The A. Len architectural bureau has been building the Passenger Sea Port on the Neva Bay for seven years: the design began in 2004, and in 2011 the last terminal was transferred to the city. Each of the four terminals was handed over once a year or a year and a half, the design went on in operation and was accompanied by detailed consultations with specialists in the relevant fields, so that neither emergency overloads, nor any special pressure of responsibility, according to the head of the bureau Sergei Oreshkin, the architects did not feel … Nevertheless, the result of this work was the construction and commissioning, according to official figures, of the largest cruise ports in Europe and one of the largest in the world.
Of course, cruise ships have come to St. Petersburg before. Entering the mouth of the Neva, they moored almost in the center of the city, at the Marine Station: for tourists - attractions within walking distance, for citizens - a view of the majestic liners, but for border, customs, technical services - difficulties and inconveniences up to the complete impossibility of working. In addition, the Maritime Station could not accept ships more than 200 meters long, and they had to be sent to the commercial port, which was absolutely not intended for such purposes.
The decision taken in 2005 to build a specialized passenger port "Marine Facade" - also on Vasilievsky Island, but to the west - turned out to be the best way out of the situation and seemed to suit everyone. Moreover, this port was to become part of a grand strategic project for the development of the city, which provided for the formation of 476 hectares of new reclaimed territories, the construction of residential areas, a university, a metro station … Seven berths of the Marine Facade are capable of receiving cruise liners and ferries up to 330 m long. The first ship moored here in 2008, and now the port is operating at full capacity.
The architecture of cruise terminals is a genre that is no less in demand and intriguing today than, say, the construction of airports. Shanghai, Taiwan, Sydney, Cartagena - pavilions for the passage of passengers are designed by the best architects, receive professional awards and are widely replicated by popular publications. So there is experience - both from an architectural and from a purely technical point of view. According to Sergei Oreshkin, "A. Len" received the order after, in the order of, one might say, humanitarian aid held several consultations with experts in the technology of construction of cruise ports in Europe and the United States project - for some reason they did not guess to do this). And, by the way, he took up the work only on condition that the appropriate professionals were included in the team: the scientific part was done by an American company, the technologist was from Finland.
The initial project of Oreshkin was significantly different from the embodied one. Ten years ago, when this story began, everyone was terribly fond of "roll" architecture - when a building like the New York Eyebeam Museum by Diller Scofidio + Renfro or
Bernard Chumi's Vacheron Constantin headquarters in Geneva seems to be effortlessly folded from a huge ribbon - flexible, but obediently keeping the shape set by the architect. So Sergei Oreshkin came up with a building that looks like a "roll of roofing material" cut like a loaf of bread into terminals and, moreover, evokes associations with a wave rolling onto the shore. The idea is expressive and expressive - but, unfortunately, Chumi's principles, with his decisive separation of form from content, are not well combined with the real practice of transport construction, at least in our conditions. If we continue analogies with world stars, then the airport-train station-seaport in our usual sense is more likely Santiago Calatrava with his naked, sometimes completely devoid of flesh structures, or Richard Rogers and other pioneers of architectural high-tech, consistently emphasizing and aestheticizing the functionality of their objects … In addition, in addition to inconsistency with the archetype, the original concept of "A-Len" was fraught with considerable difficulties with the maintenance of the roof, especially in winter conditions. And so it happened that the "roll of roofing material" turned into "a modular object with a pronounced technical design," says Sergei Oreshkin.
All four terminals - one ferry and three cruise terminals, connected by overhead galleries - have a single architectural and planning solution and differ only in size: the three-story ferry terminal provides separation of human and automobile flows, the length of the cruise terminals is determined by the number of berths served. These are, in fact, pavilions designed to quickly pass a large number of people - in 30 minutes, under the leadership of travel agents, about two thousand people pass through the terminal. The strict functionality is emphasized by the laconicism of the architectural solution. As in the textbook
Center Pompidou Renzo Piano and the already mentioned Rogers, the multi-rod design is brought out and accentuated. Continuous glazing of the front and predominantly side facades, lined with a metal frame mesh, allows you to see the internal load-bearing columns. The bases of rectangular tetrahedrons of metal rods, with their tops resting on the canopy above the entrance, support the overhang of the roof flying out into the sky. All together they form a complex geometric pattern, working on the dynamics of the building, rising from the rear facade to the front one, taking into account the visor, one and a half times. The portals of the sliding doors, rhythmized by monumental prismatic pilasters, are bounded from above by an intricately shaped cornice, broken into separate fragments and evoking associations with the details of an airplane wing.
