The competition for the architectural and artistic concept of the Nizhniye Mnevniki and Terekhovo metro stations, announced in October by Strelka KB at the request of Mosinzhproekt, attracted an unprecedented number of participants - a total of 121 projects were submitted for consideration by the jury. It is not easy to choose from such a large number of proposals the ten "most worthy" ones, so it is not surprising that many interesting works remained outside the framework of the final. One of them is the project of the architectural group of DNA, the authors of which did not limit themselves to analogies lying on the surface, but "went deep" both in the literal and figurative sense.
The Moscow metro has been rapidly expanding in recent years. Next year, it is planned to put into operation the first section of the Third Interchange Circuit - another circular line, which should connect the peripheral districts of the city. Considering the timing of the entire program and economic realities, it was decided to switch to double-track tunnel technology. Accordingly, instead of one central "island" platform, the new stations will have two "coastal" ones, separated by two parallel rows of rails.
But the speed of laying the tracks does not exhaust the ambitious plans of the Moscow government: it is very important not to lower the architectural and artistic bar, to continue the tradition laid down by the first metro builders.
Professional contests - the first for the best design of the Solntsevo and Novoperedelkino stations, held last year - serve this very purpose. Now the attention of Russian and foreign architects was offered two future stations of a new "coastal" type for Moscow in the area of the Mnevnikovskaya floodplain, which a steep bend in the river channel turns almost into an island. The specificity of this territory lies in the fact that the architectural context here is currently absent as such, it is only known that the plans include building for public and business purposes with the possible construction of a Parliamentary Center surrounded by a landscape park. Therefore, the architects of the DNA group considered primarily the natural and historical features of the place as a context. According to one of the authors of the project, Natalia Sidorova, “the main character of the site is the river and the concept of the project is based on the interpretation of the associative series associated with it - FLOW, GLARE, REFLECTION, RISK ON THE SURFACE, LIGHT RAYS, SPACE. At the same time, the image of the pavilion and the station should correspond to the image of the future representative public and business center, dissolved in the landscape environment. " On this basis, a project was born with a rich chain of associations that permeate every detail of the project and are sometimes read at a subconscious level.
The first emotional event awaits future passengers on the street when they approach the metro entrance. In terms of the pavilions have a streamlined "sharp-nosed" shape, similar to a boat sailing in the city stream - this is how the architects remind of the famous fishing past of the village of Mnevniki that once stood here. In the network of local residents, it was mainly burbot, which is also smaller, going mainly to the royal table - the fish gave the name to both the village and the modern district. The glazed facades of the "sides" of the pavilion have a pattern of inclined parallel metal strips. In the light, the overlap of the stripes of the two facades forms a pattern of a rhombic grid, the artistic effect of which is emphasized by the different color of the stripes: dark gray on the front side, warm orange on the interior. When moving, the stripes "shift" relative to each other, forming a dynamic picture reminiscent of the movement of waves, at the same time it is like the crosshairs of wooden planks near a garden gazebo. And since all these parallels are given only by hint and work rather on an emotional level, they do not "overload" the consciousness. At the entrance to the pavilion, the effect is further enhanced by the mirrored ceiling.
Passing through the laconicly designed under-street passage, accompanied by alternating shadows and light falling from the pavilion (this theme is continued by parallel lines of lamps on the ceiling), the passenger enters the metro lobby. The authors of the project viewed it as a full-fledged urban public space, akin to parks and squares, but, of course, limited by a rigidly defined form. As another author of the project, Konstantin Khodnev, says, "this is urbanism reduced to the scale of the interior." Therefore, elements that are inherent in public interiors and that change the scale of space, bringing it closer to the human dimension, naturally appear here. For example, in the checkout hall with its strict dark gray walls, everything "human" - benches, information boards, the checkout counters themselves - are collected in "warm" wooden niches, and in the escalator area there are sculptural wooden benches - rather park benches than interior ones, and very reminiscent of tree trunks thrown ashore or blown down by the wind, on which it is so natural for a traveler walking along the river bank to rest.
The cross-cutting - and, obviously, the main one in the artistic solution of the project - the theme of the interference of light rays continues here, but now the ceiling becomes a large-scale screen for the play of light and shadow (or ripples on the surface of the water). A complex dynamic effect is again achieved in very simple ways: long linear lamps and - slightly below - perforated metal strips are located at an acute angle to each other. It is important that the passenger here becomes not only a spectator, but also an active participant in the performance: it is thanks to his movement that the picture comes to life, “ripples run through the water, shadows alternate with light”. A beautiful and, moreover, ideologically justified solution, considering the station's purpose as part of a dynamic traffic flow.
Another "character" of the architectural performance is a semicircular wall along which escalators go down to the platform. It is lined with thin beams of light falling at different angles from lamps built around the perimeter - a large scope for possible light scenarios - and may well cause a sensitive viewer to associate with a stream of water penetrated by beams of light.
And again, the authors of the project avoid emphasizing only one image. In a couple of minutes of waiting for the train, the passenger will have time to feel himself on the bank of the river (it is not for nothing that the coastal platforms), and then the paths will "play the role" of the water artery itself, the light prism with an information board above them - the flow of sunlight, and wooden inserts with benches in platform walls - say, coastal villages. At the same time, the laconic forms of a few architectural elements, strict tones and textures of decoration (it should be noted that all the solutions in the project are easily implemented and quite economical) do not give rise to doubt: you are in a modern public interior, and the interior is respectable, businesslike and absolutely modern, far from the trends of momentary fashion.
One of the features of the Moscow metro has always been the synthesis of architecture and art. The authors of the project are rethinking this tradition at a new, modern level. In the 30s of the last century, when the metro was just beginning to be built, in the elegant interiors of its stations, everything that was rich in Soviet art of that era was actively used: sculptures, decorative panels, mosaics. Today, other forms are at the forefront of relevance - audience engagement, visual effects and manufacturability. Sensitive to the artistic context, the architects of the DNA group have created a project in which architecture merges with contemporary art, becoming almost an art installation in itself.“This,” says Natalya Sidorova, “is our manifesto for rethinking the Moscow metro as an architectural and artistic event, as we understand it and what it could be today”.
