Aptekarsky Island, filled with industrial zones and buildings of old research institutes twenty years ago, is being transformed stubbornly and confidently: the territory beyond the Karpovka River, valuable by the proximity of Vyazemsky, Lopukhinsky and Botanical Gardens, is being built up with both office and residential complexes - in recent years, more and more residential, and perhaps the largest of them is the Europa City residential complex on the territory of the former Electric plant on Medikov Avenue. Its area is slightly less than 7 hectares, about 550 m, it stretches along the red line of the avenue and Akademik Pavlova Street, and in the back of the courtyard there was a place for ten 13-storey towers. The total area is about 180 thousand m2, 1645 business class apartments, the developer is the LSR company, which began to deal with this project earlier than the famous Moscow ZilArt.
We talked about the project of the residential complex "Europe City" in 2014. Let us remind you that its essence is not so much on a scale, rather large, although smaller than "Tsarskaya Stolitsa", but - in experimentation. The buildings are, first of all, panel buildings: the 137 series of the St. Petersburg DSK "Blok" was modified specifically for the complex, the panel construct is installed on a monolithic base. Secondly, Evgeny Gerasimov and Sergei Tchoban, completely hiding the panel construct behind the cladding, solved it in the most diverse way: the section solutions are almost never repeated, but they line up under a common cornice. The theme of "different hands" was continued in the courtyard, where five projects of young architects who won the competition were implemented. To a certain extent, architects have proved by this that the panel structure of a structure can not be an enemy, but a friend - a flexible tool in the hands of an architect, if you know how to work with it correctly (and, of course, have enough authority and influence to implement your decisions).
In addition, the residential complex is perhaps the largest complex in St. Petersburg, decorated with ceramics.
“The architectural theme of the complex is reflected primarily in the material of the facade cladding: these are glossy ceramic hollow panels,” the authors of the project say. - We wanted to achieve maximum diversity, therefore, for the design of each individual section, not only shades that are unique within the complex are used, but also profiles: shaped elements, a profile with a relief, and so on, which practically do not repeat. A wide variety of techniques are used in the decor: vertical and horizontal rustication, square baguette and so on. As a result, glazed ceramics shimmers like majolica. By the way, the design of the entrance groups of each section reflects the solution of its facade”.
So, the sections, similar to separate houses compiled in a row, designed in turn by the workshops of Evgeny Gerasimov and Sergei Tchoban, were solved in St. Petersburg, or, more precisely, in accordance with the principles of a European historical city that were universally adopted, perhaps starting from the XV-XVI centuries. and served as a general rule until the 20s of the XX century, which introduced a fashion for a free, less subordinate to the street line, type of layout. Now free modernist compositions, inclined to oppose themselves to the lines of the streets, are less and less popular, especially in areas with a historical "background": the quarterly layout is relevant.
But let us note that Europa City ultimately became not quite quarterly, as it was intended
initially and how, for example, its closest neighbor opposite, Skandi Klubb Residential Complex, was solved - no, houses form a line along the streets with three breaks; only in the southern part the line of sections turns towards the courtyard. The house is fenced off from the street by a courtyard, which turned out to be quite spacious - two hectares - and unobstructed: the typology of the tower is good because it takes up a minimum of space in space. A semi-pedestrian boulevard with sports and children's playgrounds, as well as a couple of driveways and rows of ground parking lots on the sides, arose between the towers.
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zooming 1/3 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 2/3 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 3/3 Apartment complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
“Our complex is inspired by the Aldo Rossi quarter in Berlin,” the architects say. Indeed, this comparison clarifies a lot. The Schützenstrasse quarter is a fairly well-known example of postmodern architecture, built in the mid-1990s and, in addition to the multicolored "cutting" of facades that imitate the development of a number of different estates, is distinguished by the inclusion of a copy of the Farnese palazzo and a small preserved historical building in its composition. Note that in general, Aldo Rossi's project repeats the typology of post-war modernist buildings in the historical centers of European cities: the facades are relatively simple, but different in each small area, but emphasizes, develops and enhances its features with color and a contrasting approach to each fragment. In essence, the quarter on Schützenstrasse is a kind of dramatization of a small parceled city, a declaration of the ability to imitate its structure even within the framework of a single economic plot.
