Zelenogorsk is part of the so-called Kurortny district of St. Petersburg, which stretches along the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland for more than 50 km. Sandy beaches along the coast, coniferous forests and numerous picturesque rivers have made these places almost the most attractive for the construction of all kinds of boarding houses, rest homes and dispensaries. Active development of the area began in the mid-1950s, and today it is experiencing a new wave of development - morally and physically obsolete structures of the Soviet period are being demolished in order to implement ambitious development projects. And if half a century ago, mainly sanatoriums were built in Zelenogorsk, today hotels and apartments are in much greater demand. A few years ago the architectural studio “Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners” received an order for an object of just such a typology - the apart-hotel was to be built on the site of the once one of the most popular restaurants in Zelenogorsk “Olen”. Designed by the architect Sergei Evdokimov and affectionately nicknamed "Oleshka" by the people, it was famous not so much for its menu as for its spectacular modernist building with wide terraces and a famously twisted spiral staircase, but the public's love did not save the restaurant from decay. By the time Olen got a new owner, he was already in such a state that, strictly speaking, there was nothing to restore.
The site intended for the placement of an apartment hotel is actually a square, bounded on two sides by a coniferous forest, and on two sides by roads (from the south of Primorskoye Highway, from the east - Kavaleriyskaya Street). On the other side of the highway, that is, closer to the sea, is the Zelenogorsk Park of Culture and Leisure, and across the street there is a church in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. At the same time, the highway itself runs much lower than the square, so the architects did not have any questions about where to orient most of the rooms of the future hotel - what could be more healthful than a view of the sea glistening through the shaggy spruce branches. The view of the church also contributes to strengthening the spirit - many apartments also turn to the white multi-domed church.
The hotel consists of three buildings, united by a common stylobate, on the roof of which, at a height of two meters above ground level, an inner courtyard is arranged. The stylobate is laconic and cement-gray - looking from the side one might think that it has survived from the previous building; but that is not the case. The simplicity of gray forms, in the eyes of a knowledgeable observer, a semantic connection between the new building and its predecessor; the basement is surrounded by wide marches of open staircases - it is they that create the feeling of similarity to the "classic" modernism of the 1970s. However, if you do not know the details of the history of the place, then the stylobate itself looks appropriate; from the south-west it is adjoined by a one-story fitness center, the same stone-gray and cut by dotted horizontal windows. A hill of northern boulders is very conveniently perched next to its volume - the sports extension seems to be carved from the same stone.
Above the base of monochrome, the end comes: the cases resemble a small multi-colored town and at first glance it is even difficult to guess that there are exactly three of them, not six or seven. The classic three-part structure of a residential building is disguised by architectural means, or even fragmented into parts that are visually smaller than they really are. This effect turns out to be especially strong when looking at the southeastern corner of the building, from where two neighboring buildings are visible (the longest one is # 1 and the smallest square one is # 2). Sun-white, coal-black, noble terracotta, gray (but no longer concrete, but glass-metallic) - contrastingly set off each other and do not let the eye get bored even for a minute. Everything together seems to be assembled from elements of different textures, like a volumetric puzzle
It is important that the change of colors and textures is not arbitrary, but carefully motivated. Let's take the main building: strictly speaking, it is a simple parallelepiped stretched along the Primorskoe highway. Its walls are white. But in front of the main, facing the sea, the facade appears a surprisingly light and transparent layer of loggias, consisting of glass, metal, air and simple, clean lines of a neat gray cut. Glazed loggias - latitude north; but the glass is of high quality, the frames are thin, they are almost invisible; white walls are visible behind the glass. To the right, above the ephemeral layer of loggias, a large window - "TV" (or "periscope"; a technique that is now popular in Dutch architecture, and not only in it), rises, partly crashing into it, covered with dense copper-terracotta skin. It seems that the brown volume has put its large rectangular head on its glass neighbor and is looking out for something on the horizon of the Gulf of Finland. On the opposite side, on the eastern end of the same long body, there is another risalit, small, vertical and black. In a word, architects use each protrusion of the facade as an excuse to play with the viewer: guess what is in front of you, one building, and if there are several, how many? However, the plastic means are moderately laconic, and the materials used are of sufficient quality to make the facades look clean and light, not at all overloaded with the play of shapes.
It should be noted that here Yevgeny Gerasimov again showed himself as an architect, able to easily and freely act in different styles. More recently, the professional press discussed the house on Ostrovsky Square, built by Gerasimov in the very center of St. Petersburg - an example of carefully executed (which is rare in our time) architectural historicism. Here, on the shore of the bay, we find subtle and high-quality modernism, enlivened by witty stereometric combinations of volumes, alternating textures of various architectural "skins" and large-scale glazing. All together made it possible to create a hotel with emphasized contemporary architecture, European in spirit (first of all, the similar searches of the Dutch come to mind). This architecture, on the one hand, meets all modern standards, and on the other hand, it pays tribute to the modernist past of the place.
