The future hotel complex Radisson Blu, the results of the competition for the architectural concept of which were announced on August 20, was in the focus of several urgent areas of urban development: firstly, we are talking about the coastal area, and secondly, about the conversion of an industrial zone (in this case - the territory of the Moscow plant of building materials), thirdly, the very location of the site obliges a lot: on the arrow of the Moskva River and Skhodnya, surrounded by a picturesque natural landscape with minimal development. Taking all this into account, the Moscow Committee for Architecture and Construction recommended to the customer “to use the most effective tool - an open tender”. Of the 70 works sent by 36 creative teams, three projects have risen to the "podium". The jury gave the first place to the proposal of Sergey Oreshkin.
Like most of St. Petersburg architects, the architects from "A. Len" are hardened by their experience of designing in the conditions of the strictest urban planning regulations, when each object of a more or less significant height is carefully analyzed from the point of view of imposition on axes and distant panoramas. Therefore, they, like no one else, know how to work with perspectives - long and very long, five to seven kilometers. In this case, this skill was especially useful (and, quite possibly, became one of the keys to the success of the project), since the Radisson Blu complex should become the tallest building in the district and the view of it will open from fairly distant points, including from such busy highways as Volokolamskoe highway and MKAD. At these distances, it is mainly the silhouette that works - or, more precisely, two silhouettes, black and white, one higher, the other more authentic, which are in complex interaction with each other: depending on a particular viewpoint, they are superimposed on one another in different ways, forming each once a new picture.
As you get closer, the object "grows", gradually details become visible, and in the middle perspectives the main characters are the facades, with which the authors of the project worked seriously and inventively. Optical illusion was chosen as the main idea - when, due to the almost imperceptible change in the width of the walls and the combination of materials of varying degrees of darkness, a feeling of vibration, thickening of air, an almost pearlescent overflow is created. For the first time, such parametric technologies were tested by the architects from "A. Len" in a recent project of an elite residential quarter in Ufa: just like here, the "vibrating" facade with pylons of different heights - one or two floors - was stretched there on a rigid, even brutal volume. In the Radisson Blu Moscow Riverside project, the effect is further enhanced by the color scheme of the facades: when an impressive mass of white mother-of-pearl competes with black and all this breathes, shimmers and reflects one into another, it really should be very beautiful.
Another structural element is designed for a medium perspective, which is used in both buildings, albeit at different heights: horizontal rectangular cutouts, from a distance similar to windows in a stone wall. In a black case, this opening should be light, in a white one - darkened, as if the volumes-antagonists catch each other's reflections, willy-nilly thus demonstrating their kinship. And if in a squat dark block this “light window” is located in the upper part, then the white, directed towards the sky, with the help of a square cut out at the very foot “breaks away” from the stylobate, removing visual tension at the junction of the horizontal and vertical volumes.
The roof of the stylobate, on which both buildings are located, can be accessed both by a ramp - so that a bus with tourists can enter right here - and by a long diagonal staircase, designed in such a way that an impatient guest of the hotel would have the opportunity to climb directly from the entrance to "Gorge" between the two volumes, overlooking the cape between the Moskva River and Skhodnya - that is, the main viewpoint of the ensemble. Along the entire perimeter of the stylobate, Sergey Oreshkin designed a lobby gallery, from which you can get to all the main zones of the complex: to the hotel part, and to the apartments, and to the business center, a restaurant (two-level and, of course, also with panoramic views) and a spa … And the meeting of guests takes place downstairs, on the ground floor, where, in addition to the reception area, a cafe, an Internet cafe and a recreation area are provided.
Both volumes in the plan are irregular polygons - one is more elongated, the second is almost trapezoidal. Together with different heights (the difference between the buildings is about 20 meters) and the contrasting coloring of the facades, this solution emphasizes the separation of functions: it is planned to place apartments in the dark building for long-term stays, while the white one is reserved for ordinary hotel rooms. The diagonal "corridor" between them - the visual axis of the ensemble - finally consolidates the opposition. According to Sergei Oreshkin, the only thing that was unexpected for the hotel operator was the proposal to put a long-stay building along the river, that is, on a more prestigious site. But the architects managed to convince the customers that it would be logical to place the apartments in this more secluded place. As for the hotel block, from the point of view of the view, it practically does not lose anything: thanks to well-calculated plans and specially planned view beams, almost one hundred percent of the premises (only the elevator halls go out from the river) have a view of the water. But even taking into account this circumstance, it makes sense for future guests of the hotel to climb the roof, which the authors of the projects propose to enclose with a parapet "breathing" in height: somewhere it drops to the level of the railing, and somewhere it turns into a high portal - "mini-Stonehenge", according to Sergei Oreshkin, - enclosing the landscape in an original frame, each time different. Of course, such parapets work well for the future, adding additional intrigue to the silhouette of the complex.
The architects from A. Len are experienced hotel builders: the bureau's portfolio includes about a dozen hotels, and three of them - in Yaroslavl, Novosibirsk and Kazan - belong to the Park Inn brand, operated by the same operator as Radisson Blu. So there is nothing accidental in the project, and the division of functions among the buildings is dictated by the knowledge of the specifics of the object: since in hotels, vertical communications are much more efficient than horizontal ones, the number of rooms, based on the optimal indicators of the length of the corridor for staff work, is proposed to be placed in a higher and narrower building, and the area of the apartments, where there is much less service, allows a longer path from the elevator to the door. Moreover, it turned out that all the proposals for the organization of entrances to the building and internal communications, laid down in the A. Len project, are very close to what the customer had in mind, so that minimal improvements in these areas will be required. That, of course, could not fail to bribe the jury and - coupled with a striking architectural image - obviously, and ensured the workshop's project a victory in the competition.
