Archsovet-51 considered two architectural and urban planning concepts: a large residential complex almost in the center of Moscow and a B-class office and entertainment center outside the Moscow Ring Road. Exactly to the extent that such buildings may differ from each other, the attitude of council members to them also differed.
Concept of residential complex "Prime Park"
General Designer - APEX Design Bureau; author of the Dyer concept
“Moscow is not Zimbabwe or some other rubbish. Although it is possible, of course, to spoil her so that it would be disgusting, "- Mikhail Posokhin addressed everyone, but his words were clearly addressed to the chief architect of the Prime Park residential complex, Briton Philip Ball. “This project symbolizes the point of no return,” he continued, “and if we want to get it, we can approve it. After that, you can do whatever you want in Moscow."
Sergei Kuznetsov noted that he did not consider Ball's project "worse than everything that was built." He described the concept as a completely qualified job. However, this did not cancel a large number of questions to her.
Prime Park's general designer is APEX, the authors of the concept are British architects Dyer. A residential complex for 6 thousand residents should appear on the site of the Moscow air terminal (Leningradsky Prospect, p. 37). According to the concept, it consists of nine high-rise rectangular towers, most of which are paired - united by a common stylobate. In order to make the gigantic building proportionate, and preserve the view of the Petrovsky Travel Palace, the buildings are designed with a variable number of storeys. At the same time, the two low ones stand closest to Leningradka - because of their backs, the silhouettes of the remaining skyscrapers grow.
The total area allocated for the residential complex is 11 hectares and is divided into three sections. The concept submitted to the Council considered the development of the first site - six hectares, unevenly cut by a road. On one side of it there will be a school and a kindergarten, which are included in the fifth and sixth stages of construction, on the other - the main residential area.
Philip Ball introduced eight types of facade solutions, noting that they differ from each other not so much as to add visual confusion, but enough to make the LCD look elegant and facilitate navigation. The color scheme is based on creamy structural elements with red-brown, dark gray and light gray colors, “to ensure integration into the urban environment,” the architect explained.
“We are talking about the main street of the country: Tverskaya - Leningradsky prospect - Leningradskoe highway. Moreover, if you look at the site, somewhere here is the life point of the main street of Russia. To consider this place as one of the possible investment options, which we are witnessing today, does not seem right to me. This place deserves, at least, a variant of an urban planning solution and not only an urban planning one,”said Alexander Kudryavtsev. He added that the time has come to consider placing high-rise clusters in the center of Moscow in order to prevent arbitrary placement of high-rise buildings in this part of the city.
However, some members of the Council expressed the opinion that it was time for the high-rise silhouette of Leningradka to change. True, it seemed that no one was going to forgive Ball for the height and weight of the Prime Park residential complex anyway: the Briton was told that he did not know the Moscow city-planning culture.
The degree of condemnation was delicately lowered by Vladimir Plotkin. “We are all practicing architects,” he recalled, “and, as a rule, we do not refuse when we are asked to solve such problems in terms of height and density. In my opinion, this area has already begun to be built up with high-rise buildings in one way or another, and this complex may work with a dotted line. However, if there is something so big here, then there must be something “iconic” in it. At least two or three towers oriented towards the center should be special. It is impossible to simply build up this area with houses of the same type with ordinary facades”.
The idea that a significant place requires a more significant volumetric-spatial solution was expressed by Sergei Kuznetsov and most of the council members.
While Philip Ball was presenting his concept, Andrei Gnezdilov turned on a calculator in his phone, intensively multiplied and divided something. It turned out that the architect calculated that Prime Park is designed at the rate of 46 m2 per tenant. He had doubts that Russian technical standards were taken into account when developing the concept. Gnezdilov also pointed out that the number of parking spaces in the parking lot was calculated arithmetically, but the geometry of the two-level parking lot makes it clear that all of them will not fit into it.
Nikolai Shumakov drew the council's attention to the fact that the school and the preschool educational institution are in the last stage of construction and are located across the street from the houses. “If they do appear, then when all the local newborn children grow old and die. And then, how are these kids going to get across the busy road? Half of them will die under the wheels,”he summed up.
The concept of Prime Park was eventually sent back for revision, recommending not only to improve the project itself, but also to detail its presentation. ***
MFC concept in Mamyry
Timur Bashkaev
Timur Bashkaev, the author of the next concept, which was considered by the arch council, brought with him about ten models and, almost juggling, tried to place them all on the table. “Timur heard about the love of advice to options, and therefore we immediately see a lot of them,” commented Sergei Kuznetsov.
Timur Bashkaev presented not the AGR, but the initial concept, and explained that he wanted to hear the opinion of the council members regarding the most successful spatial planning solution. The task set by the customer did not promise a variety of facades and volumes: an office, business and shopping and entertainment complex is required, which in appearance will correspond to class A, but at the same time the price range of B-class will fit. The solution was a modular building of rectangular volumes of different heights and with a large number of stained-glass windows. “It looks like a dental technician's office, where he has blanks in his drawers,” Andrei Gnezdilov shared his impressions.
A multifunctional center should appear in New Moscow, in the village of Mamyri. Kaluzhskoe highway rushes past it, IKEA is not far away and a forest is located. The building area will be about 420,000 m2, it will create about 30 thousand jobs. The first two floors will be used for shops, cafes and restaurants, and offices will be located higher.
The proposed layout options were reduced to three types. Firstly, linear development, in which multi-storey buildings are located so that their height increases as you move along the highway. It is designed primarily for motorists. The second option is a "spiral", here the height of buildings gradually increases as you move deeper into the site.
“The third option is a 'mix' of the first two solutions and allows you to form more varied facades. Here we propose to plant trees between the blocks, as well as inside the building itself,”the author explained.
The last option was liked by many members of the council. First of all, because it will create comfortable public areas, which is especially important given the location of the complex along the Kaluzhskoe highway.
“It is very important to create a special character of the inner street so that it can compensate for the severity of the external situation,” Alexander Kudryavtsev supported the “mix” option.
Sergey Kuznetsov also spoke in favor of this decision, pointing out to his colleagues that during the implementation the trees may not appear, but the space designed for them will still remain.
Some council members recalled that in such linear commercial centers, infrastructure, both internal and external, is primarily important, therefore it is necessary to work out in detail the passages between buildings in order to create convenient pedestrian connections. However, in general, the council reacted extremely favorably to Timur Bashkaev's concept, recommending maintaining its quality at the same level.
In order to speak out on this project, the microphone was first picked up by Alexander Tsimailo, who did not say anything about Prime Park, referring to the fact that he fully supports Yulia Burdova's position.
Alexander Tsimailo, Yulia Burdova and Vadim Grekov are now also members of the Moscow Arch Council. When announcing the names of the new members, Sergey Kuznetsov mentioned that the structure of the council was originally conceived to be flexible, with a changing composition, and now it will have age and gender diversity.
“As you can see, these are young people who have come to us with fresh ideas and will help us see some things from a different angle,” the chairman assured the council.
