This spectacular project already has a complex history of its own, as a result of which it, apparently, will remain on paper. But - and this is important - 2-3 months ago, "before the crisis", it was a quite lively project, and despite a certain shade of utopianism in the idea, it was supposed to be implemented. That is, it is not paperwork at all, although it fits best into the “paper” tradition, developing one of her favorite themes - life on the bridge.
The idea of an inhabited bridge itself has a long history and goes back at least to the Middle Ages. Bridges lined with shops and residential buildings were in Paris (Notre Dame Bridge), in London (across the Thames, XII century), but the most famous such bridges are now in Italy - Rialto in Venice (1588-1592) and Ponte Vecchio (1345) in Florence. For the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, an inhabited bridge was a means to effectively use urban space, that is, more a necessity than a luxury. In the 20th century, it turned into a dream and utopia.
So many things have not been designed on bridges. Konstantin Melnikov, for example, invented a garage on the bridge over the Seine. In 1960, Arata Isozaki painted a giant bridge with houses suspended from intertwining freeways. And in 1976-1977 - Zaha Hadid made her graduation project of the hotel on the Hungerford Bridge over the Thames. In modern Russia, three things are supposed to be remembered on this topic: the "Bridge of the Future" competition of the JA magazine (1987), which became one of the milestones in the history of "paper architecture," the British Council's "Inhabited Bridge" competition and exhibition in Moscow (1997), where the same "wallets" participated exactly ten years later. It is possible that the idea of making the bridge between the embankment and the City "inhabited" somehow goes back to that action of the British Council.
One way or another, and holding this summer a custom competition for the architectural design of the embankment opposite the City, Mirax Group included the "inhabited bridge" in the task, however, in the form of a wish, not a requirement. Two other participants in the competition, the workshop of Dmitry Alexandrov and Murray Ó Laoire, did not support the theme of the inhabited bridge, focusing on the embankment and adjacent piers. The architects of A. Asadov's workshop, on the contrary, developed the theme to the limit, arranging housing on the bridge and combining it simultaneously with two types of transport highways - a monorail and a highway. A very bold move from an engineering point of view.
But the architects did not stop there either - and in addition turned the embankment into a garden of evergreen rainbow-colored plants (more precisely, evergreen plants of different colors). It is a gigantic flower bed of iridescent ribbons intertwined in a braid - the terraces of the embankment. It should become the largest flower bed in Europe - about 700 meters long, and its constituent flowers and evergreen shrubs should retain their color all year round, in winter and summer. The name of the project "Mirax-Garden" also originated from the flower bed (by the way, this is not the first time when the architects of A. Asadov's studio offer the customer a real estate name in a set with the project).
The rainbow braid of the bridge swells in the middle and this makes it look like a big bright fish - or some other fabulous animal, but most of all like a fish that decided to jump over the river, and so it hovered over it, leaning its tail on one bank, and its nose - peering into a piece of forest on the other side. The bridge also rests on two white pillars - perhaps this is the only thing in which its appearance makes a concession to reality.
An idea that is fantastic to the point of being utopian. Houses should be placed above the river, although in our country it is supposedly forbidden to build houses above water and even near water. Of course, this can only be very elite and even unique housing for Moscow. This elite housing needs to be spliced with two intense tracks. And complement with a giant ever-flowering flower bed. Just some kind of flower city. The architects claim that the project is feasible. In any case, the Asadovs' portfolio contains many bridges, although they are smaller, and there is at least one large project (also for Mirax), in which housing is located next to the highway - along the Kiev railway.
Of all the projects submitted for the competition in the summer, Mirax chose this one - the most spectacular. It could be a very bright and festive, not to mention a very large-scale project. For Moscow, he is simply unusually cheerful and cheerful. But while it was being chosen and coordinated (they had just begun to agree), completely different times came. It is now unlikely that these projects are being implemented. Perhaps these were very daring projects and obviously very expensive. But in addition to the pretentiousness of the customer, they show such a bold cheerfulness and colorful recklessness - the memories of which I would like to preserve.