Aldo Rossi. Quarter on Schützenstrasse:
Comparison with the Aldo Rossi quarter well explains the typology of the multifaceted quarter introduced into Russian practice by Sergei Tchoban. Meanwhile, in the residential complex "Europe-City" there are no splashes of direct copies. They are replaced by contour, very generalized allusions to various historical themes, which indicates a certain - albeit incomplete - degree of authors' detachment from the postmodern prototype. In addition, there is absolutely no architectural irony and hypertrophied theatricality that is now a thing of the past and is irrelevant in our time, still alive on Schützenstrasse - the St. Petersburg residential complex is quite serious, and Aldo Rossi uses the techniques to solve urban planning and typological problems, extremes of frank self-expression. Although, if you look closely at it, a number of themes embedded in the fabric of its architecture are quite obvious.
So, the complex, of course, does not so much enclose the courtyard as it presents itself to the city. If you go along the Kantemirovsky bridge from the Vyborg side, then the corner diagonal building No. 5 is noticeable from afar.
The solution to this key facade of the complex combines two groups of techniques - one of them is pronouncedly classical: in St. Petersburg, such widely cut corners are often found, in Empire architecture they imply a portico, in historicism - an accent rhythm of pilasters and window frames. The diagonal section is indeed divided by four "projections"; the walls of the two lower floors from a distance resemble a portico - and, by the way, for cafes, shops, fitness, kindergarten and other retail as many as two lower floors from the side of the streets are given.
In addition, this nodal part is similar to a hinge, since the main wide projection protruding above the first floor is "planted" on an orange-brown base, which bends at the junctions with adjacent buildings - these corner parts are similar to fortress towers in both color and thanks to the narrow vertical lines of the double windows. According to the architects, it was in that part that they looked back at Aldo Rossi.
The third association lies in the plane of modern architecture's fascination with patterns based on an enlarged interpretation of a recognizable decorative motif: the intersections of wide stripes are fixed with large colored dots, some of the stripes are striped, the cells look like a Scottish plaid, which provides associations that are cozy and warm, and at the same time catches the eye even of a motorist passing here at speed.
The "textile" theme does not end there, it continues to help the authors solve a large form - for example, building No. 3 after the first break-passage along Medikov Avenue, which "holds" a fairly responsible angle, is decorated with interweaving of brown stripes of noble rusty "corten" colors. In this case, the ribbons are not figuratively, but "really" intertwined, superimposed on each other, the striped relief cut makes them textured. It seems that the glass volume is enclosed in a large iron mesh, capable - as indicated by the "tails" at the top - if desired, grow further upward.
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zooming 1/5 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 2/5 Apartment complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 3/5 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 4/5 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 5/5 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
The second main view of the complex is to the western corner along the avenue. This angle is fixed by body # 1-2, looking at which one might think that it develops the theme of European striped blinds. The embossed-striped diagonal piers are firmly fixed and are designed, first of all, to provide a deep plasticity of the facade. But the feeling of openness to the sun and the probable mobility of the walls remains; in addition, the south-western corner is completely glazed in a constructivist way and built without a corner support for the sake of better illumination and disclosure of the city panorama.
“The tectonics of the façade of this building is set at the level of reinforced concrete,” say the architects. - The floors sink and protrude in pairs - this is done at the expense of prefabricated reinforced concrete structures, which provide plastic: the angle profile shows how complex the pattern is here and the cornice is developed: the position changes every two floors. The horizontal belts piercing the facade like arrows are also reinforced concrete. This tectonics in concrete is unique to panel construction; it defines the innovation and experimentation of this residential complex. The ceramic cladding is designed to enhance and emphasize it."
In addition, we note that the corner west building is made in the pale color of ceramics, similar to a light stone, which also develops the theme of the “west” in a broad sense - or the city center. It is known that expensive facades made of light limestone are more common in the city center, and red brick and brown rusty iron are common in the outskirts and industrial architecture. The authors of the residential complex mix two themes on the facades, transforming them from a kind of semantic stretch from the western corner to the eastern one: the first is closer to the city center, the second to the industrial Vyborg side.
