The first "approach" to this territory - in the immediate vicinity of the Mozhaisk interchange of the Moscow Ring Road - was carried out by ABD architects between 2003 and 2009, having designed and built here the Western Gate business park. Even then, it was obvious that a second similar object would inevitably appear on the opposite side of this powerful transport structure: the gate could not have only one "wing". The entrance to the city from the M1 “Belarus” highway had to be flanked by symmetrically located complexes, identical in terms of imagery and volumetric solution.
But it so happened that it was only in 2014 that it was possible to return to the design and construction of the second stage of the workshop "gate". By this time, on the site of the future construction site - on the slope between the Moscow Ring Road and Barvikhinskaya Street - the once spontaneously arisen city park "Dog Glade" was formed. In December 2011, the "wild" ski track laid through the park even received the official number - 134 and included a ski stadium. But against the background of the recently completed reconstruction of the interchange, which has already affected the "Dog Glade", choosing between the park and the need to complete the construction of the entrance ensemble, the city chose the ensemble. And now the construction of the second - northern stage of the complex is about to begin: a composition of three buildings stretched along the border of the site and a small restaurant block hidden in the depths. Thus, upon completion of the construction, the entrance to the capital will acquire a completely finished appearance: on the one hand, striped glass buildings resembling green rocks, on the other, even more picturesque buildings with a fantastic break in the walls.
Boris Levyant's workshop has been working on the project of the second stage of the Western Gate for more than ten years. Initially, on the elongated triangle of the site, sandwiched between one of the ramps from the not yet reconstructed interchange and a residential neighborhood, it was planned to build a large shopping center designed for residents of adjacent neighborhoods and passing motorists. But the city authorities opposed the placement of large shopping centers along the Moscow Ring Road, and the site was given for the construction of an office center. Today this decision seems rational, because the idea of moving a significant part of the offices from the historical center to the western and southwestern districts of the city is gaining more and more strength - the territories of the Novomoskovsk administrative district, Skolkovo, Troitsk are developing. In parallel with this, a huge amount of housing is being built in Odintsovo and nearby districts of the Moscow region.
The new office and business center is a composition of four volumes. Each of the three in front is no higher than eight floors. The fourth is even lower. In plan, they all have the shape of almost regular rectangles, but placed along the smooth bend of the road, they repeat its trajectory. Even before the reconstruction of the junction, it was planned that the starting point of this compositional line would be the hotel tower, placed closest to the highway. But later there was another exit to the highway, laid right along the construction site, and in the first stage of the Western Gate business park, the idea of fixing the border with a high-rise dominant had to be abandoned, but in the second stage this object will be implemented. However, even without the tower, having acquired a calm silhouette, the complex looks very solid. In addition, the absence of a hotel volume balances the compositional symmetry of the north and south “wings” of the gate.
The most expressive external element of the complex is the fracture of the front planes facing the highway - not too sharp, it is nevertheless clearly caught by the eye when driving in a car even at high speed. Refraction occurs in different directions, affecting both the main facades, dissected by large cells of windows and inter-window inserts, and the ends of buildings, perfectly visible from the interchange. The seemingly simple solution turned out to be very difficult to implement technically. To calculate the structures, ABD architects decided to involve the German bureau Werner Sobek, which already had experience in similar projects. It was an interesting experience: German design engineers for facades plus Russian architects, facade builders and lighting consultants.
As a result, the impression is that the buildings are made of a very plastic material - if they can be "crumpled" so easily. Or they ended up somewhere on the border of two media, which gave rise to the amazing optical effect of light refraction. And the play of light and shadow with this shape is really impressive: despite the small bend angle, the flat surface under the sun's rays immediately comes to life, gains volume and becomes three-dimensional. Inside, in the space of one floor, despite the fact that its plan is reduced to the most rational and efficient rectangle shape, the broken surfaces of the outer walls are smoothed out and practically not felt. And the quality of the offices is achieved by increasing the height to 4.05 meters and glazing from floor to ceiling.
Unlike the buildings of the first stage, the new complex does not have solid glazing: here, narrow high windows alternate with lattice walls, setting a dynamic "layout" of floors along the facades. The given rhythm is supported by LED luminaires integrated into the facade system, one module high. Dim, soft lighting allows you to delicately change the appearance of buildings, varying colors from red to pale green.
In the process of working on the project, several options for the external color scheme were created, including quite bright ones. But, as Boris Levyant said, in the end it was decided to focus on restrained colors and natural materials: “The final color scheme was approved as a result of the project's consideration at the Arch Council, and I am very pleased with this choice, since the brightness becomes obsolete much faster. In this case, we managed to achieve a richness of colors at night using built-in lamps."
The upper technical floors of all three buildings are shifted relative to the main volumes and are almost completely solved in glass: because of this, it is almost impossible to see them from the road. Only the flat roofs that are spectacularly overhanging are visible. One of the blocks has a helipad with an elevator brought to the roof - for arriving and departing passengers - "arrival & departure". In addition to the engineering and technical rooms hidden in the central part of these volumes and closed with metal gratings, there are several VIP rooms conceived as glazed terraces with good panoramic views.
All hulls are visually detached from the ground, which makes them even more surreal and weightless. The levitation effect is achieved due to the strongly "recessed" and completely glass first floors, thanks to which the buildings seem to just hang in the air. Walking galleries are arranged under their cantilever overhanging volumes. A landscaped space with green lawns, minimalistic street lamps and winding pedestrian paths allows you to forget about the proximity of a noisy highway. The trees that previously separated the site from the road were practically destroyed as a result of the expansion of the interchange, exposing the existing buildings. Now the complex itself should become a noise protection screen for neighboring residential buildings. Fortunately, there is enough greenery between them - there, in fact, a small part of the park has remained untouched, inside which a three-story restaurant block is hidden. This fourth building of the complex, designed in the style common to the entire ensemble, is being built mainly for local residents and will serve as a kind of link between the business center and the microdistrict.
The construction of the complex is scheduled to begin this year. Do not forget that the first stage of the "Western Gate" has already been fully inhabited by owners and tenants. And this is a very good indicator for an office center built in front of the Moscow Ring Road. Thus, the bureau ABD architects, whose projects have been demonstrating one of the highest levels of capitalization for many years, proves the absolute viability of the idea to localize housing and places of employment outside the historic city center, saving it from bulky offices and constant traffic jams. And the spectacular image, modernity and practicality of "Western Gate-2" allow us to hope for a repetition of the success of their predecessor.
And one more important feature of the idea of the western gates of Moscow, which Boris Levant has been developing on the Mozhaisk highway for more than ten years: their architectural, plastic solution turned out to be completely "western" - the greenery of the park, low buildings, calm but mobile forms, open composition, visual lightness and purity. Such gates do not flank the entrance to the city like some "Pillars of Hercules"; there is no pompous majesty of the dominant in them - this is a completely European in the broad sense of the word, a technical, modern solution. Perhaps, for the imagery of the project, the circumstances that forced the abandonment of the tower were successful.