass-market work, turning into a conveyor belt. I said, stop, we're refreshing the team from scratch. The company bears my surname, and I try to ensure it's associated with a mark of quality and individual approach.

I take on several projects locally and live through life with them. Every architect's project is a piece of his life. A client says he wants to build a hotel, and you give a year of your life to conceiving it, several more years to realisation. You invest your soul, live life with the person, with the builders.

A particular pleasure is seeing how from the ground rises a building that grew from the first sketch. Now in our company several construction sites are running in parallel across different cities and countries. When I pass by and see that our property sits in its place, where one wants to live, work, that's happiness.

Views on Dubai and Architectural Preferences

About Dubai as a city, I think ambivalently. On one hand it's a museum of experiment and the future, a testing ground for architects' experiments. On the other, key landmark projects should be positioned locally, not at every turn, otherwise exclusivity is lost. Dubai is distinctive in combining incompatible techniques, elements, lifestyles. Over eighty per cent expatriates built this city and created its particular pattern.

One of my favourite buildings in the region is the Guggenheim Museum under construction in Abu Dhabi. I like its geometry and dynamism; I consider it one of the world's finest projects. Of Dubai's districts I prefer The Greens: it's not the newest, but there's a pleasant walk there, good infrastructure. For me accessibility to school, nursery, absence of traffic jams matters more than a super-luxury complex on the outskirts.

International Experience and Cultural Features

Each region has its own specifics. I remember a story in Georgia: one hundred and fifty-four hectares using Smart City technology. An engineering geologist came from Batumi; I'm explaining where we need boreholes. He listens silently for five minutes and leaves. Returns with a bottle of homemade wine: first we'll drink, then talk about work. Then he drove off and returned an hour later with all the home preserves. Two days we sat, discussing. Only afterwards did he give figures. In Turkey a similar story: first tea, then onto a boat, and only after that, work.

I often recall the words of one Turkish contractor: first we become friends, and only then partners. This philosophy is close to me too. In any country business is built on trust, on human relationships. Technologies, standards, procedures: all these are tools. But at the centre always remains the person.

Public Activity and Mission

Besides architecture, I actively develop the public direction. I serve on the board of the Union of Architects of Tatarstan for Russia; for the past three years I've worked as an expert in the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan on questions of architectural legislation and infrastructural development.

This year I headed the committee for architecture and town planning of the Eurasian Business Association.
I also participate as a jury member in Urban Awards, a federal prize for the best projects. I conduct professional audits of architectural projects for major companies, assessment by economic and architectural criteria, project feasibility. I serve on architectural and construction councils at Tatneft and other companies.

Our company also organises the annual meeting of architects and developers, ARDA Community, where we build dialogue and professional connections for the professional community.

Technologies and Market Comparison

I actively use artificial intelligence in my work. Our company produces brochures, analytical and presentation materials. There's a staff graphic designer who needs to do much quickly and to a high standard. In architecture we apply AI for seeking ideas and generating initial sketches. For textual elements, forming graphs, documentation flow: everywhere there's room for new technologies. But most often we use AI in presentation materials because it saves time and raises quality.

Comparing professional design processes in the Emirates and Russia, I cannot say it's more difficult or easier anywhere; everywhere has its own specifics. The Russian market is in some ways even more complex due to the quantity of norms, building codes, state standards. Here there's a different system of calculation, submission, development, criteria, licences. But the main difference is greater creative freedom here. If one takes that as an assessment criterion, then designing in Dubai is easier. True, if you come like a blind kitten and look at beautiful buildings, not having worked a day in the local market, it will be much harder for you.

Dubai is often called paradise for architects, where one can do everything. Actually, not everywhere can this be realised. But the bar is initially high: nearby create people you've read about in architecture books. This motivates, compels one to measure up. You realise projects, communicate at events where you understand that professional unity lies in difference, and therein lies all the charm.

Dubai's master plan until 2050 includes many development schemes. I compared previous master plans with what's been realised now. The government adheres to the planned course; the city moves purposefully as intended. This is a young city that can apply technological solutions more flexibly than sprawling megalopolises.

