1st Smolensky Lane is located not far from Novinsky Boulevard and very close to Smolenskaya Embankment. One of its attractions is the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Shchepy, restored in the late 1990s and located directly opposite the construction site of the future residential building. This neighborhood played a decisive role: the site falls into the protective zone of the religious building, and the city allowed construction here only if certain conditions were met. First of all, these are, of course, the high-rise regulations (the height of the seven-story building is 29.8 meters) and the "general restraint" of the architectural solution, but the city also had a more exotic demand - to include the so-called clergy house, a three-story volume, in the residential complex. which will house the ward's training and community center in the future. Historically, there has never been any clergy house here, but since the object will belong to the temple, the church strongly recommended the architects to make it "in the classic Moscow style."
“Naturally, they meant plaster and stone,” says Nikita Biryukov. “Plus, we understood that it would hardly be possible to design without taking into account the existing historical development of the neighboring quarters, so all our efforts were aimed at finding a compromise”. It is interesting that the compromise in this case was not some kind of averaged solution at the junction of classics and modernity, but the contrast between the two functions. The contrast is not flashy and not immediately striking - the volumes are made of the same material and in the same color - but obvious to the attentive observer. Despite the fact that compositionally, the clergy's house is designed as a wing of a residential complex, it looks like an already existing building (really a kind of typical Moscow mansion), while the main volume is obviously designed today.
In relation to Novinsky Boulevard, 1st Smolensky Lane is located at a slight angle, which provided the building site with a trapezoidal shape. The resulting site is built up along the perimeter, forming a courdoner. The house of the clergyman is located on the left side. As if it had stood here before, and the modern house "adjoined" from the side of the courtyard later. Thus, the classical solution of the building for the needs of the parish is supported by the composition of the main volume of "chambers", which is classic for Moscow houses.
The architects compensate for the severity of this form with the help of several methods at once. First, from the side of the lane, the house gradually lowers its volumes, bringing lower parts to the red line, forming a semblance of a classic "pair" - a hint of a two-storey outbuilding. This is a forced measure: everyone knows how difficult it is for architects in the center of Moscow to fulfill the requirements of landscape analysis and fit into all historical perspectives, cornice lines and many other requirements without breaking anything. The architects of the ABV Group, however, managed to endure this burden gracefully and to the benefit of future residents - all the ledges became terraces, improving other qualities of elite apartments: besides, it is planned to arrange tubs with bushes and trees on them.
The lightly stepped silhouette turns the house into a kind of quarter: its parts are similar, but vary all the time, an attentive passer-by will not get bored, walking around the house and looking at it. However, an even more attentive viewer has every chance of discovering that these variations add up to a rather coherent architectural "history". The facades of the house consist of a frame-like white lattice of horizontals and verticals. It is geometrically correct: there are no inclinations and bevels, but its rhythm is many times more complicated - it becomes more frequent, then, on the contrary, there are drops of elements in it, both vertically and horizontally. Historically, this happens if a building was built according to one strict grid, but then it was altered many times, the lintels were demolished, new ones were installed - in a word, this rhythm can be taken for imitation of traces of the natural life of the building. On the facade of the central projection, which juts out into the courtyard from the side of the alley, the white lattice ceases to be flat and protrudes far forward, forming a loggia for all apartments in this part of the house. In the depths of the loggias, a surprise awaits the attentive observer - the planes of the Jurassic stone there are covered with branchy ornamentation, which in places alternates with thin rustication. It is planned to support the theme inside the house: the same pattern is actively used in the interiors of public areas, only there it will shine and glow: on the polished metal of elevator doors and on large lamps that go from the walls to the ceiling.
Nikita Biryukov recalls that the idea of introducing ornament into the architecture of the house belonged to the customer, but its floristic theme and drawing were invented by the architects of the ABV Group, and the first version was put into operation. The pattern is present not only on the main facade of the complex (on stone panels and strips of glazing of balconies), but also in the interiors of public and entrance areas. In particular, this pattern is applied to wall panels, glass doors of elevators, and flat shades of lamps.
But the rear facade of the house, facing the inner-quarter passage, is more laconic and stricter. Here, smooth stone panels alternate with lined thin incisions. The volumetricness of this plane is given by the numerous bay windows, dynamically pushed forward. Thanks to this game, the architects managed not only to revive the structure, but also to "catch the sun" in the apartments.
The design of such complexes in the historical center of Moscow is the undisputed “strong point” of the ABV Group, so Smolensky in the portfolio of this workshop looks like not an exception, but a rule. The rule, once again to prove which the architects were helped by a sense of tact in relation to the environment, as well as a willingness to seek to experiment with the material and "architectural plot" of the building.
