Of all the participants in the recent competition, Sergei Skuratov approached the task in the most comprehensive way, including in his project the maximum variety of possibilities for the development of the famous museum. Suffice it to say at least that Skuratov thought over the scenario of reconstruction of the main building, and the creation of a "museum" exit from the metro station "Kropotkinskaya", and the development of the entire territory adjacent to the future museum town. However, such a detailed approach inevitably leads to significant changes in the space surrounding the museum - it is clear that otherwise it is difficult to achieve harmonious and holistic development of such a large and diverse territory, but it may not be easy to convince of the need for such changes. And with this project it turned out exactly like this: Skuratov's concept scared off the organizers of the competition with its scale and urban planning decisiveness.
In fact, the architect will reprogram the development of this part of Volkhonka. Quite predictably, making the main building of the museum the compositional center of the town, it surrounds it with three blocks at once - multifunctional ensembles, each of which receives its own developed pedestrian and park zone. They line up along the main axis, which is set by the direction of the main facade of the museum and are supported by two new volumes that close the composition from opposite sides at an equal distance from the main building. “Thus, the complex acquires the clear geometry and clear spatial scheme that it needs, supported by logistic solutions,” comments the architect.
And although in the panorama of the street the town is materialized by a complex system of public spaces and three main detached volumes, below ground level Skuratov proposes to connect them. In addition to the galleries proper, the new underground structure includes an additional exit from the Kropotkinskaya metro station, an underground parking lot, lobbies, utility rooms, depositories and exhibition halls. But at the same time, each of the ensembles receives separate transport and loading centers, designed for parallel provision of each of the three "quarters" of the museum town. In other words, the town can exist both as a harmonious single mechanism, and as a constellation of independent clusters, among which, by the way, not all of them should be strictly museum.
This is generally one of the fundamental points for Skuratov: in his opinion, it is high time for the Pushkin Museum to go beyond its museum and broader educational role. That is why the museum town is turned to the Prechistensky Gate Square and Gogolevsky Boulevard by a multifunctional entrance pavilion: open and transparent, this volume is designed for the widest range of events, including in the evening when other buildings of the Pushkin Museum are closed. In other words, this is such a "embassy" of the museum, where visitors could get without a ticket - a kind of prelude to acquaintance with the collection, which will encourage someone to communicate with works of art, and someone, on the contrary, will completely satisfy a cafe or a bookstore. and an information center. Externally, the pavilion fully expresses the idea of openness and accessibility: the architect completely glazed its first floor, letting thin graceful lamellas of corten steel over the stained-glass windows, and decides on the second in the form of a snow-white rectangular console dynamically extended to the street with a large hospitable terrace. And most importantly, Skuratov proposed to place it over the new exit from the metro and the underground parking - then the vast majority of visitors would really pass through the multifunctional museum "hub".
But to implement such an ambitious urban planning plan, it is possible only to move the gas station of the 1930s, not so long ago recognized as a newly identified architectural monument."The city's defenders, of course, immediately gave me a" two ", although (-) I am convinced that by preserving this object, the city sacrifices much more - the quality of the environment created here and new architecture, and most importantly, the very possibility of full-fledged development of the museum in the long term" - says the architect. It is important to add here that Sergei Skuratov does not advocate the destruction of "fungi": considering that the functionally government filling station will in any case move from Volkhonka to Bolotnaya Square (the decision has already been made), he only proposed to consider the option of transferring them there, especially that against the background of their contemporary House on the Embankment, they would look quite appropriate. As for the new construction on the territory adjacent to the estate, the architect emphasizes: the competition task posed the question of how this place can develop in the long term, and he tried to answer it as fully as possible.
The only one of all the participants in the competition, Sergey Skuratov, also made proposals for the reconstruction of the main building, finding in it "hidden reserves" that allow increasing the usable area without interfering with the historical appearance. In particular, a new underground floor is being organized, part of the backfilled premises of the existing basement is being excavated, as well as chaotic economic functions are cleared and two existing courtyards are overlapped. And only from the side of Maly Znamensky Lane, the architect proposed to create a free-standing glass entrance-vestibule - a laconic, almost transparent parallelepiped, which seems to be a mechanism docked to the historical walls for a short time. In fact, this "mechanism" is, of course, stationary, but its emphatically neutral appearance makes the interaction between the old and the new extremely tactful, if not cautious, while at the same time creating an infrastructure in the museum that meets modern requirements for security and comfort of access.
And, finally, the volume that will allow the museum to forget for a long time about the cramped storage of its storage facilities and workshops - the Depository and Restoration Exhibition Center (DRVTs) with a total area of 20,000 sq. M. - Skuratov is located on the other side of the alley, in the courtyards between Verstovsky's house (graphics department) and Stulov's house (administrative and library building). Surrounded by historical monuments, reconstructions and remakes, this space, according to the architect, is unlikely to be able to withstand anything other than one clear and strict form. And this is exactly the shape that Sergey Skuratov creates - a narrow and elongated parallelepiped is located parallel to Volkhonka and its end faces the main building of the museum.
This end is the face of the whole complex. The architect uses glass and corten as facade materials, only this time the lamellas acquire such a width that they become more like pylons a floor high. Turned to the facade at different angles, they add depth to the surface, and most importantly, make this building absolutely different from a purely utilitarian "box" of a storage facility. Of course, corten steel also plays an important role here - the material is very expressive and artistic, transforming a laconic volume into an effective self-sufficient sculpture. However, the house, despite all the restraint of its geometry, very actively interacts with the surrounding space: in the central part of the volume, the architect makes a large rectangular arch, into which one of the mansions handed over to the museum is inscribed. To this house, through which the building of the DRVTs literally steps, Skuratov brings a long gentle staircase, and around it breaks up a multi-level pedestrian square, with the help of which he unites and structures all the disparate courtyards of the quarter.
And if Skuratov manages to preserve this historical mansion due to a cutout in the body of the DRVTs building, then the architect decided to donate the wing of the Glebov estate after long and painful deliberations. “This decision is hard-won and conscious,” emphasizes Sergei Skuratov.- I made a lot of options for the layout of the building, which made it possible to preserve the outbuilding, and in all cases I had to sacrifice either the area of the depository itself, or the public space in front of it, which, in my opinion, is absolutely necessary here, since it gives the whole complex "air", and most importantly, it actively involves the city in museum life. Yes, it was also possible to save the outbuilding not entirely, but in fragments (as the competitive TK suggested), but it seemed to me an urban planning profanity, and in the end I made a choice in favor of the space, due to which the modern life of historical architecture becomes possible, corresponding to the needs of the museum XXI century ".
In relation to the main building and the historical buildings that have developed on Volkhonka, the building of the DRVTs at first glance seems too large, too modern, too geometrically strict. But it is deliberately drowned deep into the quarter for the sake of creating an open public space here, in order to be at a respectful distance from the monuments and at the same time to conduct a full-fledged dialogue with them on behalf of their era. Balanced by the entrance pavilion on the opposite border of the site, it makes the entire space of the museum town not only emphasized modern in its aesthetics, but also impeccably functional and clear, which, from the point of view of future museum users, is perhaps even more important.
