Embankment ensemble
Among the architectural themes, the formation of the ensemble buildings along the embankment is one of the most difficult and interesting. The plastic expression of the border between the urban environment and the water space, the specificity of perception from far and near points, the privilege or curse to serve as a front facade, and many other factors complicate the task. All the more so when it comes to the embankment along Moscow's Golden Mile, where each house, to one degree or another, is the embodiment of the architectural fashion of the mid-2000s, with its characteristic struggle between radical modernism and pretentious historicism. It is not easy to find your own unique theme in the environment of the surrounding buildings, which are very diverse in their stylistic and geometrical parameters. Especially if you have to compete not only with eminent colleagues, but also with yourself, with your own success - the building of the bank built in 1995, which was repeatedly awarded, and maybe even recognized as the starting point for Moscow architecture of modern times.
Alexander Skokan comments on the situation in the following way: “About fifteen years after the completion of the bank's construction, we were offered to make a house on the neighboring plot. It was a kind of challenge for us - interesting, intriguing. Usually our professional position is a contextual approach to design. And here we ourselves turned out to be the context. And the question: how to avoid self-citation in a situation when the neighborhood itself pushes for a spatial and figurative roll call was not the only one. For the architects of Ostozhenka, the history of the project of a multifunctional complex on Prechistenskaya embankment, which lasted almost twenty years, became a real test for stress resistance and overcoming all possible professional tasks: urban planning, planning, artistic, construction and diplomatic ones.
Background
Looking at the modern Prechistenskaya embankment, it is difficult to imagine that literally a hundred or one hundred and fifty years ago, a picturesque park was laid out here, descending to the river from the hospital of Dr. Loder, located higher along the bank. In the middle of the 19th century, in the wake of the industrial revolution, a factory was located here, part of the territory of which, already in the thirties of the last century, was given to a concrete plant serving the construction of the Palace of Soviets. The production technology determined the configuration of the buildings and the site itself, stretched out in a narrow strip of more than 170 m in length along the embankment. A part of Khilkov Lane was sacrificed to the conveyor, which had been turned into a dead end leading to the plant.
In the 1960s, after abandoning plans to build a giant palace and changing ideological priorities, the buildings of the plant were demolished and indoor tennis courts were built in their place for the 1980 Olympics. The sports chapter of the site's history ended in the late 1990s, when the status and value of square meters of land on Ostozhenka began to skyrocket. Like many other buildings in the neighborhood, the former plant had to go through another transformation and become something completely new, what exactly was decided in 2004 by the developer - the Bank of Moscow, who ordered the project of the multifunctional complex of the Ostozhenka bureau.
Composition
Attempts by the architects of the bureau "Ostozhenka" to captivate the developer with ideas for the reconstruction of the industrial in the then not yet promoted loft-style were not crowned with success. All buildings of the former factory were demolished. Most of the vacated territory was assigned to a residential complex, the project of which was being developed at Mosproekt -2. Ostozhenka got the front line - a narrow section along the embankment, weighed down by strict restrictions on elevation marks and the exit of common areas.
At the very beginning of the work, the architects decided to restore the historical fabric of the quarter and break through the section of the passage, restoring the through traffic on Khilkov Lane. The complex itself on the embankment turned out to be divided into two parts: a long four-storey volume 17 m high, stretching from Turchaninov to Khilkov lane - building 1, and a more compact, but also higher five-story block between Khilkov and Korobeinikov lane - building 3. For the integrity of the account, they added the third part - compact building 2 with a separate entrance flanks the courtyard of the complex from the side of Turchaninov Lane; depending on the decision of the future buyer, it can become a city villa or an office mansion.
