As a child, Andrei Losev’s architect grandfather spotted his creative potential on seeing him play with blocks, and announced that "this child will be an architect," so his family nurtured him to insure that he became one. Several years later, having graduated from the Moscow Architecture Academy (MArchI) in 1998, he went on to set up a group of architects called Destructor with his classmates and colleagues from architecture firm 2R Studio, where he had worked during his studies. He spoke to us about the unusual organization he directs and his career in architecture.

The Leader: What is Destructor?

Mr. Losev: It is an organization without an office. Generally speaking, our architects work from completely different locations and communicate via the Internet. There are about ten of us, all graduates from MArchI.

It is naturally cheaper for us to all work from different locations, because this way there is less rent to pay — only the Internet link. We work mostly with architects who work in their own workshops.

Many of our architects don’t just work with Destructor— they also have projects which they get from other sources — but if they work with us on big projects, then they have the advantage of the technical support we provide, such as computers and office space, which we hire out especially on such occasions.

The Destructor architect leading a project will hire as many people to work on it as necessary. Sometimes students take part, depending upon the level of difficulty of the project.

The Leader: Who does what?

Mr. Losev: If an order comes along, two other architects and I mainly deal with commercial and administrative questions. We don’t have strict job descriptions here; it’s a fairly democratic system. The person who takes on a project chooses the team necessary to carry it out. If I like a project, I do it. If I can see that someone else would like it even more, then I give it to them.

The Leader: And what do you like?

Mr. Losev: It depends upon the conditions of the person who’s commissioning the project, on whether he’s ready to put the necessary amount of money into it.

I wouldn’t usually find a normal supermarket interesting, because it is not creative work and is standard and formulaic; so I’d give it to people interested in technology. I am referring to the kind of projects where the client only needs a building to be functional and economical and where he is not bothered by aesthetics. If the customer wants art — well, he has to be ready to pay for it.

The Leader: Personally, you like the minimalist style. Is it fashionable in Moscow?

Mr. Losev: At the moment it isn’t, but I hope that it will be. Clients have started to understand what minimalism is, but they don’t understand hi-tech. Hi-tech is when things such as ventilation tubes are not hidden, but highlighted and made into interesting features. A good example of hi-tech architecture is the Pompidou Center in Paris.

The Leader: What is your work style like?

Mr. Losev: My day begins when a client phones me or when I get up. I work when I want. I can do that now. But at Mosproyekt, the organization that monopolizes state-commissioned projects and where I have a lot of acquaintances and have worked on a freelance basis, you are not allowed to work whenever you want.

In the daytime it is often hard to concentrate on creative work, due to administrative and commercial interruptions or distractions and so I often sit and work all night on creative projects. This practice is true of most architects in Moscow, and perhaps the rest of the world. It’s very bad for everyone except the architect. My family complains constantly.

The Leader: What are the stages of an architectural project?

Mr. Losev: It begins with the conditions set by the client and his stylistic partiality. Virtually all clients come to us with their own ideas, but they almost always never materialize and we end up proposing something more realistic.

Then the designs are confirmed and agreed-on with him or her. Before the building project begins, the interdepartmental commission approves the sketches. Each district of Moscow has its own. The problems that arise at this stage can sometimes influence the project itself, but not significantly. The more money the client has, the fewer problems are likely to arise at this stage, with the exception of historic buildings, such as those protected by UNESCO.

Then when the commission signs the draft you can start building. Once building has begun, it is an architect’s role to see that everything goes ahead according to plan right up until the end of the project. I tend to go to a building site at least twice a week once construction has started so as to check the progress.

The Leader: Is there growth in the architecture business in Moscow?

Mr. Losev: It is probably growing along with the middle class, but at the same time it is becoming more disorderly. The market is full and poorly controlled. There are a lot of bad residential projects around, especially in the suburbs of Moscow, where there is less control over what’s being built. The architects working at the governmental organizations that control building there are not graduates from Moscow institutes. Everything is decided at the local level. But architects at this level don’t have any creative ambitions.

The Leader: Is it possible for a person without technical education to work as an architect?

Mr. Losev: Architects have to design and plan everything on the technical plane. The skeleton, the meat and the bones of the building. A person without an architectural education would only be able to draw sculpture or a facade.

When I look at a building in the street, I can automatically see its skeleton, and I couldn’t do this if I didn’t have the right training. That is even the case with historical buildings, if I know which techniques were current at that particular time period.

The Leader: How do you deal with the great responsibility of creating buildings that people have to live and work in and among?

Mr. Losev: Leading Finnish architect Alvar Aalto was once asked the same question. He replied saying that it is the role of architects to educate popular taste and not vice-versa. The Eiffel Tower was not popular when it was built and people even called for it to be knocked down, and now it is a symbol of France.

If I were to listen to everyone around me, I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on my own work.

The Leader: What inspires and guides an architect?

Mr. Losev: Architects look to nature, because it has already thought up everything. This means that it is hard to create something completely new. Ants, for example, are great builders and all the industrial areas of Moscow are similar to anthills. An architect should find inspiration in the best of natural forms. Nature provides us with the possibility of an unlimited number of combinations, and it is the task of the architect to find the best one.