The project approved by the customer for a multifunctional residential complex on the territory of the Ural Instrument-Making Plant, the implementation of which is planned to begin soon, differs significantly from the concept that a year and a half ago allowed T + T Architects to win the competition announced by the Yekaterinburg administration. At the same time, the fundamental ideological moments remained unchanged - it was they, according to the jury, that contributed to the victory of Moscow architects: respect for the urban planning fabric of the central part of Yekaterinburg, preservation of the historical appearance of the facades, and the use of traditional Ural ornaments in the decor. As for the functional and planning aspects, then everything has changed radically; moreover, the original idea of reconstruction of factory buildings was replaced by new construction. It turned out to be difficult to take into account all the new and old circumstances - according to the figurative expression of the chief architect of the project, Nikolai Makarov, “I had to pass between many“scyllas and charybdis”.
The announcement of the results of the competition was followed by a one-year pause, containing quite a lot of events: somehow an alternative reconstruction concept appeared (with a facade in the classic-Moorish style), both projects were actively discussed by professionals and the urban community, the customer, meanwhile, reissued the documents and formed a new TK: instead of a hotel and apartments, it was decided to build residential buildings on the site of the plant. In accordance with the decision of the City Council T + T Architects finalized their project, which was approved by the customer.
The UPZ complex is located in the very center of Yekaterinburg, between the embankment of the City Pond and Pushkin Street. The conclusion of the factory workshops from this is a natural process that meets the interests of both the city and the enterprise itself. In the immediate vicinity of the plant there are numerous historical and cultural objects: the Literary Quarter, the house-museum of Mamin-Sibiryak, temples, theaters and museums; on the embankment line next to it are the classic Zotov-Tarasov estate, now occupied by the governor's administration, and the monumental neo-Gothic Sevastyanov House with an elegant corner rotunda - perhaps the main architectural landmark of Yekaterinburg. The inclusion of a new object in such a species composition is not an easy task in itself, but here, even during the preparation of a new concept, it turned out that a significant part of the main factory building, which runs along Pervomayskaya Street and turns into the embankment, cannot be touched: the bank that now occupies these premises, refused not only from reconstruction, but also from any kind of renovation of the facades. So the main "scilla" was the need to visually combine the new seven-story building with a four-story historical building adjacent to it, and in the most important, ceremonial panorama.
“We strove to ensure that our architecture corresponded to the declared typology and did not compete with the environment,” Nikolai Makarov explains. “Therefore, in the composition of the facade, we maintain the basic lines that existed in the decoration of the factory buildings, and add a vertical one to the horizontal division - like a refrain of the colonnade, which remains on the facade of the bank building in the form of double window pilasters.” The colonnade, which visually lightens the solid rectangular volume and is beautifully reflected in the river water, also refers to the ceremonial embankments of classicism. The dark stone helps to level the difference in heights of the new and old buildings facing the embankment, which, in contrast to the main part of the facade, the architects propose to decorate the upper floors.
The interweaving of horizontals and verticals forms a multilayer structural lattice: a larger vertical division repeats the pattern of the factory facade, small details inside it correspond to the scale of the neighboring historical buildings. The architects "embroider" this canvas with motifs drawn from traditional local crafts - wooden architecture and Ural cross-stitching. The finely worked out monochrome pattern in combination with the three-dimensional structure of the facade makes the perception of the building almost tangible - which is especially important, given the fact that the complex standing on the embankment does not have an average perspective: it can be viewed either from a distance, from the opposite bank of the pond, or very close.
T + T Architects have developed several options for lighting facades, one of which involves the use of transparent concrete for decorative elements and internal illumination of patterns in the backlight. If this proposal is accepted, in the evenings an almost real live fire will flutter in the rosettes decorating the facade.
