The modern history of this place, once lost in the outskirts of the capital - somewhere between the rows of rusted garages and concrete fences of the industrial zones of Volgogradsky Prospect, began twelve years ago with the appearance of the Mercedes-Benz salon of the Avilon company here. In form - an exact reminiscence of the theme of the New York Guggenheim Museum, in materials - its direct inversion: glass and metal. The salon was built by Alexander and Andrey Asadov in accordance with all the laws of a car show. No, not a rally, but a show, when everything is static, and the movement is imitated only by the shape of the wall, the pattern of staircases and the design of the cars themselves. As one of the critics wrote then: "something between an exhibition, a club and a store."
In 2003, turning this patch of a new civilization into an interesting fragment of the urban environment, in the immediate vicinity of an overturned glass cone,
business tower "Volgogradsky-Tower": two Asad's sharp sails of office buildings, connected by a multi-luminous atrium with thrown bridges of winter gardens. But, probably, the idea of such architecture for such a place was ahead of its time, and a businesslike cubic volume appeared on the site allocated for the tower, which can hardly be called simple or lapidary. The Assadovs aptly define him as a little odd.
Then, in 2007, in the same place - on Volgogradka - the auto centers "Mazda", "Volvo", "Land Rover" and "Jaguar" were to appear. Drawn in a completely different way: rapid, flying, dynamic volumes. Flamboyant, self-explanatory, but not as significant as Mercedes-Benz, they nevertheless very accurately met the task of creating an automobile paradise in one particular area of the city. But, unfortunately, paradise did not take place, excluding the topic of automobiles from the bureau's work for a few more years.
The architects managed to return both to the theme and to the place where it all began only in 2013, when it became necessary to complete the composition of that very first section.
Over the years that have passed since the opening of the first salon, the art of selling cars has gone far ahead, but the truncated and overturned Mercedes-Benz cone has remained a reference point among its kind. On the one hand, it is difficult to compete with it even for its creators, on the other hand, what new things can art come up with, not only to sell, but also to demonstrate what is itself a demonstration and art of design? Coming up with a design for a design without obscuring the subject of the show is a difficult task.
And they came up with it. They came up with giant transparent boxes, in fact - on the verge of shoebox architecture. Incredibly simple and at the same time incredibly complex in its simplicity. After the construction was over, one of the architects wrote that they did not do the interior design. Everything was limited to sketches of the main interiors, which are perfectly visible from the outside. The result is an end-to-end design - with the identity of interior and exterior materials, the pattern of exterior glass and metal elements, a refrain repeating on the ceilings, and with endless rows of ceiling lamps, the rhythm of which is rigidly tied to the rhythm of the metal bindings of the same exterior glass. And this, too, is the art of showing.
Initially, according to the customer's idea, the Audi brand was to be located in the new corner volume of the complex, closing the line of the company's car dealerships. Hence - the corporate standard obligatory for all Audi salons: smooth, curved design and perforated panels on the facades. In the process of work, “Audi” was replaced by “Hyundai”, but the facades, nevertheless, decided not to radically change, and the “curved design” remained. It is not limited to the drawing of decorative elements, its apotheosis is in the completely unexpected end of a series of volumes stretched along Volgogradsky Prospekt with a rounded corner.
The Asadovs say that from the point of view of a volumetric solution, there are no and cannot be any discoveries: the building is simply densely equipped with a car dealership, office and production part. But their discoveries are not in the volumetric solution of a rigid-technological object, but in the spatial and imaginative composition of the entire ensemble.
When you look at the complex as a whole, its final volume amazes with its almost indifferent calmness. And only after looking closely at where the oblique lamellas and stripes of the metal cladding are located, how the glass cut by rhombuses works in the light, how the metal guides break at the turn and breaks of the form, you understand that this is not the lulling calm of half-asleep, but the calm of confident and purposeful movement.
And having caught the movement, you begin to look for its source and peer into the nuances. Then suddenly you notice that the two interconnected final volumes, which are initially perceived as equal in size, are not at all equal in size. Their deceptive visual equality is not at all in the exact coincidence of sizes, but all in the same oblique metal cuttings of glass, in their absolute modular repeatability. And having defined this module for yourself, you understand that the volume farthest from the corner is longer and lower, and the one at the corner is higher and shorter. It is in this, almost imperceptible reduction in length when increasing in height, that a very strongly compressed spring of movement is hidden.
And if, as the authors claim, "Mercedes" has become the "head", and the new salons - the "tail" of the entire auto-train, or rather, the auto-organism, then the animal in question is, of course, a fish reflecting, ironically, in the water ripples of the inevitable Moscow puddle. Giant, very beautiful and elegant fish. For only fish tend to be always in motion. Even in a dream. And, as befits the tail of this outlandish veil-tail, new volumes gradually increase in height and "fluff up" with a perforated parking fence.