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zooming Multi-apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming Multi-apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
Two more sections: the western one in the fourth building and the eastern one in the second, take on the role of a kind of propylae built into the bright and colorful structure of "houses". In them, light beige and orange-brown themes are intertwined, one forms a visual frame, the other forms a background. Here there is a clearly readable similarity with the structure of the facade of a tenement house, noticeable in several other sections - the architects convey the familiar image of historical St. Petersburg in a contour, but recognizable.
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zooming 1/5 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 2/5 Apartment complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 3/5 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 4/5 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 5/5 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
Note that the rest of the "background" bodies are more likely to choose for themselves airy blue and green shades and more modern pixel themes. In them, from the street and from the courtyard, the contour of an eclectic or modern apartment building with characteristic bay windows appears (for example, a house with tiles that look like majolica in malachite tones - "hello" to the memorable building of the library of the Institute of Experimental Medicine, which is hidden behind the residential sections) … That is in tune with the modern searches of, say, MVRDV architects, the play of large asymmetric spots on the "body" of the building, lined with even points of windows. Such a neighborhood can easily be imagined in a European city, the residential complex serves as an urbanistic decoration, in which these features are embodied, generalized and strengthened in an effort to form the “urban spectrum”.
At the same time, all facades add up to a set of large and bright patterns - architects feel and emphasize this.
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zooming 1/7 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 2/7 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 3/7 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 4/7 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 5/7 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 6/7 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 7/7 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
Ten 13-storey towers in the courtyard are 4 floors higher than the outer front, which made it possible to gain the required square meters of usable area according to the TK. Each of the five options that won the competition for young architects was implemented twice; related towers stood in pairs.
The towers turned out to be more laconic, less embossed - according to the terms of the competition, it was possible to use the relief, but not everyone took advantage of the opportunity, the architects explain, - they are dominated by panels of thin horizontal proportions and there is no interpretation of the motives of classical St. Petersburg. Which, however, is easily explained by the fact that they do not interact directly with the city, being "hidden" from it in the courtyard.
The towers are oriented not so much towards the city as towards the space of the boulevard. “The graphic design of the landscaping emphasizes the structure of the quarter and the architecture of the façade solutions,” the authors say. - The lines of the sidewalks form a grid, in the cells of which there are ten towers and the spaces of the courtyards between them. The courtyards are shaped like dominoes: each is divided into two squares, inside of which are sports and recreation areas. One of the halves is always greener, while in the other the landscaping is built into the paving structure. Reception of inversion allows you to divide functional areas. This is how a gradual transition from the scale of the quarter to the scale of a person is organized. The axis of the quarter is allocated for a promenade with a circular bicycle path."
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zooming 1/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 2/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 3/17 "Europe City" apartment complex on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 4/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 5/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 6/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 7/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 8/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 9/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 10/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 11/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 12/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 13/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 14/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 15/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue Photo © Andrey Belimov-Gushchin. Project © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 16/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 17/17 “Europe City” apartment complex on Medikov Avenue © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
The architecture of Europa-City combines several obviously declarative principles: the complex adapts the panel structure, making it imperceptible; carefully carries out the reception of "many hands", and the "hands" both their own and those involved in the competition; interprets "different facades", not forgetting about the classical Petersburg context, however, he does it in a rather theatrical and exaggerated way. This is one of the proclamation projects, a variant of the Moscow Region "Microgorod" on the St. Petersburg soil. But if you think about it, in addition to explicit indications of classical pilasters and bay windows of eclecticism and modernity, there is another very Petersburg technique in his architecture: a combination of the united will of the main architects, consistently implementing certain ideas concerning both polyphony and uniformity. This is very Petrine.
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zooming 1/4 Apartment complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 2/4 Apartment complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 3/4 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
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zooming 4/4 Apartment residential complex "Europe City" on Medikov Avenue © Evgeny Gerasimov and partners, SPEECH, nps tchoban voss
