Domiki: architecture, first-person
A Russian-language Telegram channel by Asya, who simply loves architecture: odd buildings, competitions, exhibitions and backstories, told with wit.
What it is
Domiki ("little houses") is a personal Telegram channel run by Asya, whose bio says it plainly: her name is Asya and she really loves architecture. When we checked, it had around 22,000 subscribers and new posts several times a week. It's written in Russian, so non-Russian speakers will need a translator, but the images carry a lot on their own.
It isn't a news feed or a gallery of pretty facades. Each post is a small first-person story: what the building is, why it's odd or important, and what Asya thinks about it.
Why we picked it
We liked how wide the lens is. In just a couple of weeks the channel covered an Irish architecture award and its wonderfully earnest project statement, a 1983 Architectural Design competition to design a dolls' house (later collected into a book), why so many Russian town coats of arms look baffling, and a Herzog & de Meuron show at Hong Kong's M+ museum.
There are recurring bits with personality, too. One series is about buildings with strange afterlives — like a former Lenin museum in Ulaanbaatar that became a billiard hall and then a dinosaur museum. Another post unpacks Venturi and Scott Brown's famous "duck" and shows the real California café that inspired it.
The tone is lively and a little ironic, never snobbish. Jargon gets explained along the way, so you don't need an architecture degree to enjoy it.
Where to start
- Scroll the latest posts to see how history, contemporary work and the absurd sit side by side.
- Find the dolls' house competition post — an easy way in.
- Read the "duck vs. decorated shed" posts: classic architecture theory, told like a good anecdote.
- Check in every few days; posts are short and each one takes a minute or two.
Who it's for
Russian readers (or keen translators) who look at buildings on their travels and want to understand what they're seeing, architecture students who want range without the lecture tone, and anyone who likes the stories behind things.
Quick answers
Do I need to know architecture? No. Asya gives context, and many posts are simply good stories about buildings.
Is it in English? No, it's in Russian. The photos and drawings are a big part of every post, though.
