The workshop has been engaged in this project since January 2013, when the Vedis-group company turned to SKiP with a request to develop an architectural solution for the two “flagship” towers of the new residential quarter. Under construction near the Nagornaya metro station on the site of the Kotelsky plant, this quarter consists of 6 residential buildings, a kindergarten and a multi-storey parking lot. Four buildings, stretching directly from the metro along the Electrolyte passage, represent the bindings of typical 25-storey sectional buildings, but the towers located along the southern border of the site at the bend of Krivorozhskaya Street did not materialize for a long time, being present in the project only nominally. It was clear to the developer that standard solutions would not be enough here - both in terms of location and class of housing, the towers were asked to be iconic objects that could give character not only to the new quarter, but to the entire given district, which was built up quite chaotically.
“The task seemed interesting to us from the very beginning. On the one hand, the opportunity to create the face of the quarter, on the other, to work in an interesting landscape. The existing area today cannot be called attractive, but it has undoubted potential, which we wanted to reveal with our project,”says the chief architect of the project, Andrey Nikiforov.
In plan, both towers were shaped like isosceles trapezoids. This option was not invented right away: the architects experimented with both a square and a rectangle, but the shape of the skyscrapers acquired expressiveness and self-sufficiency only after the trapezoids were drawn. For quite a long time, the authors were looking for the optimal angle of rotation of the trapezoids in relation to the nearby streets: they tried to tie houses to the curving Kryvyi Rih, and to the Electrolytic passage, and to the residential development located opposite, but, strictly speaking, none of these grids is perceived in space as unambiguously dominant. Therefore, in the end, the optimal solution was found in which the western facades of both towers are parallel to the long buildings of the quarter that are already under construction.
At the same time, there was a painstaking search for facade solutions. “In general, we are convinced that the facade should reflect the volumetric solution, serve as its organic continuation, emphasizing the shape and structure of the building, and in a situation of such a loose urban planning environment as in the Nagornaya area, this is simply vital,” GAP believes. The authors of the project tried various variants of the same design of the towers, as well as contrasting cladding, playing on the difference in colors and textures of materials. As a result, the mathematical modular drawing in the form of black and white squares won. On the side facades, they frame each of the windows, folding into expressive diagonals, enlarging the scale, but at the ends, following the logic of the shape chosen by the authors, the “cells” stretch and slightly lose height.
Color accents in this project are used only in the design of the entrance groups of the public area. For the facing of the volumes themselves, the architects deliberately chose a monochrome scale, trying to oppose the skyscrapers to the diversity of their immediate surroundings - typical residential series, the bright palette of which compensates for the well-known uniformity of planning decisions. However, the black and white facades are not lost against this background - both due to the most expressive shape of the towers, and due to the microrelief: the dark elements are recessed, and the light ones, on the contrary, are slightly squeezed out. This solution gives the chess surfaces volume and, as Andrei Nikiforov explains, deprives them of the feeling of "cardboardness" so characteristic of many modern facades. However, in order to implement it, the architects had to suffer a lot: the option of making sinking and convex squares from architectural concrete did not work, and when using the traditional system of ventilated facades, the "frames" had to be divided into four separate dies, which automatically meant the appearance between them noticeable seams. It was also not easy to find a way of a technological solution for making a relief from protruding and falling elements. The most justified option for solving the node was that in which the white and black HPL panels of the facade plane are framed by frames made of metal profiles of the corresponding color.
On the ground floors of both towers, small lots are located, each with its own entrance from the outer contour of the building. As for the apartments, their lineup turned out to be as wide as possible due to the fact that the living quarters are concentrated along the lateral sides of the trapezoid and are beaten into modules corresponding to the dimensions of the facades. Partitions can be moved in any direction, changing the area of not only individual rooms, but also apartments as a whole. It is also important that the wet zones are collected in separate lines, as if embracing the staircase-elevator core, which will allow future residents to make redevelopments in this part of the apartments, without "stopping by" the living quarters of their neighbors.
A technical loggia with an evacuation staircase is displayed on the wide rear facade. The loggia was allocated for the placement of air conditioning units - thereby protecting the facades from unauthorized intrusions. Andrei Nikiforov laments that it was not possible to completely abandon the balconies: from the point of view of fire safety, two ladders make their presence optional, but marketers insisted on several loggias, knowing that it is easier to sell apartments with them. A "balcony" compromise was reached in the layout of large end-face apartments - loggias appear where the "cells" of the chess facades stretch into rectangles.
In this project, the authors paid great attention to the improvement of the area around the towers. Since they are part of a larger quarter, it would be wrong to enclose their courtyards, but the architects wanted to propose zoning of space, and in this sense, the elevation difference existing on the site turned out to be extremely beneficial to them: houses are being built on the bend of not only Kryvyi Rih street, but also the relief that is descending from the site towards the picturesque ravine. Thus, the towers face the street with a rather austere courtyard, the ceremonial purpose of which is emphasized with the help of a geometric pattern of paving, but now the entrance zone to the territory of the complex is significantly lowered and serves as a kind of border between rational urbanized fabric and picturesque natural: between houses and multi-storey parking the architects are designing something like a picturesque garden (on the roof of the underground parking), which turns into a full-fledged park even further from the road. Another piece of land - an island along Kryvyi Rih, also owned by the developer, was separated by a screen of trees by the architects and used to create a sports ground.
In addition to the improvement project, the workshop "Sergey Kiselev & Partners" has developed projects for the towers of the interiors of the entrance areas and public corridors. And as the facades are a logical continuation of the volumetric solution of houses, so their interiors organically develop the artistic techniques inherent in the architecture of the complex. In particular, the authors borrow black and white colors from the facades: the walls of the entrance lobbies and corridors are decorated with dark material, the ceilings and supporting columns are made in white. True, the strict geometry of the facade mesh here gives way to the smooth outlines of the ceiling niches, and the monochrome palette is diluted with warm beige floors and a phytowall, the rich green color of which will have to be provided by living plants.
