Residential building on Barvikhinskaya street
The design site for a residential building, located at the intersection of Mozhayskoye Highway and the Moscow Ring Road, has already been considered by the Architectural Council more than once. This place at the entrance to the capital is positioned as the western "gate" of Moscow, and therefore has a special significance for the city. Literally two years ago, on the territory directly facing the highway, the Architectural Council approved the construction of the second stage of a large office center of three separate volumes according to the project of Boris Levyant's workshop. The first stage has already been built on the opposite side of the highway. A new residential building is supposed to be built behind the facility under construction, on the site of the existing Seventh Continent store. The situation is difficult and imperative: two large and expressive complexes at a powerful traffic intersection, tied into a single ensemble, confidently mark the entrance to the city. To the left of the plot under consideration there are also very noticeable 22-storey towers of residential buildings, cruciform in plan.
In such an environment, one should at least meet the specified bar. The authors of the project from the bureau "Aimex-Group" decided to focus on the "cross" towers - on their height and landing. However, instead of a cross, a corner 23-storey skyscraper appeared here. This form, in addition to being tied to existing buildings, according to the speaker, also provides the necessary insolation of apartments among close buildings. Due to the difference in relief, a large stylobate was organized, where it is proposed to build in the existing "Seventh Continent", and an additional shopping gallery, and a kindergarten. The school is planned to be located in a separate block. Neutral facades are formed by alternating light and dark fragments, an orderly arrangement of windows, balconies and loggias.
After listening to the report, Evgenia Murinets drew the attention of those present to the fact that in the presented project there are significant deviations from the GPZU. Thus, an excess of the permitted height of 75 m was revealed, since the design does not take into account the height of the stylobate. The permissible area values are also exceeded by about 10%. In addition, there are claims to the organization of automobile and pedestrian traffic on the site.
Sergei Kuznetsov immediately had questions about the detached building of the school: not only did the authors not offer any intelligible architectural solution for him, but also the school did not have its own territory, which is a direct violation. The designers, together with a customer service representative, explained that the issue of building the school is still open. This is an encumbrance given by the city to be discussed with the residents of the area. The fact is that there are two large schools within walking distance, ready to accept all new students. According to the customer, there is a high probability that only a small block for primary classes with 70 places will be built, or the construction will be abandoned altogether. Sergei Kuznetsov, after listening to the explanation of the speakers, offered his own solution to the issue: send a request to the Department of Education in order to place a block of primary classes on the territory of existing schools, since it is impossible to organize a school space on the site under consideration.
Having dealt with the school, the council members began to discuss the apartment building. Andrei Gnezdilov noted that the location of the building on the site looks unconvincing. The shape of the site allocated for the construction, in his opinion, allows for another, more rational layout - for example, in the form of an extended plate of lower height. Sergey Kuznetsov also agreed with this idea, noting that the potential of the site was not used in any way. The house occupies a place exactly in the middle, forming neither public nor private courtyard space. According to Kuznetsov, it would be more logical to put the house along the arc of Barvikhinskaya Street, organizing a cozy closed courtyard inside. The authors tried to defend themselves by explaining the landing of the building by the need to maintain the rhythm of the existing towers by a noticeable turn in volume. In addition, a different location will inevitably lead to a violation of insolation norms and block all types. They also did not want to put a long house along the street, because in this case they would get a rather dark and narrow corridor between the offices under construction and residential apartments.
Yuri Grigoryan suggested considering another option in the form of a tall and thin tower. In his opinion, the permitted height in this place, near the Moscow Ring Road, could be much higher - up to 120 m, and in this case a much more interesting architectural object could be obtained, corresponding to the status of the place and the environment. Evgenia Murinets confirmed that this restriction could be revised. Sergei Kuznetsov also agreed with this proposal, but advised to pull the volume as close to the road as possible in order to make room for the courtyard and the school, if it will be built anyway. Thus, the authors received at once two possible options for further study - an extended sectional building and a high-rise tower.
In addition, comments were made on the layout of the apartments. Despite the authors' special attention to sunlight in the interior, it turned out that 1-room apartments are practically not insolated. The project also did not comply with the fire safety standards in terms of the organization of staircase and elevator nodes. As a result, all members of the council agreed that the project should be seriously revised and thought about organizing public spaces, of which the street itself is a part.
