Arch-Standing at Nikola Lenivets

Cladding Solutions supported the Corten Yurt — Anti Yurt project at Arch-Standing 2026

In the architecture of a traditional yurt, everything is subordinated to a clear purpose: to be lightweight, mobile, assembled quickly, and protect people from wind, rain, and cold. Corten Yurt — Anti Yurt by the architecture bureau Cogarts is built on the opposite principle.

The new structure appeared in the Nikola Lenivets art park as part of the Arch-Standing 2026 festival of contemporary art and architecture, which took place from July 23 to 26. This year's festival theme — "The Route is Rebuilt" — was dedicated to rethinking familiar routes, states, and ways humans interact with space.

Project author — architect Bokeikhan Kamza, Cogarts bureau. The project was realised with the support of architecture bureau ULAB and Cladding Solutions. After the festival, Corten Yurt — Anti Yurt entered the permanent collection of Nikola Lenivets objects.

The Yurt Inverted

If a traditional yurt is created from wood and felt and can travel with its owner, then Anti Yurt intentionally becomes its opposite.

Instead of lightness — the mass of metal.
Instead of mobility — permanence.
Instead of an enclosed space protecting people from nature — a structure that leaves them almost alone with the surrounding landscape.

The pavilion, 5.7 metres in diameter and 3.3 metres high, is made of weathering (Corten) steel. Its vertical elements are slightly offset relative to each other, so the form does not assemble into one final silhouette. As you move around the object, the yurt becomes whole, then seems to dissolve into space.

It is precisely the material that becomes part of the architectural idea.

Corten does not seek to preserve its original appearance. Under the influence of air and precipitation, its surface gradually changes and develops a characteristic patina. Therefore, the object will continue to transform after construction is complete — together with time, weather, and the surrounding landscape.

During realisation, another property of the pavilion emerged, which was not originally designed: the metal surfaces created an expressive acoustic effect inside. The space began to work not only visually, but also through sound — voices and music reflect off the shell, creating unusual echoes.

Why This Project Matters to Us

For Cladding Solutions, participation in such projects is an opportunity to work with metal not only as a functional building material.

In Corten Yurt — Anti Yurt, the properties of steel are directly connected to the architect's concept: its weight, surface, ability to change over time, and interaction with light and nature become part of the spatial experience.

We embrace this approach. Material should not replace an architectural idea — it can help make it more precise and expressive.

And perhaps that is precisely why Anti Yurt exists so organically in Nikola Lenivets: among landscape, art, and architecture that continues to change even after construction is complete.

Corten Yurt — Anti Yurt
Architect: Bokeikhan Kamza, Cogarts
With support from: ULAB, Cladding Solutions
Material: weathering steel
Size: Ø 5.7 m, height 3.3 m
Location: Nikola Lenivets art park, Kaluga Region
Festival: Arch-Standing 2026
Status: permanent art park structure