Measuring the Invisible
Portfolio presentation · HSE University, School of Design · Environmental and Interior design · 2026
Every place has a layer you cannot see. I can show what cities hide.
Evelina Kalugina · Environmental designer and urban analyst in training
A portfolio for the MSc Smart Cities and Urban Analytics, CASA, UCL, UPenn
one landmark → one site → one town → a town in a national network
/Depiction of scales is approximated in this picture
I am a spatial designer who has started to measure the city. I can already make urban data visible, and I want to learn at ___ to model it. Four projects follow, each larger in scale and more grounded in evidence than the last: from one landmark on the shore to a network of 264 towns.
Act I · Seeing
Act II · Measuring
Act III · Mapping
Act IV · Testing the system
Act I · Seeing
Theatre of Sunsets. Scale: one landmark
Theme park on the waterfront · Peterhof, St Petersburg · 2025 · Individual project · 3ds Max, Corona, Unreal Engine, Photoshop
Theme park on the waterfront · Peterhof, St Petersburg · 2025 · Individual project · 3ds Max, Corona, Unreal Engine, Photoshop
How can a radar lighthouse on the Peterhof shore become a destination, if the building material is light and time of day rather than concrete?
Hidden → Revealed (sun path)
The site has a single dominant: a radar lighthouse, visible from both the shore and the water. Around it lie open water and the horizon over the Gulf of Finland, where the sun sets. I read these two givens on site, by eye, and made them the only fixed points of the design.
The plan spreads in concentric rings from the lighthouse, like circles on water. Four zones follow the visitor’s scenario: an entrance that introduces the place, a stage on the water, a walking spit, and glamping on the water. The stage opens for sunsets and closes for concerts. People watch from rafts and boats, not seats. Walkways stand on piles to leave the ecosystem untouched.
I can turn one condition of a place into a whole spatial concept, and make people see it.
I designed with light by feeling it.
Could I measure it?
Act II · Measuring
Light and Shade. Scale: one site
Park in a residential quarter · Paradny Ansambl, St Petersburg · 2026 · Team of 3, competition by Setl Group · 3dsMax, Photoshop, SketchUp
Problem
The problem is a real case, which is a building housing complex. The are was given to us by a developer (SetlGroup). The photo is the state of the territoty at the time of making a project. As you can see its unmaintained and doest have a specific purpose.
What did my analysis uncover?
