New regional trends
Over the past few years, the Voronezh Region has become one of the most developed agricultural regions in Russia, supplying products to the largest chain retailers. Experts predict the growth of the economy and population, which could not but affect the volume of housing under construction and projected, which for the most part belongs to the economy class. But ordinary new buildings can no longer satisfy the requirements of an increasingly sophisticated buyer who makes a choice in favor of their hometown, while not wanting to put up with poor layouts and low quality construction and finishing. A new generation of regional developers, focusing on metropolitan trends, is ready to offer the market a better product that meets modern housing standards, based on urban planning and marketing research, combining various functions and developed by the leading architects of Moscow and St. Petersburg. A typical example of a new regional development is the project of a multifunctional complex carried out by the A. Len bureau for the VDK company, which is part of the Hamina group of companies.
Key "encumbrance"
The sports complex "Energia" was built in the eighties of the last century in the center of Voronezh on a site bounded by Voroshilov street and square, as well as Moiseeva street. It was assumed that the complex will become a regional center for the development of athletics, game and water sports, martial arts and dancing. But perestroika storms canceled all plans. Maintain and operate a huge 17,000 m2 building2 turned out to be too expensive and practically abandoned. Investors were interested in the dilapidated building only with the aim of demolishing and vacating a promising site in the center of the city's business and cultural life.
The Hamina group of companies, which bought the land plot for 250 million rubles, offered the city authorities a different scenario. The plan developed by them included the construction of five residential towers on the free part of the territory (residential complex "Five stars" according to the project of VDK LLC, the architectural workshop of LLC PTM No. 4 SA and LLC PGS project) with the subsequent financing of the reconstruction of the old sports center into a modern a multifunctional complex that combines sports functions, housing, a hotel, trade, a cultural and business center, an indoor parking, as well as comprehensive improvement and the creation of a green park with a monument to the first Russian Olympic champion in figure skating Nikolai Aleksandrovich Panin-Kolomenkin. The object, which was a problem, became the reason for the creation of a "mini-city" project, which has no analogues in Russia.
The Tetris Principle
The A. Len bureau has considerable experience in the design of both residential and sports complexes, but even for it the task set by the developer has become a serious challenge. The number of functions that needed to be combined within one complex meant not only difficulties in building a multi-level structure saturated with different zones and rooms, each of which had its own set of parametric and technical requirements, while some of them should be interconnected, and some - isolated, but also the need to comply with safety requirements. The current regulatory framework, of course, does not provide for clearly defined regulations for such a complex tangle of functions. Therefore, the work on the project immediately included the need to prepare individual special technical conditions and conduct special measures to ensure fire safety.
Work on the project went from general to specific. First, the locations for the most voluminous functional areas were identified. The old building of the sports complex was located in the center of the triangular development area. Some of its structures were preserved, some were dismantled. New sports blocks were built in and attached to the "historical core", as if "enveloping" it, filling in all the gaps. As a result, the total area of the sports part of the complex was 26,000 m2, and the number of visitors is planned to be up to a million people per year. Several new popular formats have been added to the traditional sports and leisure activities in Voronezh. The future center includes 40 modern halls for playing sports: handball, volleyball, mini-football, badminton, table tennis. They were joined by a modernized climbing wall with a height of 16 m, a martial arts hall, two fitness clubs, four swimming pools - two of them 25 m each with five and six lanes, as well as halls for dancing. Each had to take into account individual requirements and provide a service infrastructure. The architects collected volumes and functions, as if putting together different-sized figures in the game "Tetris". In addition, the client planned to place one of the large pools at the ground floor level from the street side so that passers-by could see those floating behind the huge display windows, as a kind of advertisement for a fitness club and, at the same time, a healthy lifestyle.
Closer to Voroshilov Street and the beginning of the "Sportivniy" public garden, residential, business and representative functions were concentrated. Here, the Grand Prix club house and the business center of the same name, the congress hall and the hotel are intertwined in a complex tangle: they rise up, forming a high-rise dominant, accentuating the complex in the street panorama. Both the project developer and the designers were well aware of the important urban planning role of this block and sought to raise it to the maximum height, but the severe restrictions on insolation due to the Five Stars residential complex located behind did not allow creating a more expressive silhouette, stopping it at 55 meters. The lack of height had to be compensated for by the plastic play of the bodies protruding and sinking in various planes, contrasting with the emphasized horizontal sports block.
Opposite the business part of the complex, along Delegatskaya Street, there will be a public garden with integrated landscaping and a built-in lighting system, which is not inferior in its design solutions and the quality of the materials used to the best metropolitan counterparts. On the opposite side from the residential part, the architects placed a shopping block with a large supermarket and a traditional set of shops and services in the “near home” format. Nearby there is a multi-level parking lot and an outdoor parking lot.
Inside the labyrinth
By concentrating so many functions “under one roof,” architects had to determine how isolated or, conversely, interconnected they would be. The obvious futuristic solution: to connect everything with everything, giving the inhabitants the opportunity to get anywhere without leaving the complex, turned out to be ineffective, since it significantly reduced the usable area, increasing the area of corridors and stairs. In addition, it made it difficult to comply with fire safety rules.
Of course, the most necessary connections are provided: first of all, we are talking about access for residents of apartments and hotel rooms to the fitness block - a weighty argument in favor of buying apartments. Directly through the lobby of the residential building, you can go to the sports area, where all kinds of sports and recreation for adults and children are concentrated, plus a hotel and a restaurant where you can invite friends and acquaintances. The shopping complex and multi-level parking will be completely isolated.
Concentrated energy
The appearance of the complex exactly matches its structure. It is a combination of blocks of different sizes, some of them are orthogonal, some have a more complex shape. When developing the concept, the architects explored the possibility of highlighting each functional element as a separate volume with its own original stained glass window. It was not possible to fully implement this idea, but in most cases the main halls and spaces are accented and read in the external appearance of the complex. The function of each block is guessed by the size and type of glazing. Huge stained glass windows highlight the public areas: sports, business center, trade and culture. The current scattering of window openings of different sizes decorates the facades of the club house and hotel.
In addition to the play of volumes, color is actively used in the project: gray, white and golden-yellow panels move from block to block, changing roles. On the gray case, white and yellow appear as complementary colors in the walls and finishing of the stairwells, on the yellow one - the opposite is true. The contrasting combination of saturated colors should be favorably combined with the greenery of the adjacent squares, at the same time emphasizing both the modernity of the architectural solution and the "positive-sunny" character of the complex, grouped around the sport.
The golden-yellow anodized aluminum of the facade panels also serves as a metaphor for the name of the complex - "Energy", embodying an energy flow similar to lightning. Illuminated at night, a golden ribbon of cladding, descending from the residential tower, "snakes" along the facade, framing the protruding fragments of the building, connecting separate blocks. In addition, signs of cafes and shops will be placed against a bright yellow background - it is designed, on the one hand, to attract the attention of passers-by, and on the other, to provide the “headline” part with color integrity, combining the fractional colors of brands in a golden tone.
Joining forces Thanks to the cooperation of a development company and one of the leading Russian architectural firms in Voronezh, the process of implementing the concept of a new type of regional center has been launched, which creates favorable conditions for doing business, cultural and sports recreation. The role that used to be played by Soviet sports clubs or regional cinemas, now, at a new level of development of society, multifunctional complexes are playing. The search for viable formats for such synergistic systems is underway not only in the capital, but also in the main regional centers. And in the very near future it will be possible to evaluate the result of the transformation of an abandoned sports complex into the epicenter of the business, sports and cultural life of Voronezh.
