“I am glad - this
my work is pouring in
into the labor of my republic”.
V. Mayakovsky
1.
Industrial architecture:
renovation "like everyone else".
“Ten years ago, the workshop completed a project for the reconstruction of the facades of the eleventh building of the Krasnaya Roza plant on Timur Frunze Street. We consider this example as the most common in the practice of the last 50 years (both European and post-Soviet) renovation of industrial territories due to the withdrawal of production from the city or its closure. Such renovation, most often, consists in the re-equipment of former industrial buildings for housing, offices, exhibition halls, museums - that is, in everything that does not concern production.
During the discussion of the project with the Customer, we identified three main tasks. The first is to preserve the view of the Vsevolozhskys' estate along Zubov Lane. A beautiful view axis from the Garden Ring was revealed to it, so any total closure of the territory of the complex was ruled out. Second, we wanted to show the features of the modern interpretation of industrial architecture. And the last thing - we wanted to achieve a spectacular "sweep" of red-brick buildings along Timur Frunze Street.
To solve the first problem, a glass fence was proposed that does not block the view of the estate. To modernize the appearance of the building, a glass-metal "stool" was installed to the end, which marked the main entrance to the future bank. The search for a solution to the third problem turned out to be the most interesting in this project. The outer walls were painted and the paint was removed to recreate a single complex of several industrial red-brick buildings. The building turned out to be defenseless against precipitation, the masonry required repair. The wall was repaired using a brick mixture based on old brick strikes, but the patches stood out from the general background. After a long search, it was possible to select a hydrophobic composition that allows you to hide the difference between the old and new sections of the wall. It was decided not to reveal the masonry joints, keeping their coincidence in level with the wall surface. Thus, having lost some tectonicity, the wall acquired the modern image of a plane-fence. With this object, the workshop paid tribute to the generally accepted approach to working with industrial architecture - re-equipment and renovation, that is, "like everyone else." ***
2.
Boiler room as a popular art object
“In the work on the project of the boiler house in Pavshinskaya Poima, the customer set the task to make an art object, spent three times more money than would have been required from him if the work was carried out exclusively on the function, as is customary for such objects. The result is a truly photogenic art object that attracts filmmakers and TV people. Several episodes of various films have already been shot against her background, for example, in 2014 Anna Melikyan's film "Star" was filmed there. Suddenly, the boiler room became a real stimulus for creative activity.
Technically, the approach to this work turned out to be quite simple. Today's boiler room equipment, like two hundred years ago, is very beautiful in itself - cast iron, and now steel boilers with stainless steel pipes, weaving bridges and stairs. This equipment already seems to be an exhibit of modern design, and this is what we decided to use. For each boiler, we installed our own showcase window, and for the dispatcher we created an office completed with a huge round window. To add drama to the composition, the building is clad in red and dark brown hand-molded Belgian bricks, which creates the flair of an old industrial facility that seems to have gone through hard times.”
*** 3.
Industrial architecture as a city block
“Seven years later, the same customer made a proposal to build a boiler room on Sadovaya Street in Odintsovo. Our ideology of treating technology as a work of art has been preserved, but this time the goal was to create a new image of an industrial building as a natural part of the living environment. The site was again in the center of the district, and, accordingly, it was necessary to come up with an adaptable image.
In order to remove the aggressiveness inherent in an industrial facility towards housing, we moved the boiler room into the depths of the site, placing another additional volume in front of it and trying, thus, to create an image of a residential area with an inner courtyard. In this case, the general plan opens towards the glass portal of the boiler room, behind which the equipment is again visible.
The master plan was largely dictated by the requirements of technology - bypass roads, buried reservoirs, the required distances from them to administrative premises or parking lots - all this led to a functional scheme, which, nevertheless, turned out to be quite lively. The courtyard has turned into a restaurant. What we call the control room, according to the norms, can be converted into an office building with fitness and other administrative premises.
It turned out that in this case the boiler room with additional buildings turned into a flexible architectural object, which we can interpret as a museum, as a residential area, as an office center - whatever is typically urban."
*** 4.
Boiler room as a city park
“Here we are talking again about the town of Odintsovo and the re-equipment of the boiler house for a heating point as part of a twenty-story building. Once again, the location of the boiler house was central - it closed the axle of view of Marshal Biryuzov Street. Here the dominant vertical at the intersection of pedestrian paths suggested itself. While developing the site, we realized that it is impossible not to touch the children's park, that is, it is necessary to somehow tie it to us. Behind it there is another park with a church, and next to it is the central square, which is also similar to a park - a unique improvement object: there is a similar one in Zelenograd, in Izhevsk, something similar to the Corbyusean square with a free location of urban public facilities surrounded by green plantings and a reservoir.
The boiler room served as a kind of catalyst for the creation of a single park zone in the city center. Unfortunately, not everything in the project was successful: we pierced the axles, but, not being able to pass through the buildings, we had to bend around them. We take it as an exercise - unexpectedly, an industrial facility turns into a hub for the development of parks.
Unfortunately, we failed to implement this project, it remained in the workshop's box. *** five.
Industrial architecture to form an ensemble
«
The competition for the reconstruction of part of the premises and facades of the Prostor plant, which we won in a team with the architects of the Manipulazione Internazionale bureau in 2015, at the stage of design documentation grew into a project for a large-scale reconstruction of buildings with the addition of several new structures.
The main objective of the competition was the idea of bringing the facades in line with the internal high-tech production. The proposal for the facades was made by the architects of Manipulazione Internazionale, but when the competition grew into a project for a complete reorganization of an industrial complex, we began to introduce transport services into the technology and develop the territory.
So, this is an industrial facility that has fully preserved its original function. We took into account that, unlike a public one, such an object admits only three hundred people working there. Therefore, architecture can work here exclusively as an external wall. In order not to interfere with production, it would be more correct to erect a couple of new buildings in the back of the courtyard, in place of warehouses, than to invade an existing enterprise. So, on the southern border of the site, a utility building appeared, which housed a hostel for employees and technical rooms. The building of a freezing warehouse and a warehouse for packaging materials was designed.
The main changes affected a rectangular production workshop of variable number of storeys with a difference from one to four floors. Here the superstructures appeared - over the storage rooms. On the side of the courtyard, an additional six-story extension with production and storage functions was erected on new foundations. A profile store is located on the outer perimeter on the first floors.
The main conclusion from the experience of working with promotional objects is that the poet was right: designing production is a noble occupation. Regardless of the architectural result, the result is always positive."