Another fundamental decision that helped ideologically unite the new complex with the "older brother", the adjacent bank building, is a pedestrian gallery along the entire building, which faces the entrances and entrances to public premises on the first floor. The chief architect of the project, Kirill Gladky, comments on this decision in the following way: “It was a matter of principle for us. We have such a weather in Moscow that taking care of pedestrians is a good form for an architect. We made a similar gallery in the bank and continued it here, highlighting the connection between our projects. " ***
Search for an image
The first conceptual studies of the house in the form of several blocks on a single stylobate, allowing to maintain a visual connection with the river for buildings located in the depths of the block, were not supported by either the customer or the city authorities. It was necessary to find an expressive solution for an extended volume that inevitably resembles a fence. What to do with such a monotonous shape? How to use or transform its horizontal, given that the complex will be perceived both frontally - from the opposite bank of the river, and from perspective, when pedestrians and cars move along Prechistenskaya embankment?
The first ideas played on the theme of water, the architectural role of which was to be played by glass. The broken edges with a clear rhythm of vertical imposts on the stained-glass windows resembled waves rippled from the wind.
option 1:
The decision turned out to be too radical and was criticized by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. The subsequent change of the developer - Donstroy replaced the Bank Moscow - led not only to a delay in implementation for four years, but also to fundamental changes in the appearance of the building.
option 2:
In 2009, the reconstructed industrial building became popular and in demand in the real estate market, and the architects developed several options that continue the brutal brick theme. Among them there was even an option that took into account the customer's interest in historical stylizations. The long building was crowned with a row of sculptures à la "Winter Palace" or the fence of the "Summer Garden". There was an option that imitates ordinary buildings of the same type of blocks protruding from the glass plane, as well as an option where the facade rhythm was set by rectangular glass bay windows in openwork metal frames.
Option 3:
option 5:
option 6:
But the most successful and promising was the option with a folded structure of the facade, consisting of rounded bay windows with huge windows. “Architecture is nothing more than a harmonious division of the wall. In our case, when the house initially had extremely unfortunate proportions, we found the optimal solution. The concession, zigzag nature of the facade conceals its great length. As you move along the embankment, you see how the perception of the house changes when you change the angle and angle of view. It turns out to be a very dynamic composition”, - Alexander Skokan comments on the final version.
A single theme unites both buildings on the embankment, but in each of them it receives an individual interpretation that meets the parameters of the building and the environment. In corpus 1, a horizontal theme is emphasized. The folded ribbon of the facade, three stories high, seems to float above the sidewalk, torn from it by a glass stylobate. The measured zigzag movement is stopped by the five-story mass of building 3, which, like thorns, bristled with angular bay windows. The recessed stained glass window of the multi-colored atrium cuts the facade of the building, visually making it even higher and denoting the vertical axis of the composition as opposed to the horizontal of the adjacent building. In terms of weight, materials and proportions of divisions, the five-storey volume is harmoniously combined with the neighboring buildings and, first of all, with the bank. ***
Memory of the park
In addition to the folded structure of the facade, the building stands out from the general row of buildings on the embankment with large windows. The unusual dimensions of the stained-glass windows make it difficult to determine the typological affiliation of the house in accordance with the stereotypes that glass prevails over the mass of the wall in a public building, and vice versa in housing. At a cursory glance, it is difficult to understand what is in front of us: an office center, a hotel or a residential building. But the size of the stained-glass windows is not only a tribute to the views opening from the house, but also a huge "canvas" on which a grandiose graphic panel unfolds, which gave the whole complex the poetic name "Maple House". The idea was born in communication with a customer who was embarrassed by radical modernism and the absence of a literary legend befitting an elite residential complex in the historic center of the city.
The architects offered their own version: “Once upon a time there was a manor on this place, then it was a park and people were walking. The park has not been there for a long time, but the memory of it remains. How did it survive? In what form can it manifest itself in architecture? How can you materialize the memory of disappeared eras? Here are glass windows, and trees are imprinted on them, the shadow of what is not, the memory painted on the glass,”Alexander Skokan recalls this moment. The customer liked the idea and the famous artist Vladimir Chaika was invited to develop it.
