The architects received this order precisely thanks to the implementation of the project of the Federal Scientific and Clinical Center for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology (FNCC), the dazzlingly bright facades of which adorned the intersection of Leninsky Prospekt and Miklukho-Maklaya Street. The Obstetrics Center underwent reconstruction and re-equipment of its internal premises a few years ago - today it is one of the most advanced clinics of its profile not only in Moscow, but throughout Russia - but outwardly it remained a rather ordinary gray volume. Its appearance, like a drop of water, reflected the basic principles of the architecture of Soviet modernism - the simplicity and rigidity of the composition, the laconic decoration, a minimum of plasticity - and the complex stood out from the immediate environment only by the length of its main building. After the FNCC was built in the neighborhood, the leadership of the Center had a clear example of how bright and extraordinary the architecture of a medical institution can be. The decision to entrust the development of the project for the reconstruction of the building facades to the same team of architects seemed more than logical, although the very close proximity to the already implemented "prototype" created additional difficulties.
The fact is that Akademik Oparin Street runs parallel to Leninsky Prospekt, running into the same Miklukho-Maklaya Street. In fact, we are talking about the neighboring quarter in which the FNKTs was built. The principal difference between the location of the two medical centers is only that the dedalonous multi-colored clinic for children with its main facade faces a multi-lane highway, while the center of obstetrics is the flesh of a densely built up residential area. It is due to the density of the building that the two medical institutions do not visually interact with each other, but it is enough to leave the hospital and walk only a few meters, as between the houses, no, no, and the colors of the FNKTs will flash. That is why the architects were tasked with developing a fundamentally different "color code" - the renovated facades of the Center had to be decisively different from the facades of the FNCC, while possessing the same optimism.
Working on the new look of the facades, the authors sought not only to refresh them, but to develop the principles of modernist architecture laid down in the building and emphasize the advantages of the latter. Therefore, the layout of the complex built in 1979 became the starting point for the reconstruction project. In plan it resembles a comb, it has a main extended body and five transverse ones, the length of which varies, and the height is half that (three floors versus six in the main building). The longest "prong" facing the intersection of Academician Oparin and Ostrovityanov streets plays the role of the main facade of the entire complex - it is here that the main entrance is located, decorated with brutal triangular supports and blind rectangular bay windows. This division into separate overall segments became the main theme of the new "color code".
There are five bay windows in total, and each of them the architects painted in its own color - red, yellow, blue, dark green and bright green. The latter becomes the leitmotif of the design of the entrance area - it passes to a long horizontal beam above the main porch and supports flanking it on the other side. And the entrance niche itself is framed in yellow. The highlighting of the main plastic elements in color and the cladding with Kraspan panels radically changes the appearance of the facade: earlier it was a mono-textured light gray mass, now it is a canvas on which separate bright strokes are applied, not only giving the building expressiveness, but also structuring a rather impressive volume and thereby helping the visitor to navigate faster and more accurately.
The five basic colors placed on the plane of the entrance facade form the palette of the complex. They can be compared with a set of markers or, say, with a barcode, in which information about an object is encrypted, or rather, about the changes that have occurred to the Obstetrics Center during the reconstruction. And if the facades of the FNKTs are planes completely painted in juicy optimistic tones, then white dominates here - perhaps the best metaphor for the birth of a new life and that obligatory sterile environment in which this happens. In addition to the already mentioned bay windows, only the ends of the transverse blocks are completely colored - all other facades are snow-white surfaces, along which color streamers run - strokes of different widths or, as the architects themselves call them, “splashes”. Interestingly, their width varies from floor to floor, which allows you to avoid banal "striping" and give each part of the facade individuality. This technique looks especially impressive on the facades of the main longitudinal building - a colored barcode visually breaks up an extended volume, while maintaining its linear character.
In addition to the "rehabilitation" of the existing facades, the reconstruction project, developed by Asadov's team and the Tranzumed company, provides for the construction of a new medical building on the territory of the center - a modern perinatal center. It is supposed to be located in the courtyard in such a way that three transverse buildings out of five become transitions from the old building to the new - the architects intend to build the galleries connecting them on the roofs of three-storey volumes. And since it is unreasonable to start a roof reconstruction for the sake of organizing one passage, the authors also propose to use its space to create winter gardens, conference rooms and recreation for patients. The new volume itself has the shape of a tick in the plan - one wing of the building is located parallel to the main building of the Obstetrics Center, the second is deployed from it at an angle of 45 degrees. “This arrangement allows the most efficient use of the allocated area and maximizes the space in front of the main entrance to the future perinatal center,” the designers explain. The architectural solution of the new building develops the theme set by the existing volume: the ultimate laconicism of the parallelepipeds is softened by polygonal ends, and the color barcode is complemented by a frieze of stained-glass windows with colored inserts between them.
And if the project for the construction of the perinatal center is currently undergoing the final stage of approval, then the reconstruction of the facades of the center itself has already been completed - the snow-white 290-meter building, lined with multi-colored vertical stripes, changed the appearance of the entire Akademik Oparin Street, bringing a bright dominant, symbolizing purity and joy of birth.
