In a crisis, people behave differently. Someone turns on the economy mode and "lies at the bottom", dreaming only about how to make ends meet. And someone, not discouraged, uses the calm for growth and development.
Thus, the head of the workshop, Anatoly Stolyarchuk, along with sometimes routine work "for a piece of bread", encourages the competitive initiatives of his youth. And although the risk of remaining “in the red” is very high here, such work cannot be called unprofitable: the staff grows and grows stronger on it. We bring to the attention of our readers two competitive projects of Stolyarchuk's workshop, completed in recent months.
One of them was made for Kaliningrad, where in September 2015 an open architectural competition called "Heart of the City" was held for the concept of a government historical and cultural complex. It was organized by the non-profit partnership “Urban Planning Bureau“Heart of the City””, which acted on behalf of the government of the Kaliningrad region and with the assistance of the administration of the city district “City of Kaliningrad”.
Another competition, London Nursery School, for the concept of a kindergarten, was held in London in December. It was organized by the private Italian bureau AWR Competetions.
*** Project of the government historical and cultural complex in Kaliningrad
The design site is located next to the zone of the historical center of Kaliningrad, the development competition for which was won in 2014 by Studio-44. The status of the site in question is even more responsible, since on this site was the Königsberg castle of the XIII-XIX centuries. In other words, this is the very heart of the city. During the war, the castle was badly damaged, although its walls and towers were still preserved. Nevertheless, in the sixties, it was decided to demolish them, despite the protests of caring citizens. Next to the wasteland that hides the foundations of the castle, the construction of the House of Councils began in the seventies, which was supposed to take on the role of the main city dominant in exchange for the lost castle. Instead, the building has become a symbol of long-term construction for the city, still remaining unfinished and without a clear future.
According to the competition task, the participants had to decide for themselves the fate of the House of Soviets, as well as the issue of recreating / not recreating the castle in its previous form. One way or another, this place was supposed to house the residence of the city government and the historical and cultural complex. Stolyarchuk's workshop resolutely rejected the idea of a "dummy": instead, the authors proposed a building that repeats the irregular contours of the castle's inner perimeter, but from the outside it takes on the appearance of a regular square.
A massive rectangle is cut from above along an oblique line towards the southern terrace and the island of Kant; a monumental cylindrical volume with a conference hall and an open amphitheater on the roof is cut into its lowest part strictly along the central axis.
The main entrance to the complex is through a wide arch from one of the main streets of Kaliningrad - Shevchenko Street. Upon entering it, the visitor finds himself in the buried space of the museum lobby, immediately engaging in live contact with the artifacts of the Order's castle. From here you can climb to each of the four floors, as well as to the landscaped, landscaped roof.
Having risen to the zero mark, the visitor can get to the pavilion "Heart of the City", an open museum where you can get acquainted with the archaeological finds of the castle excavations, an information center for tourists, specialized shops, restaurants, cafes. The administration area of the complex and the city library-media library are also located here. All functional areas have separate entrances from the outside or from the yard.
The second floor (+6.000) is primarily the governor's residence. Here is his office, a hall for official negotiations, a conference hall, an award hall, administrative premises, as well as an educational center and the Museum of the history of the royal castle.
The third floor (+12.000) houses spaces for temporary exhibitions and the Museum of Rarities. The fourth level (+18.000) is an exploited roof with restaurants and a public recreational area with observation decks, from where you can take a virtual excursion into the past. Here is a virtual 3D model of the Königsberg Order Castle, recreated according to the drawings of the German architect Friedrich Lars, which can be examined from different points of the roof using special optical instruments.
The composition in the form of a square, the central "tower-citadel", the brick color - all this appeals to the generalized image of a medieval castle. At the same time, since the authors decided to preserve the building of the House of Soviets, the Post-Castle also received some signs of late Soviet style: solemn monumentality, strict symmetry, severe laconicism. Finally, above all this, the figurative level of “friendly modernity” rises - a landscaped roof, laser shows in the courtyard, as well as glass walls and inserts into the paving of the courtyard, revealing the museumified foundations.
Competition entry entered into
top ten. Moreover, most of the finalists chose the path of a more or less accurate reconstruction of the historic castle. Both approaches undoubtedly have the right to exist, but, as the chief architect of the project, Nina Landysheva, emphasized, there is complete agreement within the team on this matter: the workshop is looking for ways of dialogue with the past without copying the past.
*** Kindergarten on the banks of the Deptford Canal in London
Another competition project was developed for a picturesque corner of the former London industrial area. The construction site resembles a promontory bounded on one side by an overpass and on the other by the Deptford Canal. Fragments of a high-quality modern environment here side by side with wastelands, garages and spontaneous parking lots.
In the immediate vicinity is the modern apartment complex "Creekside Village", as well as the college of music and dance "Trinity Laban" - a work of Herzog and de Meuron, for which the authors received Pritzker in 2001. Nearby is Greenwich Park with the famous observatory. The place is interesting and promising, involved in history, but practically devoid of historical architectural context.
In these conditions, the authors of the project set themselves the task of linking the principles of green architecture and their own ideas about a modern playground for children, corresponding to a large modern city. According to Nina Landysheva, the figurative solution was based on a handful of Lego bricks thrown on the grass. This is how the idea of five isolated from each other multi-colored pavilions with overhead lighting for the games of children of different ages was born. The playground that unites them is cut by straight paths intersecting at different angles. But this is not just a lawn for games, but a green roof, under which is the zero level of the complex.
The latter is a common area where the lobby, administrative offices, medical office, conference room, bedrooms are located, as well as a large multifunctional dining area, including a kitchen, laundry, storage room and staff quarters.
The dining room's large, multi-colored window offers children a view of the Depford Canal. In the heart of the complex, there is a common playroom with a glass roof, where children from all groups can interact. The main entrance is located on the side of the college and Laban Walk Road, as if continuing the theme of education and upbringing.
The described project was not included in the number of prize-winners, but gave young authors a European competitive experience, which, I would like to wish, will be useful to them in the future.