Having photographed the naked branches of trees of different species, the authors chose maple trees. The panorama of the maple alley was digitized and enlarged, from which fragments were made stencils for applying a print to each window using a special silver paint. When viewed from inside the house, the drawing is practically invisible, and outside the paint actively manifests itself, reacting to external light. Thanks to the abundance of glass and prints, the appearance of the house is sensitive to changes in the weather, making part of the architectural appearance reflections from river water, reflections of media pictures from the facades of the Central House of Artists and the last rays of the sun. ***
Ceramics and glass
Brick predominates in the buildings on Prechistenskaya Embankment, which distinguishes the pragmatic buildings of the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries, and is no less in demand by modern architecture. A few light-colored buildings and white-stone decorative elements only set off the powerful energy of dark bricks. In this row, the bank building with the facades of pinkish porcelain stoneware is perceived as a precisely found compromise between brick, white stone and gray plaster. The lighter shade of the walls and the active use of glass made it possible to smooth out the feeling of the massiveness of the bank building without losing the integrity of the form.
Similar techniques were used for the new complex. “Since the building is large, it had to be made large. If we began to divide the form, it would crumble, especially when perceived from the opposite side of the river,”explains Kirill Gladky. What was needed was a calm theme, harmoniously combined with the surroundings, concealing the considerable length of the building, and at the same time, emphasizing the facade plasticity of the bay windows. We needed a finishing material with an individual character and energy. Brick as a finishing material was rejected due to its non-industrial nature. It was decided to use ceramic panels for finishing the curtain wall. From a wide range of manufacturers and shades, we finally settled on German ceramics of a dark terracotta shade from NBK.
The bluish energy-efficient glass of huge windows with protruding graphics of branches and thin metal imposts neutralizes the massiveness of the ceramic wave. At first glance, it is even difficult to determine what prevails on the facade: glass or ceramics.
Building 2 has been even more radically resolved, which flanks the courtyard of the residential complex in the form of a separate independent volume from the side of Turchaninov Lane. The function and final interior layout of the "villa" has not yet been determined and is waiting for its buyer, so the architects used the opportunity to organically complete the three-part composition with a contrasting element. In contrast to the ceramic plate and semi-glass, semi-ceramic block, this case is made almost entirely of glass. Only the first of the four floors is faced with white porcelain stoneware, emphasizing the isolation of the "villa", its opposition to the main building, declared in a laconic rounded shape, reminiscent of the deckhouse of an ocean liner, cutting through waves, even terracotta ones.
For laconic modernist architecture, perfect execution of all structural elements and finishing details is extremely important. And the architects of the Ostozhenka bureau, who have been involved in the project of the complex on Prechistenskaya embankment, have brought it to the maximum level of professional quality for ten years. Unfortunately, as often happens on Russian construction sites, the customer did not need this level and even prevented him from completing the construction as soon as possible. The designer's supervision agreement was terminated. The last stage of construction was going on without the participation of architects, which entailed numerous deviations from the author's decisions on units and the choice of materials. And the responsibility for the final appearance of the house lies entirely with the developer.
Home life
For an architect working in a historical context, the measure of the success or failure of his work is the organic integration of a new building into the existing environment. How naturally it will enter the life of a neighborhood or street, whether it can add some new note to the overall melody, whether it will give local residents or just city dwellers new opportunities, or vice versa, take away some component of their usual routine. And the point is not in the chosen style or saturation of functions, but in the hard-to-reach resonance, the coincidence of a new rhythm with the already established beat of local life. It is not easy to check this, but in this case it turned out to be possible. Preparing to participate in the Arch Moscow 2016 exhibition, the Ostozhenka bureau invited not an architectural, but a reportage photographer to photograph the house and the life around it.
This is how Kirill Gladky comments on the result: “The photographer shot something completely different. Architecture has become a part of life, a backstage for it. It turned out that our home is an excellent environment, a background for simple life situations: people make dates there, stand, talk, ride bicycles, skateboards, and something else is constantly happening. And it's very cool about rovo.
Below are the projects of the public areas of the complex.
