about the competition and site of the First Exemplary Printing House
The basis of the imagery of the presented DNA ag renovation project, in full accordance with the history of the place, was the theme of the typography, which, as it turned out, provides the basis for a mass of material and semantic associations.
The "face" of the complex - the main building of the printing house - is being restored by the authors of the project respectfully and competently. Restoration of historical masonry, door and window openings, replacement of the brick filling of the "Soviet" superstructure with stained glass - all this returns the appearance of the building to the look conceived by Adolf Erichson. To emphasize the historical silhouette with figured attics, the authors of the project propose to arrange terraces on the corners of the building, in the upper floors, including from the side of the firewall, clearly visible from the Garden Ring. Given the change in functionality from production to residential, the main entrance is of particular importance - it is also the main entrance to the entire complex. “We preserve its character as much as possible,” says architect Natalya Sidorova. - The historic entrance through the neo-Gothic arch should be the main emotional event for the guests of the complex. A large front lobby begins behind it. But since the entrance faces the street and it is not very comfortable, we slightly deepen its stained-glass window with an original drawing, thereby showing a more private, protected character of the residential complex."
The Soviet building, stretched along 2 Monetchikovsky lane, became for the architects of DNA, perhaps, the main point of application of creative thought. Leaving the frame of the 1930s typographic building intact, they "put on" a new facade on it, through which, nevertheless - in the form of blank walls between the glass - the original structure appears, even breaks out, thus creating an effect of historical and stylistic layering. Fully justifying their name, architects from DNA "restore the gene chain" - or, if you prefer, repair the historical morphotype. Moreover, it is in these places of breakthroughs in the historical fabric that the typographic "language" about which was mentioned above declares itself: the piers are decorated with fragments of engravings, with the help of which images were created in Sytin's printing house, the geometry of the typesetting cash register is reflected in the grid of fences, and the relief as the basis of typography appears in the rows of coffered panels.
With a small number of storeys, this building is quite long - it occupies almost the entire lane. “We deliberately did not divide it into three different volumes in order to preserve the memory of the place, the historically formed ensemble,” explains Konstantin Khodnev. “The division into parts in our project is nuanced, at the level of average plasticity”.
If you do not look closely, the difference between the three conditional parts of the facade is grasped only out of the corner of the eye, almost subconsciously: closer to Pyatnitskaya, the caissons mark the lintels between the floors, in the middle part they are decorated with pylons, and in the depths of the alley this architectural detail is present in both versions - and vertical, and horizontal. Due to the difference in light in the perspective extending deep into the lane, the relief is read quite clearly. In addition, the boundaries between the fragments mark the terraced recesses on the upper level of the building. By the way, thanks to this decision, when viewed from the corner of Pyatnitskaya and 2nd Monetchikovsky lane - points,from where the silhouettes of the two main buildings of the complex are equally clearly visible - their relationship becomes obvious: the rigid orthogonal notches of the terraces of the reconstructed building harmoniously rhyme with the whimsical neo-Gothic attics designed by Erichson.
Another thread that forms the canvas on which the fabric of the designed complex rests is the architecture of Moscow apartment buildings, thoroughly studied by the authors of the project. The starting point was building 3 on Valovaya Street, which once housed the apartments of the employees of the Association of I. D. Sytin. The location of window openings, the design of facades, the alternation of smooth and embossed surfaces - all these features of this typology are not the subject of direct quotation, but are clearly manifested, in a modern reading, for example, in the appearance of the newly built sixth building, where the windows are also combined in pairs, but on the façade appears the tiles typical of 19th century tenement houses. The theme of typography is also traced here: this is the matrix structure of the facade, and the fragments of engravings on a botanical theme included in its design, and materials: brass, dark glossy brick and fragments of white stone, perceived against this background as sheets of printing paper. As for the volumetric solution of the building, this is a rather calm modern architecture, largely due to the limitations of the surrounding, rather close building.
As with each of the component parts of the complex, the building number 4, which is located inside the courtyard, has its own theme. In addition to the restoration of historical red brick facades, the project involves the addition of an attic, which the authors propose to solve in a laconic, even minimalist way - a light broken line of the glazed facade, almost dissolving in the sky, gives the building an intermediate scale between the historical part of the complex and the surrounding modern buildings, in particular business -center "Lighthouse" overlooking the same courtyard. In addition, this is the most intimate part of the quarter, a fragment of the courtyard space, the design of which the authors of the project paid special attention to.
The landscaping of the courtyard in the DNA ag project is designed to "glue" the mosaic fragments that have already been fitted to each other even more firmly, but its concept itself is quite striking. The authors saw in a space closed on all sides with a neo-Gothic dominant even a reference to castle architecture and proposed a corresponding theme of landscaping - with the inclusion of geometric ornaments and plants of different heights, sheared shrubs and formed crowns. At the same time, the paving is again based on a contrasting ornament originating from the Sytyn covers, and the multilevel podiums and geoplastic elements embody the typographic relief. All this baroque splendor spills out on the 2nd Monetchikovsky lane in the form of a regular mini-boulevard with crowned trees. By the way, thanks to the through passage from Valovaya Dvor, it becomes accessible to pedestrians as well - the authors of the project even suggest that small chamber cafes could eventually open on the first floor of the inner building.
An expressive and comfortable courtyard space - coupled with a multi-layered historical context, accentuated by accents of modern architecture, and a variety of apartments for every taste - these are the tools that allow the authors of the project to achieve the goal formulated by Konstantin Khodnev: “It was very important for us that the complex has become not just a collection of residential buildings, but a premium-class urban quarter, the most comfortable for living."
