The main prize of the Zodchestvo festival - the Russian national prize in the field of architecture "Crystal Daedalus" - this year was awarded to Evgeny Ass. Evgeny Viktorovich is the author of the concept and the head of the team of authors who worked on the restoration and adaptation of the Arsenal building in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin for the Volga-Vyatka branch of the NCCA. This is the first large-scale object of federal significance in Russia, where scientific restoration was carried out simultaneously with the adaptation of the building to modern functions.
Let's remember that Daedalus is not the first award for this object. In 2013, architects Alexander Epifanov and Evgeny Ass received the Art Newspaper Russia award for the restoration of the Nizhny Novgorod Arsenal (Evgeny Ass then gave Archi.ru an interview about this project).
Since 2011, only a third of the building has been accessible to the public - from the side of the left projection, and since spring 2015 the Arsenal has been open in full. The history of his "domestication" began in the late 90s. The NCCA gathered a variety of specialists for pre-project research, including those involved in the restoration of monuments and the organization of modern museum spaces. The first seminars were held at the Dream boarding house, and even then there was a feeling that the energy of art historians, architects, artists, designers and various curators would certainly be embodied in a clear practical idea. This is exactly what happened. According to Anna Gore, director of Arsenal, Evgeny Ass, as a constant participant in all these working meetings, formulated the concept even before they started talking about the project, and he had to move from sketches to real volumes. In the meantime, the project was being prepared, the NCCA managed to spend three summer exhibition seasons in a dilapidated building in the Kremlin.
Indeed, Arsenal did not look good then. In general, the building emerged from oblivion relatively recently, for decades Nizhny Novgorod residents did not think about its existence. Although the white building from Dmitrievskaya to the Powder Tower was located in the very center, it did not let anyone in, belonged to the military department, stood behind a fence. The building is a ghost.
In the mid-90s, preparations were being made to celebrate the centenary of the All-Russian Art and Industrial Exhibition of 1896: the Time to Live in Russia forum was held in Nizhny Novgorod. Then they thought about additional presentation areas. They remembered about the Arsenal, and the idea of re-profiling a military warehouse into a place for art found support at the highest level.
And in 2015, a building appeared in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, outwardly corresponding to what was built in 1843 by order of Emperor Nicholas I: an extended volume with three projections. It all started much earlier: Nicholas I visited Nizhny Novgorod 9 more years before. The 4th Carabineri Regiment of the Nizhny Novgorod garrison received new cannons - they were stored in a barn, and edged weapons and firearms - in the basements of the Kremlin towers. The sovereign ordered to build a special building, so that it, in a single ensemble with the house of the military governor, related services and a public garden, would become the frame of the Transfiguration Cathedral. Nicholas I ordered "to examine in all detail the wall of the fortress with arches" in order to attach a new building to it, therefore the Arsenal is a building with arched windows repeating the outline of the Kremlin arches. The walls of the Kremlin are included in its constructive scheme. The architecture of the building is based on examples of monumental barracks and warehouses of the classicism era. Historians name the author of the project only presumably - the architect A. L. Leer, and the head of the construction - for sure: the chairman of the construction committee on the arrangement of Nizhny Novgorod, engineer-colonel P. D. Gotman.
A slight difference from the 19th century: in the renovated Arsenal, the fences of the main entrance and the entrances to the basement are made of glass. And, of course, there are ramps for disabled visitors.
But inside the building has changed significantly. In the public areas of the first and second floors, a continuous enfilade is arranged, without division into parts, as was previously necessary for a military storage facility. Various spatial impressions here are freed from the former monotony: the interiors change their parameters in width and upward along the way, natural light from windows alternates with artificial lighting in confined spaces. Fundamentally new: a double-height space with glazed mezzanines in the central part of the building, additional shelving structures for organizing workplaces for NCCA employees, attic floors above the side projections (fitting into the historical silhouette of the building), a spacious basement floor, freight and passenger elevators. All new parts and elements of the Arsenal do not touch the historical walls and are highlighted visually. And as a result of new acquisitions, the building area has increased from 4,000 m² to 7,000 m².
Quite a long period of work on the Arsenal is associated with "earthworks". Before arranging a full-fledged modern space, it was necessary to provide a place for the work of archaeologists: for five seasons, excavations were carried out on an area of 2,100 m². After that, they began to strengthen the foundations of the Arsenal and the Kremlin wall. New monolithic reinforced concrete frame, recreated truss system and timber truss structures based on historical models. The old storage building had only electricity and stoves in the guard rooms. Arsenal now has modern communications.
The public always notes at the Arsenal the cast-iron slabs on the stairwells (these are genuine slabs, the lost parts have been replenished with samples), brick walls and vaults, elegant hi-tech details in the interiors, they love a long - for the entire length of the building - bench in the courtyard. By the way, the courtyard is covered with paving stones, and in the center, along the facade, there are rails: a concert stage rolls along them …
It is valuable that such a space of multi-layered associations has appeared in a large, but provincial city. At the same time, everything was invented and implemented in accordance with the best world experience.
