The results of the competition for the development of a part of the alluvial territories of Vasilievsky Island were announced on December 17. The first place was shared by the projects of the KCAP & Orange team and the A. Len bureau, but opinions have already been voiced about the creative use of all proposals in the development of the final version - for example, the chief architect of St. Petersburg Vladimir Grigoriev suggested that the organizers “once again carefully consider all projects and use a unique chance to attract comprehension of the project of bright and professional architects”.
Six teams worked in the second round. The projects turned out to be predictably New Years - few of the authors resisted decorating the graphics with a decorated Christmas tree, or at least playing with the St. Petersburg theme of cold, snow, wind from the bay. One gets the feeling that the alluvial territories are another house of Santa Claus: cold and a little fabulous, in any case, they were not recently there. Which, of course, is deceiving: the usual December haze.
We publish all six projects. See the commentary of Jury member Yuri Zemtsov below. ***
first place / 1
KCAP & Orange, Netherlands
Many aspects of the development of the territory have been worked out in detail, which the authors turn into a piece of "Venice of the North" - an extended peninsula from the south is bounded by an artificial canal, crossed by small transverse canals and, in addition, is equipped with artificial reservoirs - so that there is where to skate on "silver skates". In other projects, there is no such amount of water, special attention is paid to water, it is as if part of the space is being reclaimed for it. Water transport is supposed - it turned out not only a paraphrase of one of the nicknames of St. Petersburg, but also a very Dutch, port project, which is not surprising and is very suitable for the very concept of reclaimed land reclaimed from water.
Buildings in the KCAP & Orange project combine two or even three principles of volumetric construction: in the lower floors, the frames of the blocks are closed and given to shops, higher rows of parallel plates, oriented from north to south, and even higher towers, up to 24 floors, grow higher. One of the towers, on the cape, is a paraphrase of the spire of the Peter and Paul Fortress, but directed towards the West, like a Worker and a Collective Farm Woman. The spire of the tower in the mainland of the complex resembles an Empire state building, it is also asymmetrical, as if shifted by a gust of wind despite its lattice structure. The main figurative clue is contextual: white volumes with illuminated golden tops should resemble the domes and spiers of St. Petersburg, although they remind - unexpectedly - of the Moscow Academy of Sciences. The building in the shape of a Faberge egg is also responsible for the context.
All facades have been transformed into thin, embossed lattices; for office buildings, the authors provided for a strict, rational drawing, and for residential buildings - a more picturesque asymmetric one. Functions, primarily residential and office, are thoroughly mixed.
*** first place / 2
A. Len, Russia
The description of the project by the bureau of Sergei Oreshkin, the author of the Marine Passenger Terminal, already built as part of the Marine Facade, begins with a historical background and is based on the module proposed by the Gensler bureau in its 2006 project for the development of alluvial territories (revised by the Russian bureau Soyuz 55 in 2014). The architects of "A. Len" grouped the buildings into quarters, naming each after the sea wind, from Breeze to Borey, but meanwhile, having analyzed the directions of cold winds in this part of the island, they tried to close residential yards from them.
All neighborhoods, as in the KCAP project, are strung on a winding inner boulevard that overlooks the bay; a walking area is also planned along the southern border. The height marks of the quarters smoothly change from 26 to 70 meters, forming a calm zigzag. The trapezoidal shape of the buildings predominates, shaded by the theater's circular ring. Facades alternate: thin white gratings with dark brick and asymmetrical mosaics of vertical panels; the inner walls of the quarters are tinted with acid shades: yellow, orange, light green - the latter marks the inner axis. The various layouts of the apartments are worked out in great detail and are replete with deep loggias and balconies.
Cino Zucсhi, Italy
Chino Dzukki, abundantly referring to examples of the historical city: its successful interaction with nature, the comfort and coziness of public spaces and the desire to protect people, in the project offers quarters of different heights with several towers. The houses-plates are directed mainly from the south to the north, which at the same time protects the complex from the wind from the bay and provides good insolation. The rest of the layout is quarterly, but with many breaks. Functions are jumbled.
On the most spectacular corner overlooking the bay, there are three triangular towers of the congress center, whose combined silhouette resembles a sharp, not without pride, a raised bow of a ship, and thus should overlap with parked liners, while at the same time giving tourists sailing a reason to admire. The towers are designed as glass volumes, on which a glass, wider cover, whose lower edge is outlined by a ragged line of conjugated arcs, seems to be not completely put on from above. Similar arcs are found in other buildings, in particular, along the southern boulevard, where the architects place a shallow promenade in front of the shops with thin metal columns of the portico.
Ostozhenka, Russia
In the western leeward part, the architects of Ostozhenka made the quarters small and tightly enclosed, their courtyards evoke persistent associations with St. Petersburg wells, although objectively they are larger due to b about larger scale buildings. The deliberately crushed grid of facades, clearly contradicting modern tendencies to mask the number of floors, visually enhances the scale of internal “gorges” and high, multi-storey, “branded” arches of Ostozhenka architects. The solution of the entrance groups with bright in-depth accents, on the other hand, brings to mind the residential complex "Aquareli".
