Architects Nikita Tokarev and Arseny Leonovich have known Antonovka, located between Kaluzhskoye and Kievskoye highways, 7 km from the Moscow Ring Road, for a long time. Once they took part in the development of the general plan of this village, then they were engaged in projects for the development of individual sites. They received a new order from a person who had purchased a plot that had only recently been added to the village. This is a very wooded area with a deep ravine. The client formulated his wishes for the future project simply: “I want a real wooden house in the forest, but not a hut”.
First of all, the architects solved the problem of the ravine - it is supposed to expand a little and turn it into a forest lake, on the shore of which the cottage will be located. In addition, the existing relief difference was successfully used: from the side of the road, the house will be perceived as modestly as possible, looking like an extremely laconic and low volume, but it faces the water surface with three floors and a complex two-part structure.
Two of the three floors here are completely made of wood, from which it is planned to make branching supports for powerful roof outlets, while the outlets themselves and numerous open terraces are sheathed with wood. The lower floor - a single stylobate for the two upper volumes, in which the pool, bathhouse, study and relaxation room are located - is trimmed with natural stone of a dark, almost chocolate shade. It is partially dug into the existing slope, so it is completely unreadable from the side of the gate. However, this does not mean that there is no stone on the "street" facade - it is faced with a rectangular garage volume, on the second floor of which the architects let a narrow belt of windows hidden behind thin verticals of wooden slats. The frequent rhythm of wooden "strings" is generally used here many times: we see them in the design of the skylight above the main staircase, and on the kitchen window, and on the transparent wall of the corridor leading to the block of bedrooms. For architects, this is a way to create a permeable and at the same time moderately closed surface.
As is often the case with Panacoma, the house has a complex but functionally justified layout, which is reflected in the main water-oriented façade. Functional zones here are divided into different levels with a height of half a floor. Entering the house, you can go to the left and get to the central floor of the house, which is occupied by the living room, dining room and kitchen. From here, in turn, you can go down half a level - and then you will find yourself in the stylobate - and if, on the contrary, go to the right and go up half a level, then you find yourself in a completely private volume, where the bedrooms of the owners and children are located.
Such a distribution of public and private zones over different not only floors, but also halves of the house, as already mentioned, was most directly reflected in its architectural design. In fact, on the stone band of the stylobate, there are two similar, but not identical wings, separated by a deep open terrace. They are united by the same roof solution - the triangular extensions of each of the "halves" are slightly bent upwards and form expressive canopies over the corner terraces, as well as a belt of thin wooden slats launched between the second and third floors, this time horizontal. The last element is a kind of level, relative to which the volumes seem to play, sometimes rising slightly, then, on the contrary, falling. In fact, the feeling of "halves" springing relative to each other, which gives the whole composition such dynamism and visual lightness, is achieved due to the windows of different heights. In the living room, these are tall rectangles, in the bedroom - smaller, square ones.
Wood, stone, glass and light plaster are the main components of the architectural image of this house. When designing a modern wooden volume, the architects were able to get away from both allusions to the archetypal five-walled walls, and from quotes to the chalets so fashionable today. Very discreet for strangers and open, dynamic for insiders, this cottage is the perfect example of a stylish waterfront structure.
