Without exaggeration, both objects can be considered architectural events of modern Moscow life, since ABD architects' projects among Russian bureaus are always an indicator of quality in the organization of offices and public spaces and a convincing alignment to the west. We have already written about the Metropolis and Western Gate projects, therefore, in order not to repeat ourselves, we will focus on how their implementation is going.
Let us remind you that Metropolis occupies a vast area near the intersection of Leningradsky Prospekt with the circular railway, the future 4th transport ring. It consists of a spread-out volume of a shopping and entertainment part, in a semicircle "bypassing" the existing buildings in the corner of a traffic intersection, and connected by passages with a separate volume of parking. On the side of the Voykovskaya metro station, there are three separate office buildings connected to the shopping center in a single composition through an internal plateau square.
I must say that different parts of the complex are currently at different stages of completion - office buildings, for example, have already acquired a finished appearance, in some places the interior finishing is being completed, and some premises are already partially occupied by tenants. But in the building of the shopping complex, construction work is still in full swing. In connection with the dangers lurking at the construction site, our numerous excursion group was dressed in overalls - helmets, vests and boots, and instructed in detail.
We entered the shopping center from the back side, through a 5-storey ground parking. Moving along the main inner gallery to the central zone, we gradually turned. As Boris Levyant explained, the curved gallery technique was introduced here to avoid a too far perspective, in which details become subtle and the passage seems overwhelmingly endless. The curved space turns out to be smaller and therefore more comfortable for perception.
The end point of the excursionists' movement, and in theory its beginning (we were moving from the opposite side of the central entrance) was a round 3-level atrium, where all flows flow. It is located in the corner of the building, opposite the main entrance from the Voykovskaya metro station. The atrium is the most important space of the shopping center, since, on the one hand, there is a "junction" of pedestrian flows, and on the other, the so-called event space, literally a place where some events take place - presentations, holidays, etc. At this corner there will be a new underground passage leading from the metro to the 1st floor of the complex. In the ABD architects project there is also a covered pedestrian bridge connecting the new station of the surface railway with the complex, but it is still unknown whether it will be built or not.
The next stop of our excursion was the inner square, raised several levels above the ground. On both sides it is surrounded by office buildings of the business park, from the north is 11-storey, designed, as Boris Levyant explained, for small tenants, from the east - two identical 9-storey buildings, for large companies. Spectacular facades with rectangular bay windows are facing outward, while the internal ones, in order to reduce the cost, were decided to be made simply glass and smooth. According to Boris Levyant, up to 90% of the glazing was originally planned by the customer in the project, however, at the same time it was obvious that the city authorities would hardly be satisfied with solid glass planes on the facades from the front side. This gave birth to the idea to "break" the facade plane with original bay windows - "refrigerators", also made of glass.
During the implementation of the project, of course, it was not possible to avoid some discrepancies, for example, there is no glass canapes above the stairs between two 9-storey office blocks, which, according to Boris Stuchebryukov, spoiled the beautiful composition of the main entrance from the Voykovskaya side. However, the basic functions included in the project, like the aforementioned event space, according to the architects, will still work, at least until significant changes in the author's concept have been noticed.
Another large construction site by ABD architects is the Zapadnye Vorota business center, located near the intersection of Mozhaiskoye Highway with the Moscow Ring Road. According to its typology, this is a unique project for Moscow that combines the features of a business park and a business center. Already now, the general composition of the complex of three similar in shape 7-storey buildings, placed on a common stylobate and connected by passages, is clearly visible.
So far, the buildings in all their glory demonstrate open reinforced concrete structures, on which walls have only been "hung" in places - parts of an elementary facade, which ABD architects, following Western practice, are gradually introducing into Russian construction. The design of the facade resembles modernist ribbon windows, separated by green opaque stripes, but in the dark, everything should look much more unusual, thanks to the original lighting. Vertical columns of lamps on the facade illuminate them tangentially, "breaking" a single plane, which creates a completely new night image of buildings.
Being consistent rationalists in architecture, ABD architects have designed buildings of such a configuration that, on the one hand, they give a maximum of usable space, and on the other hand, due to their broken shapes, they "break" the sound from the Moscow Ring Road and do not let it pass to neighboring residential areas. houses on Belovezhskaya street. The picturesque composition, formed by the organic forms of the buildings, clearly expresses the idea of a business park - a work space inseparable from the natural environment. As Boris Levyant noted, during the construction process not a single tree was cut down here, but on the contrary, an apple orchard will also be planted.
On the opposite side of Mozhaiskoye highway, the second stage of the business center is planned - the second, the pylon of the Western Gate. The second stage is also being designed by ABD. The architectural solution once again demonstrates a sustainable approach. In an effort to preserve the existing park, Boris Levyant abandons the stylobate, as in the first stage, and decides the composition in the form of 4 separate buildings of 15 thousand square meters. each. The third stage should be the tower crowning the composition, located between two business centers. This complex is entirely designed by ABD architects - a little further, next to the Minsk cinema, another Aleksey Vorontsov tower is to appear. This tower is being designed by competition as part of a large-scale urban planning project for the reconstruction of Kutuzovsky Prospekt and Mozhaisk Highway. From these four projects, an integral urban planning solution for the beginning of the Mozhaisk highway - the "Western Gate" of Moscow, should emerge, hence the name of the business center under construction.
Meanwhile, the anchor tenant for the half-completed buildings has already been identified - it will be a large company TNK BP, which in itself speaks of the high quality of the projected offices and infrastructure. Besides BP, the office of Philips will be located in the Western Gate. The good news for ABD architects, as Boris Levyant said, was the victory in the tender for interior design for BP. So in the near future Boris Levyant will continue to work on this object.
