The New Year for the Belgrade Hotel, built in 1976 in tandem with the twin tower on Smolenskaya Street, began with a closing ceremony for reconstruction. The fact itself is unusual, because, as a rule, guests and journalists are invited to the opening of something. And here, on the contrary, they called to close, jointly and publicly destroy the wall, take a walk on the empty floors, look into the old Soviet rooms with twisted lamps, partially removed furniture, but still with the same stunning view of the Moscow River and the famous Stalinist skyscraper of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, located Very close. The hotel in its original form - and the building has never been reconstructed since its construction - was seen for the last time by those gathered that day. Already on January 15, construction work was started.
The project of reconstruction and redevelopment of the hotel, taking into account the requirements of the well-known hotel chain Azimut Hotels, was developed by the Russian architectural bureau T + T Architects. First of all, the authors had to take into account the significance and peculiarities of the location - on one of the main squares of the city. Smolenskaya Square was formed in the first half of the XX century, its main dominant is the Foreign Ministry skyscraper. Two identical towers of the Belgrade and Golden Ring hotels, flanking the square from the west, built in 1976 and 1973, were designed to complete the ensemble - as large, widely spaced propylaea in front of the Stalinist skyscraper.
The inclusion of the Belgrade building in the context of the city forced the authors to abandon significant changes to its architecture, although some of the earlier versions of the project assumed more noticeable changes. Long work both inside the workshop and with the departments of Moscow (the project was considered and
on the architectural council) helped to find the best option focused on preserving the historical appearance of the modernist tower. The rhythm, texture and color scheme of the facades, the layout of the windows, the integrity of the composition - everything had to be preserved, while refreshing and modernizing the building. It was decided to reconstruct the former walls with their pronounced vertical pattern and recognizable ribbing very delicately, replacing all the old materials with new, technological and modern ones.
So, the existing structure of aluminum racks-crossbars with double-glazed windows will be replaced by new glazing of varying degrees of transparency, but identical to the original shade. In the remote areas, it is planned to use tinted glass with a soft tint, in the rooms - completely transparent and high windows, providing panoramic views to the guests. The walls will be faced with stemalite slabs, also repeating the texture and color of the finishing of the reconstructed building. In addition, with the help of additional decorative vertical slats, the architects proposed to give the building a slender, toned look. The first floor will be covered with a new stained glass window made of clarified, extra transparent glass. Only the stone pylons flanking the bottom of the building will be left in place. They will be restored, cleaned of dirt and streaks, and get rid of cracks. These massive, slightly concave natural stone pylons will become one of the most tangible reminders of the building's true history, a material fragment of a 1970s building that can be viewed at relatively close range.
In the upper part of the twenty-story parallelepiped of the hotel, a two-story glass superstructure with an elliptical plan will appear. This is the most noticeable addition of all, introduced by the current reconstruction, due to the fact that a similar superstructure appeared on the twin tower of the Golden Ring Hotel in 2003, and the new glass volume above Belgrade will only restore the symmetry of the ensemble. The architects themselves, however, admit that if they did not have to look back at the already existing superstructure over the neighboring house, they would have preferred a rectangular shape - this option was even proposed in one of the project options.
A restaurant with panoramic views of the city and the Moscow River will be arranged inside the glass superstructure. It was decided to make the free part of the roof around the ellipse exploitable, with summer terraces of the restaurant and observation platforms. There, in the upper superstructure, there will be small shops, a fitness center and a cafe.
Another important task for the designers was the accentuation of the hotel's main entrance. Now it is not too easy to find it - no visor, no illumination, the doors merge with the background of the first floor. In order to correct this significant disadvantage, the authors proposed to enclose the entrance with a wide frame of a rectangular black portal - such an accent will be clearly visible against the background of clarified glass with minimal joints that opens up the hotel lobby. The architects also suggested placing a faceted translucent visor above the entrance - however, the implementation of this element is still in question.
The interior space of the hotel, which after the completion of the reconstruction should claim four stars instead of three, will change significantly. Engineering systems will be completely replaced. A new parking will appear in the underground part. All premises, including the lobby with wide staircases and conference rooms, will be brought in line with the operator's network standards.
Using the example of Belgrade, the customer expects to implement the concept of a smart hotel, for which functionality, conciseness and manufacturability are priority. Therefore, the rooms will be equipped with technological innovations, the entrance lobby will turn into a co-working area where you can relax with a cup of coffee or work, organize business meetings around the clock. Retail is planned on the second floor. Due to the development of unused floors, the number of rooms will increase from 236 to 474 rooms. One floor will be completely given over to six large conference rooms. In a word, after the renovation, Belgrade, while retaining the recognizable signs of the historical identity of the building of classical modernism, promises to become a comfortable, technological, but quite affordable city hotel with an attractive location. The renovated building is expected to open by 2018.
