Village and area
In the city of Kirov, which is still not going to regain its historical name Vyatka, the architectural studio "Archstroydesign" is working on several projects at once. It all started with the ILand village, which in 2014 received the Best Business Class Village award. After that, the customer invited the workshop to take part in the competition for the development of one of the outskirts of the city. Alexey Ivanov won the competition; As a result, a detailed architectural and planning project appeared with the poetic name "Amphitheater" - we have already talked about this concept, which covered an area of about 43 hectares near the village of Perestorontsy. Further, the project was finalized and now "Archstroydesign" is releasing a project for the planning of the territory.
Square and square
From the outlying districts, the architects moved to the historical center, which today clearly needs such participation. Before the revolution, there were more than sixty churches and monasteries in Vyatka. Now the building of the Spassky Cathedral is being restored with donations - it survived, but served as a club, and then a hostel. It was in front of him that it was proposed to equip a square with a small square. Formally, both the square and the square between Spasskaya and Moskovskaya streets exist, but they are unkempt and not in demand by the townspeople. From the side of Spasskaya Street, the square looks like a random and not at all an urban island of greenery. Inside, there is practically no urban furniture and lighting. Meanwhile, the location is symbolic in every sense: from here you can see the domes of two monasteries at once - the male Trifonov and the female Preobrazhensky. A little to the side, the Vyatka River turns into a steep circle.
Together with the customer, the architects developed a technical building, determined the options for the functional purpose of this site. The city has lost a large number of buildings, public spaces, lost identification. It is no longer possible to fully restore the historical shopping arcade that existed here before the revolution, but the architects are sure to turn the wasteland into a place of active pastime. The Velikoretsky religious procession, which has existed for over 300 years and begins from the St. Seraphim Cathedral, prompted the idea of creating a religious information center. The center includes a Sunday school. The development of the idea of a Sunday school led to the creation of a children's art education center, a children's cafe, a media center, an exhibition pavilion, a cinema hall, and lecture halls were connected to it. Thus, the purpose of Spasskaya Square was defined as an "artmedia center". As usual, we developed two options for the architectural design of pavilions and buildings: intelligent - in historicism, and manifest - in the quasi-landscape tradition, with the inclusion of greenery and relief in the interiors of buildings. Both options were presented at a meeting with the regional governor, considered by Metropolitan Mark and are awaiting development. The concept of improvement of the square of the Fighters of the Revolution (it is proposed to rename it to Spasskaya), the authors considered in the same vein with other public spaces of the city center. All of them are within walking distance, but there is little to do with each other. The project proposes to connect them with a single pedestrian and tourist route, which will unite the main attractions of Kirov.
Each area will receive its own emphasis, dominant function. For example, the future Spasskaya Square will become an art square, others will turn into a theater, shopping, children's information square, tourist parks or recreational squares. Nowadays, public spaces of the city are not used much, except perhaps for a children's park, but even it lacks activity. If we put a pavilion there for showing cartoons and a small cafe, place a poster with a running line on the theater square, equip parking for farmers on the trade square, and install an information kiosk for tourists on Spasskaya and build a Sunday school for children, then even with such minimal costs the individuality of each area of the city.
The main entrance to the square has been preserved from the side of Kazanskaya Street. Trade pavilions will appear along the alley leading past the temple to the square. The opposite corner will capture the new and laconic building of the Art Center. It is planned to place a fountain in front of it, and lay out the entire area with granite tiles, the paving pattern of which will reproduce a fragment of Kirov's map. In the warm season, free spaces near the walls of the Center will be occupied by tables of summer cafes. The landscaped area of the temple and the chapel will be conditionally separated by semicircular benches. The square will become a site for exhibitions and temporary expositions, it will also have play areas and a children's carousel. The authors propose to preserve the existing trees as much as possible. A monument to Stepan Khalturin and an obelisk in memory of those who died for Soviet power will remain in place. A little to the side, along Spasskaya Street, a spacious parking lot is planned, which is also necessary for buses with pilgrims.
Residential complex
In addition to public spaces in the Urvantsevo district, located 8 km from Spasskaya Square, ASD is designing a large residential area, which is a single house surrounded by driveways, with a total area of 30,000 m². Only the north-western corner is left open, for the entry of special equipment into the courtyard, the perimeter is closed. The longest facade is more than 200 meters long, interrupted by an arch in one place. A symmetrical composition with a decrease in the number of storeys in the central part and massive corner towers are intended to emphasize the resemblance to the Kremlin. The plasticity of the street facades is rather neutral - in the tradition of the Moscow environment building: brickwork, large window openings, "thermometers" of bay windows and loggias, latticed balconies. In the courtyard, the facades are laconic, but more colorful; they surround green lawns with apple trees, children's play and sports fields and a bike path. Ground parking is available next to the complex outside the courtyard.
School, kindergarten, FOK
At the same time, a project was developed for a school, kindergarten and a health and fitness center for the Metrograd residential complex under construction in Kirov. It is interesting that all three functions are proposed to be built into one volume with their own independent entrances, different heights and constructive steps. From the outside, the building looks solid. Aleksey Ivanov explains that this is "to a lesser extent an architectural model, to a greater extent - a planning and mathematical model, the typology itself is important - a new one, but it is quite justifiable."
Cottage village
A block in the Yolki-park project in the Novovyatsky district of Kirov is under development at ASD. Near the site are located on one side the Arboretum, on the other - the Vyatka River. Individual cottages, townhouses and low-rise apartment buildings are oriented towards the river. It is planned to build a kindergarten and a shopping center, and provide an infrastructure for recreation and sports. According to Aleksey Ivanov, the village turned out to be somewhat experimental, since it is focused on the young and active generation. The peculiarity of this project is an attempt to create a type of apartment building, where apartments on the 1st floor have their own courtyard (0.01 hectares), a separate entrance, two-level, and apartments on the 3rd floor have a smaller area, but with a mezzanine.
Shooting club
Another thing is the project of a private shooting club located near the village of Doronichi, 10 km from the city of Kirov, near a protected natural zone. Here, on the site surrounded by greenery, the architects gave free rein to their creative imagination. Constructivist motives, images of El Lissitzky and compositional moves of Malevich are read in a small but expressive volume of wood, painted red, with long passages and round windows. The construction of the club is close to completion.
The variety of architectural solutions is dictated by the desire of Moscow architects to identify the historical and landscape features of each site, to be as tactful as possible to the established traditions.
The whole city was in the focus of attention of the bureau of Alexey Ivanov: its outskirts, residential quarters and the historical part - architects put together the image of the city like a puzzle, build connections, fill in voids, discover new centers of attraction. It can be assumed that such an active "intervention" based on a dialogue between architects and the city can give an impetus to the development of Vyatka as a whole. Maybe it will finally be renamed Vyatka, although the architects just do not insist on anything like that.