Architect Alexander Borodin: Your Home Will Never Be Needed by Your Children

Rule 1: The House Is Built for Two

- Over the last 15 years, I have built approximately 500 houses. Experience shows that people in 95% of cases do not know what they want. Spouses argue with each other until fights, shut their mouths. They try to figure out which facade is better. But architecture, plans, and facades are the 99th and 100th items among a hundred questions that need to be solved when designing a house. The hardest part is knowing how to say no to yourself in the house.

The main message Alexander follows when designing all his houses is that they should be single-story, with zero foundation and a roof with a large overhang - at least 1.5 meters. Technically, all of this is explained. But how do you place such a house on a small plot? And where to accommodate children in a small house?

- Your home will never be needed by your children. Times are now dynamic. In the past, we designed family houses. A Gypsy camp in my house is not needed. I am not planning to wait until dad or mom dies, or until the children get married. Why build a house for 300 years if you don't have money and it's not needed by the next generation?

Rule 2: Save on Small Things, but Improve Life

In Alexander's opinion, building a single-story house, joined in a complex under one roof, can save about 50 thousand dollars per 100-120 square meters. It's important to plan everything in the house so that living there is comfortable.

- What is a furnace and laundry room? It's the second most important room for a wife, after the kitchen. There is a technical tray for washing dog paws, where I wash my boots, soak blankets, and clean tomatoes. Remember where your shopping bags are? Has anyone in the house thought of a special compartment for cigarette butts? We keep them, then go to the store and buy new ones. Carelessness - and we first talk not about the facade, but about organizing our lives. If I had built my house single-story instead of with a mansard, I would have saved 50 thousand dollars, which is the cost of a new good car.

What happens to any house construction? A client comes to the tile showroom, shows a design project that cost her 5 thousand dollars, but it turns out that exactly this tile is not in stock. So she chooses another one and says: I like it! Her husband says: Masha, why did we pay for design? But she still likes it. Or another situation. They order the cheapest project for 500 dollars, beg for a discount, and then go and buy a shower cabin for 1,500 euros. That's the problem.

Architect especially notes the inability of people to assess their own capabilities.

- Calculate your abilities and resources correctly, don't build a house over 10-15 years.

Rule 3: Carefully Choose Those Who Will Build Your House

- Belarusian builders have a habit of hating the previous crew. Bricklayers come: God, who built your walls? Meanwhile, they themselves work carelessly but demand money upfront. Then come tile layers: God, who did the plastering? I have never seen such an attitude in my hometown Ivan-Frankivsk or Ulyanovsk, where I lived and worked for 15 years. In Belarus, four men arrive in a dead Passat at 10 am and leave home by 5 pm, although they should work from 6 am to sunset. There are decent builders, but unfortunately, they are few. I don't understand why people from Mogilev who want to make money don't come to Minsk on a camp method? They only come from Ukraine, who work from morning till 10 pm like robots.

Rule 4: Organize Space Properly

In Alexander Borodin's opinion, the architecture of a house is primarily about properly organizing space, and only in the last place - facades, plans, beautiful walls. For example, kitchen windows should face the street so that when you wash dishes, you can see if a neighbor is passing by and need to put the kettle on and brew coffee. Barbecue should be arranged so that one can enjoy a sunset.

- It's because women are cold in the evening and have to fiddle with throws, jackets, coats. Even if you can only see the sunset from the street - the barbecue area should be there. Let people see how you, happy, eat barbecue and enjoy life. One man at the exhibition said to me: Sasha, all your houses look the same. Yes, they are the same. And there's nothing wrong with that. They are comfortable!

People ask to make it beautiful, but they don't understand why they need a certain element.

- For example, what happens to the pool stories? The first week the family goes to the pool every day twice. In the second week, every other family member goes once a day. After a month, the pool is visited once a week. In 3-4 months, the pool is used once a month. Eventually, the pool is used as a water reservoir for firefighting. It's only the oligarchs' wives who have enough time to swim in the pool every day, not us, ordinary people.

The same problem with garages.

- Only 5% of people park their car in the garage. Why? Laziness! Because the gates are not raised several times a day. The garage becomes a bazaar with pliers, axes, bicycles, lawn mowers. I myself have four garages and even one car stands there. People come to me and say: make us a beautiful house. I ask: for yourself or for a pretty facade? Oh no, we don't want to show off. Contradiction. For whom are you building the house - for yourself or for people? It's wrong to paint a fence brown on the outside and white for yourself. The most beautiful thing should be for people. You won't look at that fence anyway.