The IFC project with the Irina Viner Rhythmic Gymnastics Center was reviewed and generally approved by the Architectural Council on November 19 (more details about the discussion can be found at
website of the Arch Council). We talked with Alexander Skokan and Kirill Gladkiy about the peculiarities of the place and the solution proposed by the architects.
Archi.ru:
What is the specificity of this project?
Alexander Skokan:
- In addition to the task stipulated by the program and set by the customer, namely, to place a very large volume on a not too large area, we also had to reckon with the specifics of the territory. Figuratively speaking, this is a place where no human foot has yet set foot: the valley of the Setun River. At the beginning of the valley - Stalin's dacha, further Aminevskoe highway … Few people know about Vereiskaya street; a powerful military enterprise existed here, which began in 1900 as a piston plant, then turned into MRTZ, a radio-technical defense plant. On our site there were several barracks, next to the river valley, overgrown with trees, feral and unkempt. Why the gymnastic center happened at this place is not for us to judge, in any case, when they came to us, it was known that a decision had been made to build it here.
So our goal was to create in this rather wild place, where there is no urban civilization at all, a new fragment of the urban environment.
The complex is contradictory: a rhythmic gymnastics center, a hotel, an aparthotel and an office building - there is nothing in common between these functions, they are neither emotionally nor logically connected with each other. One part is sports, the other is commercial. Therefore, we decided to unite all parts of the city street, which runs diagonally through the site, dividing it into parts: sports-public and office-residential. The length of the street is more than two hundred meters and, like any city street, it is at the same time a common space that unites the objects facing it. Any other arrangement - the project has been developing for five years, and at first we tried various variants of the composition - seemed to us less successful: it provoked the appearance of fences, in addition, something turned out to be on the first line, something on the second. Along the street in the first floors there are retailers: restaurants, shops, cafes - all along the street … Thus, it turned out quite naturally that the offices on the right, the gymnastics center on the left, the hotel - all this pedestrian public space goes across the site obliquely and leads us to the river flood Setun to the park area.
Now we know that all the small Moscow rivers are part of an integral water system. They all flow into the Moskva River, and now it is becoming the new center of the city, and the Setun River floodplain is becoming one of the outgrowths of this new urban center. The city center will come here not along the little-known Vereiskaya street, but in the form of a park area, as a continuation of the pedestrian park route. The complex located on the outskirts will be connected to the city center through a park.
That is why our diagonal street appears. The street itself is a fragment of the city center; moreover, it leads us to the Setuni Park, which connects us with the Moskva River. In addition, any diagonal allows, while remaining within the boundaries of the rectangular area, to lengthen and increase the public space of the complex.
Kirill Gladky:
- Diagonal Street also continues the line of Vereiskaya Street and is built into its perspective in the southeast direction. Vereiskaya Street, however, is planned to be expanded, to change its direction, but the corner of our complex is built into the historical route.
Alexander Skokan:
- With our planning we "catch" the line of force, which is obvious for this place. The fact is that located a little further on this axis, the complex
Vereiskaya Plaza was built by Dmitry Borisovich Barkhin, the son of Boris Grigorievich Barkhin, a famous professor at Moscow Architectural Institute, who was my teacher. As a student, it was interesting for me to enter into a discussion with the son of my professor. Dmitry Barkhin works in such a magnificent classic style. Our complex, being more ascetic, is with it, as it seems to us, in an interesting professional dialogue.
How would you define the essence of this dialogue?
Alexander Skokan:
- The bottom line is that we speak different languages, but in our speeches you can find something in common.
Although you strung the complex onto the public space of a pedestrian street, you at the same time clearly marked the difference in volumes, each of them has its own face: relief waves formed by lamellas of different depths cover the facade of the gymnastic center; the office space is covered with a "saw" of large projections, and the residential building is restrained-checkered, and from the side of the river, the lower half of its facade is yellow, the upper half is white; yellow you made the inner surface of the arches. Where did the cutouts in the upper part of the apartment plate come from?
Kirill Gladky:
- There are two-storey penthouses here, terraces will be arranged there; and the topline is richer. Hans Schiemann called our complex “a city within a city” at the council, and here we have a small elite village on the roof.
On the roof of the office part there is a small square, which can be accessed by all residents; there is a specially arranged elevator from the first floor. The roof of the gymnastics center on the east side is also exploited, it will be possible to get to it from the offices of the administration.
The living space hangs over the spectacular office console, it is impressive …
Kirill Gladky:
- This console is small, supported by an elevator shaft and additional supports. A serious console is in the building of the gymnastics center from the side of Vereiskaya street. We organized another promenade under it.
I see a bridge at the end of the street, where it comes to the park - is there a big difference in elevation?
Kirill Gladky:
- There is a parking lot under the entire complex, and we modeled the relief inside the complex so that the inner street rises by five meters towards the river, while the natural relief is lowered by three. First, you go up the sloping street, then go down the stairs to the park. In the lower part of the house, from the side of the river, another level of windows appears, which is not inside, in the courtyard.
Alexander Skokan:
- There will be many interesting effects, especially at sunset.
I can guarantee you that it will not be boring there. We also made a video to the music of "Flight of the Bumblebee" …
The complex has many arches - giant openings through which views of the park open; arches connect it with its surroundings. And looking at our object at the Arch Council, as if from the sidelines, I clearly understood that the main arch through which the street leads us to the park could have been even higher - not twelve-story, but seventeen-story.
