SPEECH

SPEECH is a Russian architectural office. It was founded in 2006 by architects Sergei Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov. The bureau specializes in designing buildings and complexes with various functional purposes, developing urban concepts, as well as designing interiors. Projects by SPEECH have been implemented in numerous cities in Russia (Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, and others) as well as abroad (Berlin, Milan, Venice, Minsk).

SPEECH architectural office was formed in 2006 as a joint project of the architects Sergei Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov through the merger of two companies – Tchoban and Partners and S. P. Project. Initially the bureau was called SPEECH Tchoban / Kuznetsov, but after Sergey Kuznetsov was appointed Chief Architect of Moscow in 2012 and left the company, Sergei Tchoban became the sole architect and managing partner, and the name of the bureau was shortened to SPEECH.

Projects by SPEECH have been featured at prestigious exhibition venues, including the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture in Moscow, Arch Moscow exhibition, the International Investment Forum in Sochi, Aedes Gallery in Berlin, MIPIM international exhibition of investment projects in Cannes, and the Venice Architecture Biennale. The co-founders of the SPEECH bureau, architects Sergei Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov, twice were curators of the Russian pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2012 their project i-city / i-land for the first time in Russian history received a special mention of the jury as wells as Iconic Awards in 2013 and Interior Design's Best of Year Awards 2013.

Starting from 2012 SPEECH has participated in the INTERNI exhibition in Milan. It has presented there the installations: The Eye of the Architect (2012), Golden River (2013), U_cloud (2014), and Living Line (2015), Towers (2016). In 2008, Sergei Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov established the architectural magazine speech:. The magazine explores the topics that are most relevant for contemporary Russian architecture, and it is distributed in Russia and abroad. The online edition archspeech.com was launched in 2014.

Sergei Tchoban
Born in 1962 in Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg, Russia). In 1974-1980 he studied at the Leningrad Secondary Art School, in 1980-1986 he studied at the architectural department of the Imperial Academy of Arts, formerly known as the “Ilya Repin Institute of the Russian Academy of Arts" (in the studio of S. Speransky and V. Volonsevich). In 1986 he started working at the V. B. Fabritskiy architectural studio, and from 1989 he worked in Leningrad as an independent architect.

In 1991 Sergei Tchoban moved to Germany, where he worked from 1992 at the architectural firm Nietz, Prasch, Sigl in Hamburg. In 1995 he became managing partner of the bureau, called nps tchoban voss, and headed the Berlin office. In 2003, he opened the architectural bureau Tchoban and Partners in Moscow, in 2006 through the merger with the bureau S. P. Project together with Sergey Kuznetsov they co-founded the SPEECH Tchoban & Kuznetsov architectural office.

In 2008, together with Sergey Kuznetsov he established the architectural magazine speech:. In 2009 he founded the Tchoban Foundation - Museum for Architectural Drawing. Tchoban was the curator of the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture two times: in 2010 he curated the project “Russia Factory” (together with Sergey Kuznetsov, Pavel Khoroshilov, Grigory Revzin), in 2012 – the project “i-city/i-land” (together with the commissary of the pavilion Grigory Revzin, co-curator Sergey Kuznetsov and Valery Kashirina), which was awarded with a Special Mention – the first time that Russia won an award at the Architectural Biennale. In 2013-2014, he headed a graduate studio at the Moscow School of Architecture. Since 2011 he has been a member of the City Planning Council of the Skolkovo Foundation. Since 2013 he has been a member of the Architectural Council of the Committee for Architecture and Urban Planning of the City of Moscow.