“We tried to give the most, that neither is, standard function a non-standard interpretation, deciding the hotel as the interaction of separate volumes and forms. This is especially appropriate for an architectural object in nature,”explains the author of the project, Anton Nadtochiy.
Since the site allocated for the construction of the hotel is quite large, the building was actually designed in the "forest", with reference only to the natural environment. When determining its location and configuration, the architects mainly took into account the century-old oaks growing here, the preservation of which both they and the client saw as a must. As a result, the plan of the complex has the shape of a complex polygon that fits between the tree trunks.
The 25-room hotel is 3500 square meters and has a wide range of public functions. The latter required the organization of a full-fledged underground floor - otherwise the structure would be too high for its context. In addition to technical rooms, the "evening" functional part is located below ground level: a cinema, a billiard area with karaoke and a bar, a cigar room with audiophile equipment and a four-lane bowling alley. In general, all those leisure formats that do not require natural light. On the ground floor there is also a public function: an entrance lobby with a reception area, fireplace, grand piano and sofa groups, a restaurant, a playroom for children, a small office block, and a garage for snow scooters and electric cars. Only on the second floor there are three separate guest "houses" - each with 5-10 rooms and open landscaped terraces.
The handwriting of Vera Butko and Anton Nadtochy is immediately apparent in this project. One of its characteristic features, in addition to a clear formal structure and complex volumetric interactions, is a close connection, if not a fusion of the artificial and the natural. A concrete stylobate with large terraces seems to grow out of the ground, and on it stand, somewhat protruding beyond its borders, three volumes of residential blocks. The "houses" at the top are formed from peculiar small staples, as if someone took a wooden sheet and bent it. They are turned away from each other in different directions so that from the windows of the rooms you can see the surrounding landscapes, and not the neighbors. The side of each bracket is laminated - a structure made of copper and wood. And behind it are open galleries that allow guests to move freely on the roof of the stylobate. It is supposed to be landscaped: there will be benches and lanterns, as well as special arrangements for planting trees.
Four gentle staircases connect the roof of the stylobate to the ground level, allowing hotel guests to leave the rooms into the forest, bypassing the reception and the central hall. With the latter, each of the blocks is connected by its own internal staircase - the central one, which goes above the reception, is made of wood and glass, and those that lead to the side buildings are like massive sculptures due to the black metal finish.
In turn, the stylobate is formally a fold of complex geometry with slots, bends and mismatched outlines of horizontal planes (a kind of folding architecture). The distance between them is filled with large-sized glazing. This fold contains several functional volumes, which in places "pierce" it: they go out onto the facades, fall into the basement. All this creates spectacular spatial foreshortenings, intensifies the play between "internal" and "external" spaces, letting the surrounding landscape into the building.
The interpenetration of the exterior and interior follows the logic of the forms used. The floor of the fold turns into the wall, and the wall, changing its direction, turns into the ceiling, and the architects masterfully played with this transformation of planes with the help of materials. Ecological and natural textures: wood in cladding and ceramic plowshares in facades and interiors - are combined with industrial, albeit completely natural, glass, metal and decorative concrete, creating a warm atmosphere saturated with air and light.
However, the stylobate, although it looks like a tectonic formation in Central Russian forests, does not turn into a grassy hill (which would be done by radical ecologists) or into an extremely laconic parallelepiped (as the extreme minimalists would have done). Broken lines and planes seem to bear traces of the struggle of "wild" natural matter with human ordering interference.
And here, perhaps, we can talk about the historical and cultural implications of the project, which consists of two parts: one will be understandable for a wealthy guest who has traveled around Europe and decided to visit the open spaces near Moscow for a change - these are alpine chalets. Three wooden volumes on a white oblique base definitely resemble skiers' huts on the Franco-Italian-Swiss slopes, and thus make the hotel recognizable for people who are accustomed to rest in Chamonix, and turn the complex itself into an Alpine village. A figurative alternative is Central Russian town houses of the 18th century, often consisting of a whitewashed brick basement and a wooden top. This association will arise among guests who prefer Suzdal, Rostov and other Central Russian cities.
Of course, there is no direct similarity with the named prototypes here: neither half-timbered, nor rounded logs. The architects have created a unique, organic product for this particular place, and have “cut” it in their own way, using their own, recognizable and definitely relevant, modern architectural language. True, "Atrium", as a rule, does not favor literary interpretations, but it is all the more interesting when they arise anyway.
