Several years ago we already wrote about the project of the Andersen residential community near Moscow, which was worked on by the Bureau of Vladimir Bindeman “Architecturium”. Then the construction of the district was just beginning, but now most of it is completed and even inhabited, so it's time to return to the project and see what we managed to bring to life. Moreover, the example of this object can be used to draw a number of relevant conclusions that could be useful in the development of the immense spaces of the new metropolitan suburbs.
However, when the history of the Andersen settlement was just beginning, no one suspected the coming expansion of Moscow. An area of twenty hectares, 11 kilometers from the Moscow Ring Road along the Kaluzhskoe highway on the banks of the Desna River, was an excellent place for a suburban village consisting of townhouses and cottages. The building density was calculated accordingly, and when, after the annexation of these lands to Moscow, the typology of housing was naturally changed to low-rise urban buildings, the architects had to fit into the already approved master plan. A conventional semicircle, the arc of which repeats the bend of the Desna, and the chord is directed towards the highway, is divided into two unequal parts by a segment of the forest; Let's make a reservation that now we are talking only about building a larger plot of land, while the fate of the smaller one is not yet entirely clear.
The territory is divided into quarters of equal area, formed by three longitudinal streets converging to the northern entrance, which are crossed by shorter transverse ones directed to the embankment. The width of the streets is 15-17 m, the size of the courtyard squares is about 20 by 20. Which is adequate for a suburban village, a bit crowded for a city, and for a low-rise suburb, subject to competent urban planning decisions, it is quite harmonious and proportional. And this is the first, quite optimistic conclusion.
From the very beginning, one of the main tasks that the workshop set for itself was to ensure the visual diversity of the building. As it turned out in practice, this is also quite possible, and with a not too wide palette of tools. If there are only eleven typical sections and several types of quarters consisting of two L-shaped houses, or three straight lines in the form of the letter "P", or one L-shaped and one single-section, there are no repetitions among them. The result was achieved solely thanks to facade solutions: alternation of red and light bricks, shifting of pylons, inserts of aluminum composite and metal siding panels, choice of white or gray window frames. So now in Andersen there are “white” quarters, there are “red” ones with white windows and interspersed with dark green panels, there are “mosaic” ones, and there are “striped” ones - like a fashionable knitted sweater. This is, even though New, Moscow, so a certain degree of variegation suits her.
“We can say that what we conceived from the point of view of creating an architectural environment was also quite successful,” says Vladimir Bindeman. Indeed, it is easy to notice that the new settlers are already settling in the space quite economically: they install flower boxes on the balcony gratings, break flower beds, put funny flowerpots under the windows … There is a feeling of a small, cozy European town, quite democratic, without restrictions on movement and division into classes … But at the same time, interestingly enough, the residents of Andersen are not yet aspiring to the development of the community as such - to the extent that they asked to remove all inner-quarter paths and benches from the landscaping plans proposed by the designers and to sow the squares of the courtyards with a continuous lawn. What conclusions to draw from this fact and whether to draw at all is an open question, but it is worth thinking.
However, there will be no problems with space for communication in Andersen: along the high bank of the Desna, an extended embankment with a promenade, bike paths, sports and playgrounds and other attributes of modern communal life is being built. From the embankment, as well as from the windows of the houses of the first line, the views open up completely natural: behind the river there is a wall of forest, which closes from the eyes of the next building site of New Moscow. It must be said that from the opposite side the "Andersen" is protected from noise and dust: the field that separates the Kaluzhskoe highway from the village is slightly higher in relief. There, however, it is planned to build a large residential area with a higher number of storeys, but for Andersen this also has its advantages: the residents of the village will have the opportunity to use the local communal benefits, because in the village itself from the social and cultural life, only a kindergarten is planned on the site of the current copse and a minimum set of retail at the entrance.
The eternal problem of parking, aggravated by the unanimous refusal of city planners to clutter up indoor areas with cars, in the Andersen project was planned to be solved in an extraordinary way, giving three floors of a public center for parking, which was supposed to become a “visiting card” of the village. However, it is now known that the community center in the originally conceived form will not be built: an eight-story residential building with a small retail on the ground floor will appear in its place. Nevertheless, it is necessary to put the cars somewhere, and the architects, with pinpoint accuracy, observing, of course, the normative margins, here and there plots for end parking for five to ten cars. Plus parallel parking lots along the streets. As a result, no catastrophe happened - it looks like there is enough space for everyone. Consequently, even taking into account the dense general plan in such low-rise complexes, one can do without expensive underground parking.
But the fact that the project of the community center will not be implemented is, of course, a serious loss. The dynamic and inventive architecture of this building gave Andersen a touch of sharp modernity, combining practical solutions with a vivid aesthetic statement. “Well,” Vladimir Bindeman states sadly, “the material has once again triumphed over the ideal.” But even in spite of this loss, the village, which has received several professional awards, can serve as an example of a modern suburb, as it is in demand today in our country and especially, for obvious reasons, in the capital: economical, comfortable, democratic - and at the same time, which is especially valuable with its own unique face. This is still a rarity, but, as the example of "Andersen" shows, it is quite achievable. There would be a desire.
