What should a modern city be like? This question is more relevant than ever for the largest Russian cities. Commercial buildings could not offer an adequate replacement for the critically outdated format of Soviet housing estates. Successful experiments in the development of planning projects for large multifunctional complexes, including those on the site of former industrial zones, such as the ZILART and Symbol projects, have shown that it is necessary to completely revise the approaches to the structure and formats of urban fabric. Complex solutions are needed that meet not only modern requirements, but also take into account long-term planning. The search for these solutions has been the subject of several high-profile competitions. This year, at the first Russian youth architecture biennale, its and The concept of comfortable urban development was presented by young architects. Now the turn of “heavy artillery” has come - leading Russian and world bureaus are participating in the competition for urban planning concepts for renovating a five-story housing stock in Moscow.
The competition for the renovation of the “five-story buildings” districts can be called “creative” rather conditionally. The contestants worked with data sets, functional zoning, regulatory requirements and programming for the development of the territory, including linking it with the economy and the wave resettlement schedule. The result of the competition should be the PZZ * for the starting areas of the renovation program, on the basis of which the GPZU will be determined and then the projects of individual buildings and complexes will be developed with the participation of various architectural firms.
For the competition, a more than detailed task was developed, in which the main parameters and principles of development were determined. Thorough study and specification of the expected solutions automatically, guaranteed the similarity of the solutions obtained. Variability and the author's vision were assumed only in certain aspects of the project, such as: placement of compositional accents by increasing the number of storeys or including original public buildings in the development; building spatial connections with certain objects located in the neighborhood and adding some "bonuses" to the program to give the building individuality.
The projects submitted for the competition are interesting for their nuances and accents, which the authors decided to stake on, as well as for the set of original solutions that each team was able to integrate into the strictly regulated system of the test task.
One of the vivid examples of the symbiosis of regulation and creativity, mathematics and emotions is the project of the consortium led by the UNK project bureau. In order to understand its features, we asked the chief architect of the bureau, Yuliy Borisov, to comment on the project and the competition itself.
Julius Borisov, co-founder and chief architect of the UNK project bureau:
“There are creative contests, where you need a flight of imagination, and there are contests that are more focused on technical results. And in this case, I think this is exactly the second type of competition. A clear task was set, which largely determined the result and did not imply any radical discoveries. But it was very interesting to see which methods, which techniques will prevail. How our eternal swing works. Where are we? One foot in Europe, the other in Asia. And the competition clearly showed that we are not quite Europe, but we are definitely not Asia. This was most clearly manifested in the given indicators of the height of the building. Higher than in good old Europe, but much lower than the development of Asian megacities.
The same happened with the second key aspect of the program. It is believed that Moscow is a village in terms of architecture. Because all our houses are set up surrounded by front gardens. Such a village building. And St. Petersburg is Europe, because initially the houses were built there in the European image, along the red lines and so on. And this balance between estate development and regular European, it is also traced in the works. ***
Territory
A consortium of the Russian bureau UNK project, the Japanese company Nikkei Sekkei Ltd., as well as Drees & Sommer and the Sinergy project, developed a project for the Khoroshevo-Mnevniki district. This is an actively developing area of the city, on the territory of which there are already examples of new construction on the site of old five-story buildings. New houses are being actively built here, which speaks of the popularity of this part of the city, which is not surprising. There is a developed social infrastructure, there is a large green area along the Karamyshevskaya embankment that requires improvement, public transport is well developed. Locals lack parking, recreational infrastructure and additional pedestrian connections to nearby attractions. In addition, there is practically no public function and almost no jobs in the area itself. There are problems of connectivity of one of the building fragments, district No. 77, which forms a triangular wedge bounded by Mnevniki, Demyan Bedniy streets and an intra-quarter passage, which, like a barrier, separates the northern part of the district from the southern one, bordering on the coastal recreation area.