The ambitiousness of the project was added by the approaching
300th anniversary of Yekaterinburg (the city was founded in 1723): redevelopment of the UPZ territory should become one of the key construction projects on the eve of the anniversary. The architects proposed a "club house" format, which is quite new for Yekaterinburg. The residential complex will consist of two buildings of different heights - 7 and 13 floors - but in total there are not so many apartments planned, only 132 (interestingly, this number is exactly divided equally between the buildings, despite their completely different configuration). The club format forced to abandon the idea of the quarter's permeability for city residents, which was incorporated in the competition concept; Let us remind you that it assumed the dismantling of a part of the building from the side of the embankment and the organization of a through passage through the courtyard. This gap, by the way, became one of the most controversial points during the discussion period. Now, absolutely all levels of the project, from master planning to interior design, are working to create a chamber, almost homey atmosphere "only for their own." The architects developed the interiors of public areas with special reverence: "For them," the head of the studio, Sergei Trukhanov, almost never jokes, "everything was started!" The main lobby of the club house, he believes, should look like a living room in a private mansion, where there will be a place for a sofa group, a library, a fireplace, and a bar counter (it is planned that the residents and their guests will be served by a restaurant located through the wall). Chamberliness and elegant luxury - these principles are followed in interior projects down to such details as the design of mailboxes. As for the inevitable reception desk, it will have to play the role of a "good servant" in this space: it is there, but it stands modestly on the sidelines, not striking the eye.
The entrance group is located in the same place where the factory checkpoint used to be. Being the compositional center of the facade, it nevertheless does not pretend to be a dominant role, standing out only with an elegant metal visor and a patterned "carpet" of tiles in front of the doors. Passing through the lobby - it was especially important for the architects to make it through, without steps and height differences - you can get to the apartments of both buildings both along the street, through the courtyard, and along the inner gallery, stretching along the entire perimeter of the seven-story building and further along the one-story building connecting stylobate, in which it is planned to place the pool. Since the gallery runs along the internal facade, which is also adjacent to the staircase and elevator nodes, the authors of the project had to puzzle over the organization of the space. As a result, the stairs retreated into the interior of the building, the elevators became panoramic, and a full-fledged atrium was formed in each of the four entrances.
The pool building, which unites the buildings, is another source of pride for the architects. For all its obvious functionality, it should become the embodiment of the club ideology underlying the project. After all, only a glass wall separates the pedestrian gallery from the pool itself, which means that on the way home residents of Building B will be able to greet their neighbors splashing in the water, and they, in turn, due to the glass facades and the turning of the pylons, have the opportunity to observe what is happening in the courtyard … The external appearance of this building is deliberately made as laconic as possible - so as not to distract attention from the interaction of residential buildings, which deserves special attention.
Unlike building "A", which hugs the block around the perimeter, building "B" is a thirteen-story tower. It is clear that at such a height, it will inevitably rise above the embankment line, but the architects had no choice - the usable area is important - and it will not be the first tower on the panorama of the City Pond, there are houses even higher. But in the solution of the facade, the same structured lattice, which is the basis of the facades of the outer building, behaves much more freely: here it is not constrained by the disciplining influence of the historical buildings of the embankment. Therefore, the rhythm of vertical articulations is lost, vertical planes unfold in obtuse angles, and in general the building gives the impression of a more modern one, but nevertheless closely connected with its own - if not a twin, but still a brother. The viewer, who is in the courtyard and has the opportunity to see both buildings at once, will certainly appreciate this gradient stylistic transition from classical consistency to architectural freedom.
Since inside the block there is a significant difference in relief - four meters - the courtyard is divided into two parts: upper and lower. Downstairs there is an underground parking, due to the difference in height - one and a half levels. Again, the pool building acts as a retaining wall for the upper courtyard. An original fountain was designed on the slope - water flows directly from under the wall of the house and forms a trickle flowing into a small reservoir, in which the pylons of the pool are reflected. The center of the composition of the upper courtyard is a circular bench-flower bed, the playground neatly blended into the bend of the footpaths of the lower part. When designing the courtyard, the architects had to take into account the presence of not only the banking building, but also several other buildings adjacent to the site from the side of Pushkin Street. The Pension Fund and the House-Museum of Mamin-Sibiryak, which, along with their own buildings, owned premises on the territory of the UPZ, played the role of small but toothy "charybds". The authors of the project had not only to bypass both buildings, but also to compensate for the lost space; Fortunately, everyone was happy in the end. What they were striving for.
