The seven-story building, which with its main facade stretches along Shchepkina Street, was commissioned in October 2012 after more than five years of construction. During this time, the object managed to completely change externally and acquired a fundamentally different functional purpose - for the team of authors such perturbations became a serious test, but ABD architects withstood this long-term marathon with flying colors.
The project started in 2004, when the bureau received an order to develop a concept for a multifunctional complex. In the new building, which was supposed to close the small square between the Olympic sports complex and the Metropolitan Philip Church by Matvey Kazakov, then it was supposed to house offices, shops, restaurants and banks. Fitting the seven-storey volume into a site that is rather complex in shape and relief, the architects solved it in a modern style, giving the end a dynamic rounded shape, and suggesting that the facades be made of metal and glass. The latter did not receive the support of the Moskomarkhitektura - the authors received a recommendation to make the facade "quieter and more traditional."
In particular, the facades changed their color: the architects used light beige panels, preferring this very tone, by analogy with the classicist white and yellow palette of the Metropolitan Philip Church. In addition to color, the square proportions of the windows are responsible for the "feel of the classics" (remember, these were the square windows preferred by the architects of the 1930s). And also the flat pylon blades protruding from the even checkered mesh of the facade barely, but still enough to delicately indicate the priority of the verticals - a technique characteristic of the classicizing modernism of the 1970s. The thin two-step cornice crowning the sixth floor completes the theme of classical allusions, however, which, as we see, have shown themselves in the proportional structure of the facade only by a hint.
The first and last floors of the building, on the other hand, were left entirely glass. They recede from light beige surfaces, so that the checkered facade looks like a cloak or scarf, tightly hugging the glass volume. The deep black visor of the streamlined shape is also a kind of cornice, only modernist, leaving no doubt that the building, although covered with a "classic" cage, in essence remained more than modern.
It is easy to see the similarity between the fate of this project and
complex "White Square" on Belorusskaya, the construction of which was completed by ABD architects several years ago. In both cases, the bold modernist project was adjusted towards the classic "calm and respectability", and eventually a symbiosis of traditional and modern forms emerged. The most recognizable feature of the similarity of the two (otherwise very different) buildings is the strict mesh of the facade, smoothly curving at the corners.
However, even more important structural changes awaited the revised project. The construction of the office center began in 2007. And in 2010, at the final stage, the owner of the facility changed - it became the European Medical Center, which decided to redesign the already almost built building into a clinic. The chief architect of the project, Vsevolod Shabanov, recalls: "From the point of view of technology, the new project required serious structural changes, and at first we even doubted that this was possible in principle." Nevertheless, the authors not only adapted all the existing premises of offices, shops and cafes for medical offices, wards and operating rooms, but were also able to fit two more large medical elevators into the already constructed building, expand the existing ventilation shafts and place a new one (ventilation requirements have significantly increased), as well as completely rebuild the technical floor, which housed the large-scale engineering equipment of the clinic. In addition, it was necessary to design two new staircases: the existing ones were located in the center of the building, and in accordance with the norms for office buildings, had a width of 1.2 meters and artificial lighting, while the clinic required wider spans (1.35 meters) and natural shine.
The architects moved the staircase blocks to the facades, and this forced measure turned out to be only good for the building. The broken lines of the stairwells not only did not spoil, but, on the contrary, enriched the composition. And if the windows of the upper tier had to be tinted (operating rooms were located there), then the transparent walls of the first floor actually blur the line between the street and the spacious lobby with designer furniture and bright logos.
The interiors of the medical center were developed by the Interior Department of ABD architects, the chief architect of the project was Maria Korneeva, who already has experience in creating the interior spaces of medical centers (for example,
"Clinics 31"). The authors sought to enrich the traditional white range for hospitals with the help of color and light accents. The dominant feature of the entrance area is a bright green reception desk, and the ceilings of long blind corridors are painted in a positive yellow color. In the corridor, the ceiling lamps built in a single line are hidden in a recessed niche - thanks to this they are not visible, and the space is actually illuminated by the white walls themselves, reflecting their light.
The hallmark of the project is the original lighting solution of the “psychological relief room”. It is located on the ground floor and has no windows. To compensate for the lack of natural light, the architects came up with backlit walls behind custom-made panels. The ceiling with built-in light inserts in the form of uneven spreading spots serves as a psychological accent. Cleverly playing on the famous psychological test of Rorschach (assuming the interpretation of various types of blots), "spots" not only fill the room with light, but also make it visually as spacious and comfortable as possible.