Conceptual approach. "Mini-Moscow"
Among the characteristics set by the competitive TK is one of the basic, in addition to the quarterly system, is the multifunctionality of the buildings being created. This principle - creating jobs in the periphery to reduce the load on transport infrastructure - is now applied in all complex development projects. In addition to non-residential ground floors, the creation of community centers, including a business, trade and cultural function, was encouraged. All contestants took this rule into account. Someone to a greater extent, someone to a lesser extent, for someone social and business functions help to solve compositional and planning problems, someone finds a more conceptual or literary justification for them.
Julius Borisov:
“Our project is based on the following principle: we believe that Moscow has evolved its own structure or canonical scheme, a kind of spatial DNA, in which the rest of the functional zones are formed around the main public center - Red Square: the business center - City, recreation areas - parks and residential areas. And we believe that this is the most natural and efficient system for the development of a city - to use the same structure, the same DNA, but on a smaller scale in the peripheral areas. This is both a mathematical and a biological approach. We repeat this scheme in our area, creating in it a center, a natural zone, our own City, and so on. We tried to make such mini-Moscow, small, but full of different functions centers within a walking distance around the projected Khoroshevskaya metro station."
Mini City
The community center is located in a triangle next to the metro, which used to divide the territory - in its new capacity, it can, on the contrary, become a hinge, a node uniting the northern and southern parts of the building and a place where the main communication channels converge. The public center, the core of the new Mini-Moscow, will house a transport hub, a business center consisting of several towers, the stylobate and lower floors of which will be used for business centers, and the upper levels for housing, as well as a training center with sports facilities …
One of the new communication canals crosses the northern part and leads, through a system of pedestrian boulevards, in the direction of Serebryany Bor. The second, also following from one green zone to another, stretched to the south, to the Karamyshevskaya embankment and further, across the Moskva River, across which, according to the authors, it is necessary to build a suspension bridge in this place, connecting Mnevniki with the Fili district.
Part of the L-shaped axis is designed as a pedestrian bridge with a developed commercial function. This pedestrian promenade connects the two parts of the area, giving residents the opportunity to make part of the journey from the metro to their home in comfort and value, thanks to the many shops and cafes.
Area system
A system of several public spaces - squares, boulevards and recreation and communication areas - was built along the communication L-shaped axis, for which the authors of the project came up with their own unique functions. This differentiation will allow the residents of the area to use their specifics, depending on their hobbies and ways of spending time, avoiding concentration in one single recreational area. The system of city squares consists of the "Family Square", "Sakura Square" with a decorative garden, a central square for city events of year-round use, "Green Square" - space for games and outdoor activities, "Square on the Water" connected to a landscaped embankment and a zone rest along the Moskva River.
Blooming gardens
The reconstructed areas of "five-story buildings" are loved by many of their inhabitants, primarily for the large amount of greenery. Since the middle of the last century, trees have grown in the courtyards, planted by the first new settlers. For the inhabitants of these areas, an abundance of vegetation is a necessity and an important element of a comfortable urban environment. Another thing is that most of the green spaces in the courtyards are not maintained in any way. Without proper maintenance, squares turn into neglected spaces with trampled earth and stunted vegetation. Residents want to preserve greenery, but it must be qualitatively different. The designers proposed to reduce the area of green zones, but at the expense of additional funding to improve the quality of landscaping, turning them into real landscape attractions of the area.
Julius Borisov:
“It was extremely important for us to include an emotional component in the project. Urban planning is a tough science, but as creative people we decided to introduce poetry and feelings into mathematics. Together with our Japanese partners, we decided to use the gardens and various flowering trees to add flavor and color to our neighborhoods. Those who live in the area of Moscow State University know how fruit trees bloom differently: apple, cherry, pear and sweet cherry. Planting gardens of different tree composition, we program the identity of each house or each block. It will be great if future residents can say “I live in a cherry orchard” or “in an apple orchard” or “in a cherry tree”.
Family area
According to the rules of the renovation program, not all buildings located within the territory allotted for reconstruction are subject to demolition. What to do with the remaining buildings is a separate issue, the solution of which also gave the contestants an opportunity to show their author's vision. And in some cases, problematic objects gave rise to a non-trivial and vivid development of the project.
