The Archstroydizayn workshop has built quite a few cottage villages in the Moscow region, but we are most proud of those projects that we managed to fully implement, not only erecting a dozen or two houses, but also creating a full-fledged living environment for their residents that can make itself felt bright and a memorable look. In the 2000s, such projects were implemented mainly in the de-luxe segment. And I think that the modern fashion for public spaces owes much to these expensive settlements, because their investors were the first to realize that a comfortable and visually favorable environment around the house is a factor for future residents almost more important than the house itself. Landscaped parks, reservoirs with inhabited embankments, developed promenades and open-air recreation - all this first appeared just outside the city, and it is still interesting for me to watch how these spaces live and develop, deservedly becoming compositional and, if you like, ideological the center of their villages.
"Belgian village", 12 km along the Kaluga highway, 2005 - 2007, 29 hectares The village "Belgian village" did not get to us "from scratch". At the moment when our workshop received this order, the general layout of the village had already been developed and approved. Actually, one of our main tasks was to give the "wire" cutting of the master plan a "human" face. The customer asked to pay special attention to the "bald patches" of the landscape near the reservoir stretching in the middle of the future village - there, however, were such incomprehensible wastelands, and not one or two, but a whole group. And since the stylistic theme of the village was set before us (the name "Belgian Village" in this sense speaks for itself), we decided that the most logical thing would be to pick up and develop it as much as possible in the project for the improvement of the entire territory. The squares made it possible to set up an entire park there, the presence of several vacant lots dictated to make it multi-part, and we decided that this should be a system of spaces flowing into each other, each of which would have its own "national" reference. It seems to me that this is a rather non-standard move: usually cottages are made in the styles of different countries, and we decided to transfer this generally commercial technique to areas free from buildings. And, as it seems to me, they did not lose.
In fact, we split a huge park in the center of the village, and divide it into separate thematic segments, each of which is interpreted as a piece of a puzzle called “Europe”. There is an English landscape garden, a regular French, and a solid playground in German, based on the stories of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, and a picturesque lawn with tulips - greetings from the Netherlands, and a small soulful beer hall - a "calling card" of Belgium itself … Plus, they improved the beach, made a boat station. And small infrastructural objects were stylized as "European" buildings - a mill (TP), a hunter's house (treatment facilities), etc.
And of course, the entrance lobby - it is solved in a more theatrical way, a la Disneyland, and we thought it was appropriate, because this is the street facade of the village. The houses themselves, although they develop a "European" style, do it more restrainedly - there are still a lot of them, and I didn't want to endlessly replicate the recognizable decor, they limited themselves to the play of pediments, which speaks for itself, and the use of hand-molded Belgian bricks. By the way, the village "Belgian Village" was twice recognized as the best village in the Moscow region in the de-luxe category, and in 2013 it received the International Property awards in London.
"Grafskie prudy", 21 km along the Kiev highway, 2006-2008, 52 hectares We were engaged in the project of this village from the very beginning, having won a tender for the development of its general plan. The concept of development proposed by us was based on the principle of creating an interesting landscape and public space that could become a center of attraction for the entire village. The name "Graf's Ponds" was originally due to a small swamp that existed in the middle of the site - it was its presence that prompted us to create a full-fledged reservoir here with comfortable embankments. The pond, whose area is 1.6 hectares, has got a slightly curved, but geometrically rigidly adjusted shape, and with a long esplanade of the park forms a kind of cross - the coordinate system of the entire village. And already on this green-blue cross we planted plots. Those that are larger are located along the outer perimeter and have at their disposal direct access to the forest, and those that are smaller are close to the esplanade of the park, which, as it were, compensates for their lack of access to the forest.
And although the layout of the public area is based on a rigid structure, from the inside we tried to fill it with a complex, diverse pattern. Created a kind of puzzle from parks of different "styles". This is a Russian garden with apple and cherry trees, a French park, and a rock garden. The resulting boulevard is a 50-meter-wide green strip that is one kilometer long. Is such "inappropriate" waste of space conceivable today? I don't think so. But “Grafskiye Prudy” was lucky, and the life of this village revolves around a multifaceted green zone, to which a variety of social and social functions are “connected”.
Rubin Estate, 15 km along Rublevo-Uspenskoe shosse, 2011, 6.5 hectares The village, located 15 kilometers from the Moscow Ring Road along Rublevo-Uspenskoe shosse, has already been built by the ARCHSTROYDESIGN ASD workshop. Roads were laid in it, and houses were erected to the roof. Archi.ru already talked about the reconstruction done, but now I want to dwell in more detail on the organization of the public space of this village. The fact is that initially there was no public zone at all: in fact, the entire village was "cut" into private households, so that even a banal improvement of the territory was not discussed. But, even though the crisis was already in full swing, we were able to convince the customer that some common space, meaningful from an urban planning point of view, is vital for the village: I must admit that in recent years, not all developers are listening to this argument, but in the case of Rubin Estate, we were persistent and proved the need for a public garden.
The territory of the village in the plan is an elongated rectangle, the central part is outlined by a smooth loop of the road, on both sides of which there are households. First of all, we adjusted the plans of the households, giving them a deliberately different shape, which, firstly, brought additional variety to the panoramas of the village, and, secondly, allowed us to free up some space at the base of the loop, sufficient to create an artificial pond. We have entangled this small reservoir with footpaths and picturesque bridges. And although the pond is not located exactly in the center of the village, but closer to its far border, i.e. the wide side of the "triangle", he, undoubtedly, became the hallmark of the entire village, and most importantly, gave its inhabitants the opportunity to walk and relax in the fresh air, without leaving the boundaries of the village.
This charming mini-park (which, by the way, we did together with the landscape design workshop "Arteza") became in our practice the latest experience in creating integral public spaces within the boundaries of suburban settlements. At least for now. Will there ever be a return to such luxury? For me, this question remains open. I think that if expensive settlements are still built, it will be completely different. And they will have different public spaces. And settlements of the "manor" type are still a thing of the past.
