It so happened that the Ostozhenka architectural bureau had to master the territory on the banks of the Nagatinsky backwater twice. The first time - as it turned out, was somewhat premature, but the second - at the right moment: right after the competition for the development of territories adjacent to the Moskva River, in the era of the unconditional victory of quarter development over infill development. It is possible to assume with a high degree of probability that it was with these circumstances taken into account that the site, plus everything else falling under the program for the renovation of industrial territories, received more attention and more solid funding with the second "approach". In this regard, in fact, the architects were offered to "remove from the table" the initial, already fully formed project of a residential complex, which assumed a typical building, and to prepare a completely new volumetric-spatial solution for the same site. This is not the easiest situation, especially considering that the construction of the first stage of typical houses has already begun - but no one ever promised an easy life for architects, and even in Moscow.
Until recently, the buildings of a large industrial enterprise - the Moscow ship repair and shipbuilding plant - were located on the territory between the Nagatinsky Zaton and the parallel Rechnikov Street. Then it was decided to transfer the production to a more suitable place for this, but the eighty-year "shipbuilding" history seems to have forever been entrenched in most local toponyms and in the memory of the inhabitants of the city. Alexander Skokan and his team considered this fact as one of the elements of the context into which they had to fit their project. Another operating factor is the Nagatino microdistrict itself, of which the future residential complex should become a part. According to the chief architect of the project, Rais Baishev, this area is "very underestimated: solid Soviet buildings with very humane density and number of storeys, with a green area, which, with a certain amount of idealism, can be compared with European or Baltic residential areas." The architects would like to bring this quietly existing, very calm and comfortable atmosphere into their project - in a new, of course, quality, both architectural and ideological.
Well, the main contextual dominant was, of course, the immediate neighborhood of the future quarter with water. The entire second stage of River Park is oriented towards the backwater. This was not so easy to achieve - the plan of her quarter is a regular rectangle, almost a square, organized around a large courtyard, inside which the construction of a school and a kindergarten is planned. The courtyard is surrounded by seven residential blocks in a kind of round dance - that is, the composition suggests a centripetal orientation rather than a centrifugal one. Nevertheless, ignoring such a powerful magnet as a river was completely unthinkable both from an urban planning and from a commercial point of view. If you look at the preliminary layouts, you can see that initially the architects envisioned six of the seven blocks (the seventh, which closes the courtyard from the side, differs both in location and architecture) almost identical, but then, on common sense and agreeing with the customer's arguments, they introduced them into the project of changes, and now the first row of houses differs from the rear one in terms of the space-planning solution, while maintaining the general typology. In addition to the obvious real estate advantages, this decision added a new emotion to the image of the quarter: the rear blocks seem to peek out from behind the backs of the front ones, standing on tiptoes and stretching out with all their might to also admire the prestigious view that the inhabitants of the first line enjoy so imposingly. Returning from lyrics to practice, we note that achieving this result was like solving a complex mathematical problem: given the increased commercial attractiveness of the first row, the sales volume of these blocks was greater than the rear ones, although they are higher.
Each of the blocks looks like a semi-enclosed space open to the river with a courtyard raised above the level of the embankment, under which a garage is planned. Typologically, this is a cross between a separate building - since all of its parts stand on a single stylobate - and a mini-quarter, consisting of three volumes that do not repeat each other, surrounding the courtyard. Comfortable safe space - the height difference between the courtyard and the roadway makes it physically impossible for vehicles (except, if necessary, special equipment) to enter - it is surrounded along the inner perimeter by a gallery deepened into the buildings. Thus, the area of the yard, which is not large in principle, expands, growing into cozy small nooks where you can hide from the rain or just sit and breathe in the river air. This is where the second floors of double-height lobbies open at ground level and connect to the street. The orientation towards the backwater is emphasized thanks to terracing: special attention was paid to the design of terraces, including open ones, since this element is quite dangerous for our weather conditions, and I did not want to provoke architectural vandalism in the form of different-sized glazing and other amateur activities. We add that in the first line of houses there is not a single apartment without a backwater view. As a result, everything together - the embankment, the terraced volumes of the first line, the courtyard with children's institutions, the row of taller blocks closing the composition - forms a harmonious composition with a pronounced vector of gravitation towards water.
All cafes, shops and other retailers in the project are brought out to the outer premises of the first row of buildings facing the backwater. “We wanted,” says Rais Baishev, “for the embankment to take on an attractive function, to make it lively and functionally rich.” In this endeavor, both the investor and the Moskomarkhitektury turned out to be in solidarity with the architects, considering this zone within the framework of a single standard for the improvement of Moscow embankments. Of course, strictly speaking, the Nagatinsky backwater is not the Moskva River, but, by the way, in JSB Ostozhenka all the numerous “rivers and rivulets” flowing into the main water artery of the capital are programmed to
regarded as an integral part of the water system; this concept was the basis for the project, with which the bureau participated in the competition for the development of coastal areas, thus significantly expanding the competition task.
And the Nagatinsky backwater, unlike many small rivers forgotten by God and city planners, does not need to be released from underground pipes or searched among swampy swamps: here it is, literally around the corner, deep, picturesque and even navigable. God himself ordered to improve its banks for the joy of people - and better, of course, on a competitive basis. By the way, the River Park embankment became the first coastal improvement project in Moscow, for which a separate architectural competition was announced, which started in February 2015. And in the summer, the names of the winners were announced. The first place was taken by the WOWhaus bureau, which does not need to be introduced, with a project of a chain of various venues with a lighthouse as a compositional culmination. The general designer is very pleased with the future cooperation: since the time of work on the general plan of Ostozhenka, Alexander Skokan and his colleagues have been striving to ensure that the territory is mastered “with more than one hand,” because the more diverse creativity, the better the result. In particular, they sincerely rejoice at the non-standard projects of the kindergarten and school, which are based on the works of the participants of the competition "New look of kindergartens", shown two years ago at Winzavod. The landscaping of the residential complex will be carried out by the T + T architects team, whose concept of the Nagatinsky Zaton embankment took second place in the competition. Their task is to link in the project a multitude of multi-format factors, both obvious, such as the connection between the residential area proper by Ostozhenka and the concept of the embankment from WOWhaus, and so far only predictable.
Since at the moment only the first stage has been built, three 19-storey buildings with an inner courtyard, the solution of this territory should become something like a pilot project that will stylistically determine the improvement of the entire future quarter - both a large internal space with a kindergarten and a school, and courtyards of individual blocks, and planned in the future office and retail spaces. All this "patchwork quilt" needs to be played functionally and not boring, and most importantly - in line with the general composition of the residential area, set by the general designer. If everything goes according to plan, the elements of this composition, sometimes heterogeneous and quite clearly zoned, will result in a single, holistic and harmonious urban environment - a concept that is especially dear to Alexander Skokan and the architects of the Ostozhenka bureau.