Certainly, there are things in the master plan I would change: the metro, life for people, the green concept, transport accessibility. Due to the large number of local and international developers, collaborations don't always proceed in the same direction as the master plan. But overall, here they adhere to the general development dynamic.

Dubai is an enormous quantity of technological solutions, like a testing ground. Therein lies both the pleasure and certain drawbacks. Companies from different countries work here, everyone has their own approach, different investors. I value people who aren't afraid to experiment in a new market whilst adhering to common construction values.

Driving through the city, sometimes I see this property doesn't sit in its right place. The architecture might be brilliantly drawn, but a building must suit its location. The balance between creativity and territorial analysis: that's what matters. Even an ordinary person feels when one wants to live in a building and when one doesn't.

Working with international brands here has its own features. Porcelanosa, one of my favourite manufacturers, is the 'striped elephant' everyone knows. Interaction with them in Germany, Russia, Turkey and here comprises different universes. Here they say: wait, we'll do it, don't rush. I'm accustomed to precise deadlines and commitments, so I find it difficult adapting to the local rhythm.

Looking to the Future and the Main Goal

I dream of creating, in accordance with my dissertation theme, a fully autonomous multifunctional building that could be placed anywhere in the world and would adapt to the external environment. Since childhood I wanted to work across the world: a boy from thirty square metres on the outskirts of Kazan in a panel block dreamed of travelling, having a large family and international projects.

Over the next three years we are planning to master the MENA region. We want to form the concept of architect-consultant who doesn't simply draw but calculates and helps connect all levels of interaction. We've registered across four main directions, working on collaborations with local and international companies.

Over the years I've understood: it's not enough merely to draw beautifully. One must understand a project's economics, management processes, implementation specifics. When an architect becomes consultant, manager and creator as well, that's when a genuinely quality product emerges.

Recently we conducted a remote audit of a property in Cologne. The client asked us to assess the project; we gave a conclusion on profitability, architectural solutions, recommended a local company for implementation. Thus, the collaboration began: from consultation at the year's beginning, coming for three or four days to Dubai, and now we're conducting full projects here.

Now I'm forming the Dubai team especially carefully. After the experience of completely changing the staff in Russia, I understand: better slower but higher quality. Each employee must share the company's philosophy, understand that we're not a project production factory but a bureau where each property is part of life.

For the next five years I see the company working in the broad international market. But thoroughly, without haste. The MENA region is now a priority: here are concentrated interesting challenges, ambitious projects, a professional community of the highest level.

Sometimes, waking in the morning in Dubai, I think of that boy from the panel flat on Kazan's outskirts who dreamed of building beautiful houses across the world. And I understand: dreams come true if one isn't afraid to make mistakes, fall and rise again.

We are the result of our mistakes: that's the phrase that guides me through life. We become stronger not from victories but from defeats. Nobody praises you for victory, but when you fall, everyone points fingers. But I believe in fate, that there are no chance meetings. A chain of events led me to Dubai, and I believe it doesn't matter where, what matters is who.

Does a city really form a person's character? No, a person forms a city's character. Architects and builders create space for people. Sometimes we forget this, but it's the most important thing: to build houses so that one would want to live in them oneself. Whether it's a villa or a major project, the approach is one and the same.

The move to Dubai for me is a conscious step of professional development. Here I learn every day, discover new approaches, technologies, working methods. And most importantly, here one can realise projects about which in other places people only dream.

Therefore, for me the company NUGAEV is not simply an architectural bureau. It's a philosophy of comprehensive approach to creating living space. We don't divide projects into large and small, prestigious and ordinary. Into each we invest meaning, ideology, soul. Because architecture isn't about buildings. It's about the people who will live in them.
My goal is to ensure that in ten years the surname and accordingly the company itself, NUGAEV, is associated with quality architecture not only in Russia but worldwide. So, our projects are recognised by their signature, by approach, by that particular combination of beauty and functionality, creativity and pragmatism, dream and calculation. Also, among goals for the next few years is to realise a project connected to my doctoral dissertation theme: energy-saving adaptive façade technologies.