The land plot with an area of almost 20 hectares, which is located not far from the Kaluga highway on the banks of the Desna River, was acquired by the developer several years ago, when no one had even heard of the annexation of these lands to Moscow. That is why, initially, townhouses and cottages were designed here, that is, housing that is most appropriate and in demand in the near Moscow region. And only after the demarcated master plan had already been approved, this territory became part of the sprawling capital. The change in geographic status dictated a change in typology: the developer decided to replace the blocked housing with three-storey sectional houses, and the latter had to be entered into the already agreed-upon scheme of quarters. To solve this problem, the architectural workshop of Vladimir Bindeman "Architecturium" was invited.
In the plan, the site has the shape of an open fan, which with its rounded side repeats the bend of the river, and the straight side faces the highway. Despite the proximity to the water, there is no direct descent to it, since this is the high bank of the Desna, and the future area is forced to retreat from the cliff. Another limitation is related to the forest area, which invades the center of the site with a green wedge from the side of the river and divides it into two unequal parts. The only thing that can be done with this fragment of the forest is to turn it into a landscaped park - on the one hand, this is a definite plus for the future town, but on the other hand, yielding the area to nature, the designers were forced to "get" from tree plots. And if, in the case of townhouses, this actually did not affect the quality of the created environment in any way, then the three-story housing, inscribed in finely cut segments of the master plan, threatened to turn into too cramped and shaded quarters. Vladimir Bindeman admits: he had to suffer. Unable to change the configuration of the quarters, the architects were forced to arrange the living spaces as carefully as possible.
“Architecturium” turned to the road by the U-shaped sections, which, forming the outer front of the district's development, at the same time provide their residents with comfortable courtyards. In triangular-shaped quarters, architects build up sectional houses on only two sides, and the third is fixed with a single-entry tower house, which also makes the courtyard more private and intimate. Most of the village is quite predictably cut into rectangles - "Architecturium" has developed as many as six options for their development, which should help avoid the monotony of the environment and make the panoramas of the future area more interesting.
The architects placed a kindergarten closest to the forest, and playgrounds and sports grounds in the coastal zone. There are, of course, parking lots here - they are located along the outer perimeter of the quarters, but even a cursory glance at the master plan is enough to understand that there are no parking spaces here. “The increased building density has led to the fact that we barely provide one car space for one apartment,” explains Vladimir Bindeman. “But we categorically didn’t want to give away the courtyards of the neighborhoods for parking, because the courtyards, crowded with cars, lose any sense for a person.” An unexpected solution was found - while designing a traditional community center at the entrance to the village, the architects gave it three floors out of five for parking.
Since the road leading to the village from the highway comes into contact with the "fan" only from the side of one of its corners, it is there that the main entrance to the new district is organized. Accordingly, a triangular site was allocated for the construction of a public center, and the architects decided to give this very shape to the complex itself. True, if they had acted "head on", the building, which is prescribed to become the hallmark of the village, would have greeted its residents and guests with a sharply sharpened nose. This seemed to Bindeman's team both banal and not very reasonable in terms of the usable area of the future structure, so the authors complicated its shape. Initially, the triangle defined by the general plan is formed by a rectangular pipe folded in an ascending spiral so that a developed console appears above the main volume, facing the entrance. The building can be compared to a coiled snake, which raised its head cautiously, however, this shape was prompted to the architects not so much by the proximity to nature as by the main function: in fact, it is a ramp skillfully played by the authors. On the first floor of the building there are shops and services necessary for the village, the next three floors are reserved for parking, and a cafe will be organized in the "hood" of the console. The facades of the complex were also resolved in a corresponding way: the first floor is completely glazed, the end of the console is also made transparent, but the main volume intended for cars is made up of blank metal panels, which are only in some places cut through by narrow window slits.
As for the architectural solution of residential buildings, here “Architecturium” had to spend a lot of effort to convince the customer to rely on modern style. Calling the village a poetic name "Andersen", the customer and the architecture at first saw the appropriate: picturesque fairy-tale houses, referring to the favorite book illustrations of childhood. Vladimir Bindeman proposed an alternative concept: modern Danish housing is perhaps the best in the world, so why not imagine that the village on the banks of the Desna River was designed by Andersen's great-grandson? Moreover, the very density of building here does not fit in any way with the stylistics of good old fairy tales, but how similar residential quarters are built in the same Denmark or, say, Holland, on the contrary, fully corresponds.
In general, the sections, typical in layout, received a characteristic "pro-Scandinavian" design of facades: a combination of dark and light surfaces, contrasting window slopes, inserts of multi-colored metal, extremely laconic plastic of bay windows and balconies. In total, the architects have developed 12 options for facade solutions, which will give an individual look to each quarter. Having convinced the customer to abandon the explicit stylization, the team of Vladimir Bindeman proposed a delicate solution that makes one think of modern examples of Danish and Dutch architecture.
