As we reported earlier, the 16th Architectural Council of Moscow has submitted only one project for consideration, offering a new look at the only building of the administrative and trade complex that has not yet been completed, located at the intersection of Kutuzovsky Prospekt and Kulneva Street.
The Mirax Plaza project was developed in 2006 by the workshop of Sergei Kiselev. The complex was conceived as a single urban development ensemble, consisting of two high towers and three 10-storey buildings that form a rounded horizontal platform. One of these buildings, which stretched along the Third Transport Ring, according to the initial project, overhauled a large part of the railway tunnel passing through the site. However, subsequently, the investor was asked not to enter the territory of the railway line, due to which the area of the site was almost halved; In this regard, in 2012 SKiP proposed a new version of the housing solution, but it did not go further, the project was transferred to the workshop of Roman Kananin (Mosproekt LLC), and then the customer also attracted TPO Reserve to develop an alternative version. Until yesterday, the project of the building was not approved.
Thus, the project approached the architectural advice in four different ways - from a shining gold “ship” with a green roof to a discreet “military frigate” with a clear matrix of facade design.
Roman Kananin and Vladimir Plotkin were faced with the same task - to fit the required square meters into the dimensions of the plot, which had significantly decreased in size. Obviously, this could be done only by increasing the height. And different ways have been suggested here.
In the first version, the building with gardens and a dome on the roof gradually gains height, forming above the technical floor something similar to a sharp and perky ship's bow, raised to the towers of the former Mirax Plaza. This version was shown in two versions: aluminum gray and gold, that is, covered with gold glass, which, according to the authors, should serve as a response to the orange glass of the Mercury City skyscraper located in the City on the other side of the river.
In the second version, the authors abandoned the idea of a smooth increase in volume. Here the building is especially delicate: it is covered with a thin, vertical and ribbed mesh, alternating spots of light and dark sandstone, and the rise in number of storeys occurs due to a small step. From the side of Kutuzovsky Prospect, the architects maintain its high-rise marks, but soon, at the point where the rectangle of the 1980s building located in the courtyard of the complex begins in the neighborhood, the building rises by two floors. There is only one step, and the required areas are smoothly, without accents, stretched almost along the entire length of the body. The alternation of light and dark, according to Vladimir Plotkin, creates an interesting effect of perception of volume when driving a car.
In the third sentence, the step turns out to be larger: two-thirds of the length of the building support the height of Kutuzovsky Prospekt, and above the sharp nose, closer to the towers, a kind of semi-tower (seven floors) rises above it, equal in height to the courtyard building. The rise marks the transition from the horizontal to the high-rise front of the building.
The fourth option turned out to be the most extravagant. An increase to 17 floors is achieved here due to a semicircular cutout in the central part of the building, which opens a view of the City from the windows of the building located in the courtyard. As well as in the first version, in this it is proposed to green the roof, but the solution of the facades looks much more restrained.
As for the functional content, it is approximately the same in all versions. The first floors are reserved for public functions and trade, offices are located above. You can get to the shops and cafes of the first floor from the side of the inner pedestrian street, which appeared between the two buildings of the complex. There are no entrances to the building from the side of the Third Transport Ring, but large glass showcases have been made. The entire surrounding area will be landscaped and landscaped. The improvement project is currently being developed by the workshop of Alexander Asadov.
Council members were almost unanimous on the options presented. The absolute majority, without a doubt, preferred option number two with two additional floors stretched along the length of the building. Nikolay Shumakov believed that this particular decision would help put a convincing end to such a complex and long project. Andrei Gnezdilov agreed with him: “Horizontal completion is absolutely appropriate here and should be emphasized with an explicit gesture. There should be no protruding elements. Another tower, even if not high, will close the perspective of the complex and the avenue."
The opposite opinion was expressed by Sergei Tchoban. He also liked the horizontal version, but the third version with a low tower seemed more preferable, since such a solution would provide angular support for the complex and a smooth transition between the two heights. “There is absolutely no need to build the third tower,” objected Yuri Grigoryan. “There is a rather large volume inside the complex, and it would be wrong to support it with an even more bulky tower with incomprehensible proportions. It is obvious to me that in this situation only the second option can be built with its magic of a simple and well-proportioned grid of facades."
Mikhail Posokhin also supported the second option - "the most acceptable both in height and in the amount of glazing." The facades of the buildings of the complex, according to him, are already too different. Introducing additional resonance by adding different colors and materials would be a mistake. Perhaps only Alexander Kudryavtsev liked the bright facades invented by the architects of Mosproekt, who discovered the colossal potential of the place, which, in his opinion, requires much greater creative efforts. Mosproekt's versions seemed to him very plastic, picturesque and emotional. But as the best solution for this site, Kudryavtsev proposed to split the building into several free-standing volumes (which, as we remember, was done in the original SK&P proposal).
Evgeny Ass did not agree with Kudryavtsev: he called the two versions of Mosproekt an example of "design architecture", which is difficult to perceive in this place. Ass also noted with regret that the change in the site did not benefit the project: “The complex, conceived as an integral urban planning ensemble, as a result of all the twists and turns - the crisis, the change of the customer, etc. - disintegrated into separate and almost unrelated elements. The current configuration of the site, into which the architects are forced to fit the building, almost makes it impossible to visually include it in the complex. " Ideally, according to Ass, the town-planning situation should be completely revised, it would be even better to persuade the customer to come to terms with the loss of space. But, realizing that neither one nor the other option can be implemented, Ass invited the audience to support the calmest decision of Vladimir Plotkin, which does not contradict the original plan of Sergei Kiselev.
Actually, this was the result of the meeting. Sergey Kuznetsov summed up that the council approved the second version of the architectural design of the building. Only the transport scheme will require modifications.
