Two years ago, we talked in detail about the project of the residential complex "Gollandskiy Kvartal" in Ivanteevka near Moscow - an example of a low-budget, low-rise building, which the architects managed to make a variety of plastic and planning within the allotted finances. Now the "Dutch Quarter" has been built. The first stage has already been put into operation, the owners of the apartments should receive the keys the other day. Work on the second stage will be completed by the end of this year. The architects claim that they managed to bring almost all the project ideas to life and exactly as planned. Which, as you know, is rare in our latitudes.
The residential complex immediately became a laureate of the main prize in the field of residential urban real estate Urban Awards 2015 in the category "Complex of the Year with the Best Architecture".
In addition, the "quarter" is an example of the search for a real alternative to panel residential areas, which in recent years has finally become one of the main themes of the reflections of Russian architects. Yuliy Borisov, co-founder of the UNK project bureau and chief architect of the project, told us about the solution that was found in this case.
Archi.ru:
What, in your opinion, is the key to the success of such bold but low-budget projects?
Julius Borisov: Although the complex is positioned as a "comfort class", the project participants did everything at the highest, I would say, jewelry level. Customers, consultants, and our architects worked in exactly the same way as with expensive private orders. This applies equally to the facade, planning, design, architectural, engineering components of the project. As a rule, we are faced with a very low design budget, in such a situation even the most high-class architect can do little other than simply replicating a single developed section. In this case, already at the stage of developing ideas, we needed full dedication and competent organization of the process. The correct initial "message" of the customer ultimately played a key role.
That is, the desire and enlightenment of the customer are decisive?
Y. B.: Of course! In the Moscow region there are enough four-five-storey complexes, which are similar in characteristics to the "Dutch Quarter", but look like barracks of the same type. It is good if a pitched roof is added, and otherwise - the familiar Khrushchevs. In our case, the great experience of the customer and his focus on the most advanced solutions, including foreign ones, affected. Already at the design stage, there was a clear understanding: it is necessary to give the market the best possible. Strict urban planning restrictions (it was possible to build no higher than four floors), oddly enough, also played a positive role. If they did not exist, it is likely that our enlightened customer would not complicate his task and simply built twelve-story houses on the site, because they are significantly more profitable economically. But the supervisory authorities showed firmness, which was perceived by the customer not as an annoying hindrance, but as an additional incentive to create a non-standard, interesting product. Well, our merit is that we were able to design it.
There are quite obvious parallels in the solutions proposed by the UNK project for
of the tenth residential block in the Skolkovo innovation city and for the "Holland Quarter": alternation of road and pedestrian roads, fragmentation of volumes, difference in compositional, planning and facade solutions for each section with some general typology, and so on. Can all this loudly be called general trends?
Y. B.: The difference between economy and premium class should not affect the basic characteristics of housing, such as comfort and safety. Many large construction companies are turning cheap housing into some kind of ghetto. But why, if people cannot afford expensive apartments, should they feel like some kind of second class? We are convinced that there are some basic principles that must apply to any home. Children in any case should not fall under the wheels of cars leaving the entrance or playing on the playground, so we separate the road and public areas. Everyone needs communication - and we create special places where people of all ages can gather, that is, we lay and shape social life at the stage of the project. In any case, people need shops and at least a minimal set of services, and since the complex is located on the outskirts of the city, we had to create the entire infrastructure. We did all this in Skolkovo as well. Finally, people do not have to worry about where to put their car. Even if we do not build underground parking lots, but simply ground areas, we focus not on standards, but on the needs of people. Yes, cars in more budgetary projects will not be in boxes, but simply on the street, but there will be enough places. It is obvious that architectural solutions directly affect the psychological comfort of a person.
In Skolkovo, in order to diversify the environment, we used the play of volumes and materials, and in the "Holland Quarter" we have designed about seventeen different types of houses. Such buildings are not visually perceived as monotonous and boring: different textures and colors of facade finishing, variable height of sections, irregular rhythm of windows allow people to easily identify their section. Functional comfort is also thought out: we, for example, have abandoned the central refrigeration system, but have foreseen everything for the installation of air conditioners in advance. If people decide to take this step, then the outdoor blocks hidden behind special panels will not disturb the appearance of buildings, and also, thanks to sound-dampening screens, will not make too much noise. By the way, when working on projects of budget housing, it is necessary to take into account not only the cost of the object itself, but also the cost of owning an apartment. The decision to abandon the elevators was not easy for us, but they are expensive in themselves, and the cost of maintenance is also high. Climbing the stairs to the fourth floor, in principle, is not too much of a problem, but only if you are not with a baby carriage, therefore, in order to reduce the negative consequences of such savings, we have provided special wheelchairs on the first floors.
After all, what specific techniques are used to achieve the required level of visual comfort?
Y. B.: We tried to give people the impression that they live in a higher class complex and therefore used expensive finishing materials. For example, clinker bricks, which were previously actively used mainly in the elite Ostozhenka. More precisely, we have two types of bricks and two types of plaster, which form the decorative "pattern" of the building. The ocher or white colors of the plastered facades create bright accents and vaguely remind of Holland. Brick facades are designed to clearly demonstrate the quality of the environment being created. There are several more important details: for example, the gaps between the windows in some places are filled with HPL panels, which further diversifies the pattern, staircases and air conditioners are "protected" by special slats made of painted aluminum, which at the corners of both plastered and brick buildings "pick up »Textured strips-stripping. In addition, instead of standard double-glazed windows, we used higher quality and more presentable ones, with a dark laminated profile. Well, the sections themselves are more reminiscent of European townhouses, and not the apartment buildings that they really are.
Have you used any elements of green building, some technological innovations, or there is no place for them in the budget project?
Y. B.: I don't think I can name any unique solutions, like a pneumatic garbage chute in Skolkovo. However, there are several important points. Firstly, we installed our own double-circuit boiler for each apartment, as is customary in Germany. This solution made it possible to efficiently use natural resources and seriously reduce the level of utility bills, since when leaving, you can set the minimum temperature and not waste heating the premises. The user can regulate the heat himself and this is a big plus. In landscape lighting and illumination of public areas, we used economical LEDs, so that the energy consumption for lighting the entire village is relatively low. We came up with the idea to install not standard city lights, but lower, efficient and economical lights. The decision turned out to be very important also from the point of view of overall comfort, since it was possible to completely get rid of the light sources that annoyingly hitting the windows. Finally, high-quality insulation on the facades made it possible to reduce the consumption of thermal energy in winter and air conditioning in summer. It is also important to mention the high-quality landscaping program of the territory, to the development of which Swiss specialists were involved.
The "Gollandskiy Kvartal" complex is located not in the center, but on the outskirts of Ivanteevka, on the border with the forest, nevertheless, how does it interact with the environment and the city?
Y. B.: Indeed, all our main boulevards lead from the entrance to the forest. People, obeying the natural rhythm of life, can leave the entrance and go for a walk. On the other side of the site there is a low-rise building area, and we have installed there low-rise buildings with the most inexpensive studio apartments, which become a kind of "buffer". We, of course, took into account the surrounding development, but since it is completely faceless, it is our quarter that should become the “growth driver” of the entire area in the near future, it will be on it that they will be guided during further development.
