The villa, designed by Nikolai Lyzlov for the Pirogovo Resort Collection, consists of two houses dug into the ground next to the ideal grassy surface of a golf course, so that they are, if possible, invisible. Almost all the walls that turned out to be above the ground are glass, and the roofs are supposed to be covered with sod, giving them a resemblance to the surface of the surrounding fields. For a luxurious modernist villa in nature, all these techniques are typical, almost obligatory: they allow, on the one hand, to hide the house in the surrounding landscape, merging it with nature in Japanese style, and on the other hand, to let the landscape inside through the glass walls, giving the opportunity for the inhabitants of a luxurious home to enjoy both the beauty of the landscapes surrounding the villa and their own protection from rain and wind. After all, it is known that listening to the sound of rain while sitting in the warmth in a country house is a special pleasure. And when it is a 2000-meter house, very large, and its walls are impenetrable-transparent and to the full height, then it is probably even stronger.
Developing this idea, the architect goes further, bringing it inside one of the two houses - the inner wall of one of the living rooms is made of glass, behind the wall there is a pool and water.
These motives, as well as the desire to merge with nature, are almost the foundations of the alphabet of modernism. Here the emphasis is placed on them, they are used to the fullest, which is what is supposed to be done in a luxury villa: there are a lot of glass, finely orchestrated elevation changes - also, it might seem that the author is putting his experience on the theme of “nature in modern architecture”. However, something else is interesting. Digging into the ground, the merging of the building with nature and the demonstration of its beauties are carried out in Lyzlov's Pirogov villa with the help of one very classical ancient technique, namely, the houses are likened to amphitheatres.
This can be seen especially clearly in the example of the house that is larger, intended for a family and facing the front entrance, if in this situation this phrase is generally appropriate. The similarity is clearly noticeable on the sketches and on the plan of the house, and it will probably be felt when it is ready - the entire volume is built in an arc-like manner around a relatively small circular area, and smoothly decreases its height towards the imaginary center of the circle, echoing the weak relief in this part of the field … The Greeks inscribed their theaters on the slopes of the mountains, there are no mountains in the Moscow region, but the principle is still observed “in miniature”. The villa is large, but the real amphitheater is larger - and a large-scale analogy allows one to appreciate the full degree of magnificence of this house “hidden” in the natural surroundings.
The Villa Theater surveys the surroundings, focusing its attention on the round lawn of the front yard, which takes the place of an imaginary "stage" - accordingly, the main performance is the guests arriving and arriving in cars. The central lawn is thus transformed into a kind of palace "courtyard", a ceremonial courtyard. All internal partitions of the house are strictly radially oriented towards it - hence a very beautiful, "radiant" and geometrically correct plan, an exemplary example of a radial-circular layout in a single estate.
The second house, smaller and dedicated to one person, is an architectural transition between the theme of an amphitheater villa and a traditional “country house”. Its larger half is also curved, but in the opposite direction and its focal point is on the opposite side from the front yard of the first house. In other words, the “family” house and the “bachelor's” house turned away from each other - an excellent option for the younger generation, which has not completely separated from its parents: they seem to live side by side, but look in different directions. Together, two arcs - a large and a small house, form a semblance of the letter S, broken in the middle. From the side opposite to the “neighbor”, the small house is crossed by a long and straight arrow of the transverse volume, which unites the pool and the fireplace room at different levels - and then after this plastic “invasion” it begins to bend in the opposite direction, but slightly, and at the top it appears the most traditional motive that one can think of here is a gable hip roof, however, very flattened outlines, as if not believing that this conservative transformation happened to her.
In the end, two houses, starting from very "pure" techniques and clear geometry, add up to a complex ensemble, working more on associations, transitions and overflows - and all this concerns both meanings and forms - volumes, lines, points of view, and even probable prototypes. Now it is a round "amphitheater", now suddenly - a well-bred "house", now it is visible, now it is not, now it is transparent, now it is closed, now it is wide, now it is narrow - a lot of variations with a simple walk. It turns out that the villa-ensemble does not just hide inside the landscape, but flirts with the uncomplicated nature of the Moscow region, developing its capabilities by delicately adding new perspectives.
