It seems that the "solemn closing" of the Belgrade hotel has just taken place, marking the start of its major reconstruction, and now the Azimut Hotel Smolenskaya is hosting the first wave of travelers. The authors of the reconstruction project, bureau T + T Architects, are generally satisfied with the speed of construction and the result.
Let us remind you that Belgrade - more precisely, Belgrade-1 - is a part of the Smolenskaya Square ensemble and one of a pair of twin buildings built in the 1970s. architects Vladimir Gelfreikh, Vitaly Sokolov and Alexander Kuzmin. Gelfreich was also one of the authors of the Foreign Ministry building, which is the dominant and semantic center of the square, and the project manager of the entire ensemble. After several decades of comfortable existence of "Belgrade" as one of the most prestigious Soviet hotels and, by the way, a favorite spot of the Moscow "fartsy", the power changed, and the fate of the sister towers diverged. At first, the youngest, Belgrade-2, was lucky, she survived the reconstruction, turning into the Golden Ring hotel. Attempts to reconstruct "Belgrade-1" over the past twenty years were made twice, and the second time was never completed: by the time the building was acquired by "Azimut", it was functioning well if half of the floors, the rest froze in a state of underrepair, but one more, the last, was entirely occupied by the owner's family.
Of the four options for the reconstruction project presented by T + T Architects, the one that maximally returned the general appearance of the building to the original one, conceived by Gelfreich and his co-authors, was chosen for implementation. With one exception - to bring back the feeling of the ensemble, and also, in no small measure, for reasons of business expediency - in fact, it would be a shame to lose such a unique vantage point! - on the roof, as well as on the Golden Ring, it was decided to build a superstructure-restaurant. They did not imitate the building opposite in anything else - neither the architectural details of dubious value, such as the "crown" with the hotel name on the top edge of the washer, nor the color scheme that came from nowhere. As a result, the elevation marks of both hotels turned out to be practically the same, but the "Azimut" has a two-level superstructure and, due to the continuous stained-glass glazing without crowns and "skirts" -domes, it looks noticeably slimmer. A decorative screen, which hides the engineering equipment brought to the roof, added some heights to the restaurant.
At first, by the way, they wanted to make the superstructure rectangular - this shape better corresponded to the tectonics of the building, and from the point of view of the interior, it is much more convenient to master the rectangular volume. But in the end, again for reasons of the ensemble, we settled on an ellipse. The combination of such “cubes” of different shapes, by the way, is quite in the spirit of modernism of the 1970s. However, constructively, this added problems to the builders: due to the difference in plans, unloading platforms had to be erected, which cover the entire perimeter and transfer the load to the underlying structures. However, the entire frame of the building had to be strengthened from top to bottom, with the exception of the outer columns; even the foundation was somewhat strengthened.
It was originally planned that the superstructure would be fully implemented in curved glass - no profiles, nothing superfluous, only a pure form, a play of reflections dissolving in the sky. But since the possibilities of glassmakers are limited, it was necessary to break the surface into sections. It took several more months to find a manufacturer who could make 6-meter sliding slide stained glass windows - that was the wish of the future tenant. As a result, the manufacturer was found in one of the European countries, but in terms of heat engineering characteristics, its products did not even come close to meeting Russian energy efficiency requirements. So instead of one wide passage, moving apart along the radius, it turned out to be somewhat narrower - along the segments. Also a compromise, but quite acceptable.
By the way, about the tenant - at the time of the reconstruction he was already known: this is the famous restaurateur Boris Zarkov. Prior to the construction of a rooftop restaurant in Belgrade, his White Rabbit project boasted the best views in this area of the capital, so proactively capturing the rival heights was a wise strategic decision.
The restaurant is planned in such a way that on both of its floors the hall faces Kutuzovsky Prospekt. The embankments of the Moskva River, the City, the Ukraina hotel - the views here are truly unique. As for the Foreign Ministry, it is better to look at it from the terrace - the architects have provided a 1.5-meter triplex screen around the perimeter for additional security and protection from the wind.
On the facades, the geometry of which did not change during the reconstruction, the main task of the architects was to return the building to its original appearance, but in modern, high-tech materials. The aluminum, from which the crossbars were made, turned yellow during forty years of operation, and initially it was, of course, metallic gray - and they tried to return to this tone. Already, the shade of stemalite covering the hinged concrete panels was selected for it: at first, several samples were chosen from two dozen, and finally they were determined already in combination with double-glazed windows. With them, of course, everything was not so simple: two manufacturing companies took part in the "competition", going head to head to the very finish. In the end, each of them brought two samples of double-glazed windows to the construction site, they were mounted directly on the object in combination with several types of stemalite and the result was evaluated in the field, moreover, from two sides of the building - north and south. We settled on the products of the Asahi Glass brand: they paint over the glass along the entire depth, as a result, the shade is closer to the old facades - a greenish tone that is in perfect harmony with the beige stemalite.
The only thing that has survived from the original facades is the massive marble pylons that cover the second and third floors. They only changed the corners, where the stone was already falling off. Here, however, the architects were in for a surprise: when the stone was cleaned, from gray it turned white like sugar, and the already mounted corners were clearly out of color. The problem was solved by double hydrophobization. The beige belt between the first or second floor, turning around the corner, turns into a four-story administrative extension, which is not visible from the street, faced with the same stone.
The first floor was left completely glass, and the glass here, in contrast to the main volume, where a high level of sun protection is required, was chosen with the maximum transparency coefficient. The stained glass windows are now sliding apart - this is important for communication with the street space, since the entire first level is occupied by restaurants and bars. At the request of the customer, the reception area was moved to the fourth floor, where the dining area and the lobby bar are located.
Further, until 19, there is a number of rooms, at 20 there is a fitness zone, and in the basement it was possible to place a small parking lot. The main staircase, which in the original building was made with a relocation of four floors, now fits in one "glass", which is convenient, beautiful, and practical from the point of view of safety.
As for the interiors of the rooms, then T + T were guided by the Azimut Hotels brand book - this international chain has hotels in Germany, Austria, Russian regions, and in Moscow Belgrade has already become the third in a row and is positioned as a flagship. The corporate color of the network also determined the appearance of the entrance lobby, which is surrounded by a massive black outline with the Azimut logo. A faceted glass visor was also present in the project, it even passed the examination, but along the contour it somewhat protruded beyond the red line - and unfortunately it was not possible to agree on this architectural detail.
So, the ensemble of Smolenskaya Square has been restored in one way or another. Of course, it is still far from ideal in this sense - the former "twins" still differ in order from each other, but their meaning of "propylae" of Smolenskaya Square has been revived, the function of the hotel has been preserved, the facades of "Belgrade-1" have been carefully renovated, preserving recognizable elements architecture of the seventies. The towers, as conceived by the authors of the original project, still emphasize and develop the silhouette of the “Stalinist” skyscraper of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Well, the nuances and differences in the city, perhaps, are natural and inevitable.
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