For example, in this case, in the north-western region, on the first floors of two nine-storey towers, there is a registry office. Instead of a quiet courtyard, the inhabitants of these towers live in a state of chaos: holiday cars park as they need to and make noise. It is impossible to remove the registry office, and for the residents of the entire district, it has become a tourist attraction, because many married right here. The problem had to be solved using urban planning methods.
Julius Borisov:
“We decided not to destroy the established tradition, but to improve the situation around the registry office. We increased the area, made there a special system of arrival and parking of wedding corteges so that they would less disturb the residents. Then they added a restaurant so that those who wish could celebrate this significant event right there."
Residential development
Residential development was developed on the basis of the quarterly principle set by the competitive TK. In some cases, closed quarters were laid, in some open ones. Separately, the team prepared several options for integrating the preserved buildings into the block development system in order to provide a unified system of dividing into private and public spaces, if possible, use old houses to form new urban blocks, as well as create a denser urban structure.
Julius Borisov:
“We have relied on a variety of typologies of residential development. If a person wants to live well in Mnevniki, he can live either in the remaining nine-story buildings, he can live in the towers: there are both Soviet and new commercial complexes nearby, or he can live in our neighborhoods. The proportion is approximately equal. There is harmony in this. People will be able to choose where and how they want to live. I am sure that the renovation program is not bondage. A person can get one apartment, then exchange it for another. It is important to have a choice of types of housing”.
Planning and architectural solutions for quarter development are as efficient and laconic as possible. The buildings will be developed in more detail at the next stages of the renovation program, most likely with the participation of other design companies. The competition project worked out the sequence of construction and demolition of residential buildings on the territory of the district.
Julius Borisov:
“One of our most important tasks is to optimize the renovation schedule and the system of relocation of people. According to basic estimates, it turned out that it would take at least two decades to build new housing and relocate all residents of the demolished five-story buildings. Just imagine that in 20 years a generation of children will grow up who will live in a construction site, surrounded by fences, pits, heating mains … This is extremely uncomfortable. We tried to organize our project proposal in such a way that each block is independent and self-sufficient, allowing us to make adjustments to the project after the implementation of each separate stage, depending on the development of the economic situation. This ensures the sustainability of the project."
New quality of environment
The competition for the renovation concept set itself the goal of identifying new methods and formats for creating a comfortable and aesthetic urban environment, determining what a city could be like so that it would be as comfortable and pleasant to live in it as possible. But we are not talking about the ideal fantasy cities, as they are presented in utopian novels and films. Everything is much more mundane and pragmatic. And this is more a plus of the program than a disadvantage. People will live in apartment buildings, cars will drive along the streets, parents and children will have a rest in parks and squares. The set of constituent elements will remain the same, and their appearance will not change dramatically over the next fifty years, at least. So how can and should the urban environment change? What and why will replace our notorious residential neighborhoods? Answers can be found in each competition project.
Julius Borisov:
“The quality of the urban environment in new projects increases, first of all, due to the correct structuring of the space. At first glance, it may seem that there is nothing new in the projects. The same houses, streets, squares and squares. The set of elements does not change. The ratio of spaces and the relationship between them are changing. In the neighborhoods, all space was open for use. Anyone could walk wherever they wanted. Any drunk could sit in the playground. You could park wherever you have to. This situation did not suit people and the fencing began. Green courtyards, which no one looked after, degenerated. Therefore, everything seemed to be good, but in reality it was bad. We use all the same techniques. The same "bricks", only we put them in a different order, in accordance with the changed, as it seems to us, people's lives. A clear division into public and private spaces will make courtyards safe, underground parking and car-free courtyards will remove cars from pedestrian walkways, parks will become smaller, but their quality and maintenance will become better. We are changing the space using simple, understandable and affordable, in terms of the economy, methods, remembering that the renovation program is financed from the city budget, and therefore from our money."
