Continuing the review of the results of the competition for the architectural concept of Radisson Blue Moscow Riverside, we present the project of the MAHPI im. Polyansky, GrandProjectCity and Asadov Architectural Bureau. By the decision of the jury, he was not included in the top three, but the bright architectural image proposed by the consortium could well have become an impressive dominant of the picturesque and in all respects advantageous territory at the confluence of the Moskva River and Skhodnya.
One of the main criteria for evaluating projects in the Terms and Conditions of the competition was “compliance with the requirements of the Radisson Blu network”. And this is far from a formality: the Carlson Rezidor hotel group, which owns the brand, traditionally makes the highest demands on the architecture and design of their hotels, be it renovation or new construction. It can take a long time to list the outstanding hotels of the chain and their authors, just a few names offhand: in Copenhagen, for example, the Radisson Blu building was designed by Arne Jacobsen, in Berlin - Sergey Tchoban, in Moscow and Chelyabinsk - Christian Lundwall, in Batumi - Michele de Lucchi, in Belgrade the Graft Architects bureau carried out a striking project of renovation of a 19th century factory, Jean-Philippe Nuel was in charge of the hotel in Nantes … In this case we are not talking about any stylistic unity - only about the level to which the bar has been raised. Another reason not to limit yourself in the means of plastic expression for the sake of creating a truly interesting project.
The hotel - the only tall building for many kilometers around - will be perfectly visible from different points, which gives architects a rare opportunity for an urban environment to play with different angles. The authors of this project took full advantage of this opportunity: depending on the viewing angle, the building looks so different that it is not so easy to combine these pictures into a single whole in their imagination. “The main screen of the main building is oriented towards the Moskva River and its distant viewpoints,” explains Karen Saprichyan. From the opposite bank, across the wide expanse of the river, the building resembles a giant megalith, brought into the Russian capital by some unknown winds and completely shaded with some mysterious code. We go around (or swim around, or even better - fly around) the arrow - and the complex smoothly acquires volume, the shadow from the impressive console falls obliquely on the supporting body that grows in length, adding diagonals to the alternation of elongated window openings (another barcode, only monochrome) … Continuing the imaginary excursion, we find ourselves in front of the eastern facade - only here the trees part, allowing you to see the main entrance and the covered area in front of it, and the rounded inner corners of the side volumes, like a giant funnel, draw your gaze into the complex and even through it - to where through a square opening the "corner of the sky" is visible.
If you look at it "by the piece", the building consists of four buildings, and the main one - a wide rectangular plate - is somewhat even casually hoisted on top of the other two, which, in turn, rest on a wide two-storey stylobate. However, it is also not continuous: from the side of the main entrance, part of the volume was taken out, forming a spacious covered area. The stylobate, practically invisible from any considerable distance due to its unprofitable proportions and the surrounding greenery, plays the role of an "invisible hero" in this project: not only does it serve as the base of the "pyramid", holding more spectacular brothers on its shoulders, but also concentrates in itself a lot of key functions.
If you look at the plans of the first two floors, you can see that, in addition to the two-story lobby, there is also a business center, a multifunctional hall, a restaurant (also a double-height one, overlooking the Moscow River), and premises of a spa center, and numerous services, and even part of the number of rooms. The pool of the spa center is an important compositional node: the walls of a four-storey glazed atrium grow around it, along the perimeter of which offices are located, and on the east side it opens onto the roof of the stylobate, which, in addition to its direct function, also has a lot of important tasks: it has a rather extensive public area, emergency vehicles can rise along the ramp from the rear facade, and from the southeast corner, the roof passes into a canopy over the entrance area.
The building, facing south - to Skhodnya, - in the plan is an elongated rectangle with one rounded corner. This is where the short-stay hotel rooms are located, occupying all six floors (counting from ground level - from the third to the eighth). The second "support", given for offices and a spa center, is close to a square in plan; by raising the ceilings at the same height, there are only four floors, and they are organized around the already mentioned atrium.
The main block - a ten-story plate, also rounded from the southeast corner - is reserved for apartments. For all its impressiveness, it does not seem heavy at all: an arch-window between the supports measuring 21x21 m makes the structure almost airy. In addition, trapezoidal windows and bay windows with colored inserts create a completely convincing optical illusion, concealing the number of floors from ten to four (experiments with color are one of the "signature" techniques of A. Asadov's bureau). This solution, which differs from the calmer plasticity of the facades in the stylobate part, was deliberately chosen: this allowed the architects to play on the contrasts of various architectural techniques.
The authors of the project in detail (even "too detailed" for the competition project, according to Karen Saprichyan) have developed the layouts of the internal - rooms, offices - and public spaces. As for the latter, in the project they are planned on four levels: the entrance area, areas on the roof of the stylobate and the hotel block, and the most spectacular one that opens up fantastic views - on the roof of the main building, with a swimming pool, a recreation area and a helipad. Speaking of the "virtual flight" of the complex - if you really fantasize to the end, you can't think of a better place to end the excursion.