If from the sea side the height of the pavilions is reduced as much as possible - it is still impossible to compete with the huge colossus of cruise ships - then the facades facing the city look three- or even four-story, although in reality the space remains two-story. For all its showiness and some practical advantages (in particular, the relief of the wind load), such a solution created many problems for the architects: the premises in the center of the terminal turned out to be very, even too high, they did not have enough illumination, and in order to let the sunlight inside, they had to provide special light "glasses" in the roof. As often happens, the forced measure turned into a bright accent: just like other structural elements, these "glasses" are equipped with LEDs, and in the evening not only the facades, but also the roofs of the terminals are illuminated with a neon violet-greenish glow.
The roofs of the terminals are a separate story, the subject of special creative work. Since the main decks of ships entering the port are located much higher than the roof level, the architects of "A. Len" wanted the "fifth facade" of the port to adequately meet the guests of the city. They asked similar questions even when designing the water park at the Pribaltiyskaya Hotel, where the roof design was created taking into account the visibility from the windows of the rooms. So on the roofs of cruise and ferry terminals, air ducts, light guides, technical stuffing, assembled in special blocks - all this, at the will of the architects, was formed into a graphic panel, flickering with overflows of light in the dark and pleasing to the eye with a harmonious pattern in the light of day. Chief Engineer Alexander Vayner considers highly artistic roofs to be the main "feature" of the project, and it is difficult to disagree with him.
The cruise terminal is a special structure: no less than the state border passes through it. International airports are built on a similar principle - both there and there are state and extraterritorial parts, separated by a line of border and customs control. Hence the internal architecture of the pavilions: huge open spaces (in the case of cruise terminals - with a minimum of commercial and recreational premises, passengers do not stay here), galleries, stairs, and passages.
Decorating the interiors of the pavilions in the same genre of technical design, Sergei Oreshkin, of course, could not ignore the ship theme. The associations here, however, are complex, not at all frontal: if in the massive pencil columns you can still guess the outlines of ship pipes, then the rounded surfaces of the color of noble wood - taken out on the facade, in the lining of the visors - already only hint at the outlines of the ships; and the fact that the design of the mesh ceiling openings is inspired by the image of the boat bottom, without a tip from Sergei Oreshkin, you can not guess. The architect, by the way, recalled that a similar technique was used by Nicholas Grimshaw when designing
the new terminal of Pulkovo airport: in the folded structure of the vaults, one can see both the golden domes of Orthodox churches and boats sailing in the Baltic Sea. But there is a lot of hi-tech in the interior spaces of the Marine Facade terminals, and it is quite unambiguous: there is an abundance of metal (more precisely, mainly imitations of it), and factory-shaped lamps, staircases and galleries made of glass and steel, laying out a huge, complete air space. Even the benches are as ergonomic and industrial as possible.
In addition to four terminals, the A. Len bureau has built several auxiliary buildings in the passenger port: the port control center (“also quite stylish, modernist, with horizontal windows,” Oreshkin comments), an automobile checkpoint, bus stops … The work continues now: new duty free shops are being completed, and a sports center is being built. In addition - a rare case - as Alexander Vayner says, the management company signed a ten-year contract with A. Len on technical support and operation. This is important - after all, we are talking about alluvial lands, although the terminal buildings are placed on piles and they are not threatened with any significant sediment. So "A. Len" does not part with the "Marine Facade".
Sergey Oreshkin is modest in his assessment of the terminal: nothing special, just think - four objects of 10,000 m each2, an ordinary scale, comparable in complexity to a residential building - but a certain pride in the implemented project of such importance, of course, is felt in his words. Not too long to hear the recognition of colleagues: as it was put into operation, each terminal was awarded one or another professional award. Now architects have a pleasant opportunity to admire their work from a close distance, from the side of yet another facility under construction: “A. Len” is building a residential quarter “I am a romantic” on the first line of alluvial territories. From the windows of the apartments there will be an excellent view of the terminals of the passenger port, very small "against the background of steel ships", but not lost against their background either day or night.
