The residential complex "Megalit" is located on a noticeable site: its main facade is facing Obukhovskoy Oborony Avenue, which plays the role of an embankment in this place. Thus, the new building participates in the formation of the city's appearance when viewed from the Neva, and earlier this function was performed by the river station with the Rechnaya hotel, which stood in this place.
The volume of the 23-storey Megalith is visible from afar. Evgeny Gerasimov himself says about his decision: “The configuration of the complex is determined by the shape of the site and the specified indicators of the usable area. In the tradition of the Neva panoramas, this is a large house with an extended facade overlooking the river. Its height is supported by the nearby Soviet high-rise buildings. It is clear that such a huge plane had to be broken with something, but the insolation norms did not allow making protrusions. In such conditions, as is usually the case, difficulties suggested the correct solution, and the technique of "cyclopean clutch" with gaps arose. This move was unexpectedly inspired by the very name of the developer company: "Megalit". I usually listen to these "signs" and consider them to be some kind of guidelines for creative intuition. The role of gaps is played by deep vertical niches between the main blocks. For this it was necessary to "cut" the front of the apartments to the corridors, and the customer went for it in order to obtain the desired artistic effect. Due to the fact that niches look exactly into the corridors, and not into living quarters, they acquire the necessary uniformity, in particular, the lights are turned on and off at the same time in them. In general, I can say that with the available modest resources, we searched for and tried to give the only correct answer to the task."
The resulting "superblock" of smaller blocks of warm shades reminds not only of the buildings of Soviet modernism, but also of current trends in foreign housing construction. Such a game with volumes, which allows to revive large-scale buildings, giving them dynamics, for example, is typical for the works of the Dutch MVRDV bureau: similar
multi-part houses were realized by them in different cities of Europe. As in foreign examples, Megalit has a spacious courtyard inscribed in the U-shaped building plan. This, more classical than that of the Dutch, who sometimes place their courtyards at a considerable height, in the openings between apartments, is, undoubtedly, in the tradition of St. Petersburg architecture.
Also, the terrace surrounding the residential complex, raised 1.7 m above ground level, reminds of the historical architecture. It faces the entrances of the institutions that occupy the public ground floor: there is a preschool educational institution for 60 children, offices and premises for a homeowners' association. Its ceremonial appearance, accentuated by natural stone cladding, is read as a reference to the development front of embankments in Russian cities of the mid-20th century. The terrace reflects the structure of the building, emphasizing the stylobate on which the Megalith is erected. Inside the stylobate there is a parking lot and engineering rooms.
In addition to the aforementioned natural stone, which makes up the cladding of the building in its lower part, porcelain stoneware was used for the external and courtyard facades. The light niches and window openings of the premises on the first floor are glazed; the canopies above the entrances to these premises are also made of glass. Stainless steel was chosen for the railing of the stylobate terrace, handrails of ramps and stairs. The yard is designed in the form of a "cascade" of different levels, terraces, where landscaping, playgrounds, recreation areas, territory of the preschool educational institution are located.
Concluding the story about the building, it is important to note that it is associated not only with water - such a valuable resource for housing, but also with the green zone: the Kurakina Dacha park, the territory of the former estate of the Kurakin princes, is located very close. Also, the location of "Megalith" is distinguished by transport accessibility: just a 10-minute walk - the metro station "Proletarskaya".
Photos: Yuri Slavtsov