Most of the blocks are cut obliquely at different angles from north to south, catching the sun. Thin plates are stretched along the harbor of the Marine Terminal, ending in an accent - a very strict tower. In one of the sections of the eastern part, we also find line buildings oriented from north to south.
The South Boulevard in the Ostozhenka project is wider than many others, and on the water turns into a thin pier with marinas and benches for those who are not afraid of the wind.
Snøhetta, Norway
Based on the image of an aybreg thawed inside, eminent Norwegians turned their version of development into large quarters with uneven edges. Outside, the buildings are white, with small squares of windows; long balconies with a completely southern view face the courtyards. The level of the courtyard is raised by one floor, the courtyard is abundantly landscaped, and all together it resembles a "lost world", a kind of warm paradise hidden in the rocks from the cold wind.
"Studio 44", Russia
The project of "Studio 44" by Nikita Yavein differs from the proposals of all other participants in its cyclopean scale and courage. The functions are not mixed here, but are parallel. The main plots are each occupied by one large frame of a residential quarter, outside the port-brick, laid in a large vertical grid of slots, uniting several floors. The facades inside the courtyard of the first block on the west side are golden and dotted with triangular bay windows like cheese or a gold ingot worked out inside a brick. The interior of other courtyards is white or pale; but their south side has been transformed to catch the sun into a giant television - a wide frame interrupted by two glass supports of the stairwells.
An office center stretches along the northern facade of the residential quarters, then turning along the contour of the Marine Terminal: a large, similar to an aqueduct as well as to the "horizontal skyscrapers" of the avant-garde, with a characteristic zigzag of a farm in the upper horizontal part. The architect proposes his solution for several development areas at once, hypothetically framing the entire Marine Terminal with an “aqueduct”. A promenade is planned along the outer contour of the entire letter "P". On the arrow in the southwestern part, the office aqueduct ends with a glass tower with a plan in the form of a trifolium; Studio 44 offers a similar accent at the northern end of the aqueduct.
The solution to the southeastern sections suddenly turns out to be completely different: on the extreme from the city side of the triangle there is a snake house, completely in the spirit of the seventies, but higher and more cheerful, especially inside, where its white circular wall is dotted with many colored balconies, forming discrete rainbow spots.
Commentary by Yuri Zemtsov, [back to top]
member of the jury, academician of MAAM and RAASN, head of Zemtsov, Kondiain and Partners:
“The Test Project was based on the layout of the Gensler firm, which initially raised questions. The cutting of blocks created additional difficulties for the contestants and prevented them from creating a bright solution.
The most integral approach, taking into account the perception from the port and from the bay, characterizes the works of "Ostorzhenka" and "Studio 44". At the same time, Skokan's work, which, according to the author's intention, is a modern interpretation of the Palace Embankment, does not look entirely convincing. Nikita Yavein's project scared the jury and, above all, the customer, with its technical complexity. The project is tough, but, in my opinion, very interesting, executed on one impulse and according to a single algorithm.
Of the two competitors for the first place, I would give preference to the work of Sergei Oreshkin for the decision to unite the quarters with a common smooth silhouette. His reception of stepped quarters is based on the historical layout of the Lieutenant Schmidt embankment, demonstrating the continuity of the urban planning traditions of Vasilievsky Island. At the same time, the jury noted that the project creates a feeling of excessive building density.
As for the work of the second winner - KCAP - in my opinion, there are too many contrasting accents. All high-rise dominants are marked with golden spire-like ends, which makes me associate not so much with St. Petersburg as with Shanghai or Moscow. Therefore, I, as well as Sergei Tchoban, opposed awarding this work the only first place.
In terms of the layout and its modules, the decisions of both winners are close, which, I hope, will help them in their future joint work.
When I saw in the lobby a model of one of the quarters of the Norwegian company "Snohetta", it seemed to me fresh and interesting. However, the general concept gave me the impression of a kind of fuss. In addition, there are problems with insolation and functional content, which is probably difficult to do.
The project of the Italian bureau CZ seemed to me to be a direct transfer of their national traditions into our climate. The yards are oriented to the north, the houses face the bucket, which gives the building a rather chaotic look from the port side. ***
Jury of the competition:
- Vladimir Grigoriev - chief architect of St. Petersburg, chairman of the jury;
- Vicenete Guallart - 2011-2015 Chief Architect of Barcelona, Founder of the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC)
- Yuri Zemtsov - architect, head of the architectural bureau "Zemtsov, Kondiain and Partners", professor at the State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. I. E. Repina
- Evgenia Murinets - Head of the Department of the Architectural Council of the Moscow City Architecture Committee
- Michiel Riedijk - Architect, Partner at Neutelings Riedijk Architects (Rotterdam), Professor of Architecture at the Delft University of Technology
- Oleg Romanov - architect, head of the Romanov Architectural Workshop, President of the St. Petersburg Union of Architects
- Sergey Choban - head of the SPEECH architectural bureau
- Alexey Balykin - General Director of Glorax Development
- Alexander Motorin - Director of the Development Department, Glorax Development