Administrative and business building in Myasnitsky proezd
A miniature 4-storey building with an additional attic floor is proposed to be built on a cramped and narrow empty area along Sadovo-Spasskaya Street next to the Krasnye Vorota metro station. The site, bounded on both sides by existing buildings, has a trapezoidal shape. Behind it there is a small courtyard (it was necessary to keep the entrance from the street there), and in front of the main facade there is a narrow sidewalk and a busy Garden Ring. The serious difference in the relief also added its difficulties. On the top three floors and in the attic under the pitched roof, a sufficient number of offices fit. The first floor was occupied by a small lobby, and a mechanized parking lot was added to two underground levels.
The authors of the concept, the architects of Mosproekt-5, have been looking for a suitable image for this place for a very long time. On the one hand, I did not want to come into conflict with the development of the Garden Ring, on the other, it seemed wrong to imitate the environmental architecture of that time. The result is a large number of very different options - from restrained and completely neutral to bold and modern. According to the speaker, the priority for the customer was a natural stone facade with large glazing. The attic in this version is made of dark glass with silk-screen printing. As an alternative, it was proposed to use rusticated stone for decoration, and to make the rhythm more strict and uniform than in the first version, where it is clearly knocked down. There were also shown such proposals that did not try to enter into a dialogue with the environment, working in contrast with it - for example, a horizontally lined volume made of colored glass.
The main issue for the presented project was the presence of a protruding part of the building that goes beyond the boundaries of the site. If at the level of the first floor the volume clearly follows the red line, then starting from the second floor it protrudes forward by more than a meter. According to Evgenia Murinets, the project cannot be coordinated with such a violation. In addition, the council members did not like the view of this ledge, which was especially noticeable and “unpleasant”, as Yevgeny Ass said, from the perspective of the street. In addition, at the end of the neighboring building along the edge, windows are arranged, which, with such a spade of the projected house beyond the permitted boundaries, will go directly to its balconies. Marked by the customer as the preferred version of the facade, Assu did not like it because of its unreasonably complex rhythm. And Andrei Bokov criticized the chosen color palette, which stands out strongly from the ocher-yellow gamut of the street.
Continuing to discuss the topic of contextuality, Mikhail Posokhin noted that it would be more correct to equate the height of the new house to the already existing, corner one. Now, in his opinion, there is a visual gap in the front line of the street. A similar opinion was expressed by Alexey Vorontsov, who also drew attention to the unresolved firewall of the house, which was clearly supposed to be closed with a new building. Alexander Kudryavtsev did not agree with Posokhin and Vorontsov. He recalled that it is quite in the tradition of Moscow to focus on the tallest building, but in the sweep of the Garden Ring, the projected miniature house looks quite organic.
There were also complaints about the layout of a typical floor. Vladimir Plotkin drew attention to the fact that for some reason the bathrooms are located along the main facade: “The building is very small, there is an obvious shortage of office space with good natural light,” he said. "At the same time, the bathrooms occupy 4.5 meters along the front of the street." The authors explained both the broken rhythm of the facade and the internal layout by the peculiarities of the arrangement of the underground mechanized parking and added that they had looked through all possible options - the presented one turned out to be optimal.
The discussion was drawing to a close. Most of the council members were inclined in favor of the first, stone and glass option, and Sergei Kuznetsov was already ready to agree with this. But then Yuri Grigoryan took the floor, who remembered that Sergei Tkachenko, known as the author of the famous egg house on Mashkov Street, was most likely involved in the project. “Sergey Tkachenko is a cheerful architect who can make a unique object,” Grigoryan explained his position. - Now we see an attempt to confine ourselves to ordinary and dull architecture, which appears in a stunning and important place. And this is an amazing miniature house that could become a very noticeable part of the Garden Ring. " The speakers answered that the color version belongs to Tkachenko. Revived Evgeny Ass explained that he also did not like the colored, almost "avant-garde" version of stemalite, as well as the one chosen by the customer, however quite appropriate. " Andrey Gnezdilov also took the side of a bright, unique design and invited the authors to think in this direction.
Summing up the discussion, Sergei Kuznetsov stated that this time the opinions of the council members were seriously different. However, the chief architect himself enthusiastically supported the idea of creating a “noticeable” architecture: “Let it be a unique and even scandalous object. This is better than a neutral solution that adjusts to the environment. I am not afraid to disgrace myself, I am always ready to support bright architecture, which is sorely lacking in Moscow. Authors can use a variety of tools in their project. And this is not only color, but also plastic, geometry, materials. It could be, for example, some interesting faceted volume. As a result, the designers were asked to try to move in two opposite directions. And what turns out better will be approved already during the working consideration.
