From July 19 to July 29, 2025, an architectural and engineering workshop «ArchEng» took place in the Tver Region at the Volga recreation center of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. It brought together 56 participants from various cities across Russia — Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Dubna, Chelyabinsk, and Rostov. Among them were students of architecture, engineering, and construction programs, young professionals, and senior high school students interested in architecture and urban studies.

The workshop was founded by a group of students from Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University and Moscow State University of Civil Engineering — Ekaterina Zorina, Pavel Shcherbatyuk, Valeria Kozodaeva, and Aleksandra Demina. The founders and many participants of the project are winners and active participants of the International Engineering Championship CASE-IN, whose initiator and strategic partner is the company Metropolis.

This year, the ArchEng educational program became three times larger, with a significant increase in the number of lectures and the lecturer team. Leading industry experts from the Institute for Applied Urbanism, Nikola-Lenivets Art Park, the company «St. Petersburg Through the Eyes of an Engineer», the APEX design bureau, Evraz, Marks Group, and others joined the program.

Structural Engineering Track — development of engineering intuition. Participants designed bridge structures with a 1-meter span and trusses measuring 3×1.5 m, carried out calculations, printed models using 3D printers, tested them to failure, and analyzed the results, striving for the optimal balance between weight and strength.

Architectural Track included the creation of models of art objects representing the identity of various Russian cities such as Krasnodar, Khabarovsk, Ulan-Ude, Vladivostok, Arkhangelsk, and Chelyabinsk. Participants sought to convey the unique cultural and spatial characteristics of these places through the form, material, and imagery of the objects. This approach allows for a deeper understanding of the cultural diversity of the country’s regions and contributes to the development of participants’ creative potential, enabling them to express their own vision of urban space.

School Track — work by senior high school students on a conceptual model for transforming the urban environment. The project was addressed to the administration of the city of Dubna.

The workshop participants vividly demonstrated their knowledge, creative approach, and strong interest in the field.

The company Metropolis became the strategic partner of the workshop, and its employees have been delivering lectures and master classes for the second consecutive year. This year, the lecturers were Daniil Matrenin and Dmitry Goryainov, while last year it was Ekaterina Velichko. Our interns — CASE-IN participants Andrey Shtykhin and Galina Kravtsova — also took part in the project. They were joined by Denis Zaynulin, structural design engineer, Alisa Kurilina, marketing communications manager, and Valeria Kozodaeva, head of the architectural track and architectural technician.

Initiatives like ArchEng are part of a well-considered strategy to support young talent: Metropolis helps bridge the gap between theory and practice and creates conditions for the development of future industry leaders.

The strategic partnership with CASE-IN, from which many of the workshop organizers emerged, demonstrates how such projects help shape a new generation of engineers and architects, making a significant contribution to the sustainable development of society.

We congratulate the participants on completing the summer workshop and look forward to new achievements!