The residential complex Vander Park is a structure that is noticeable in all respects. Located at the strategically significant intersection of Rublevskoye Highway with Yartsevskaya Street, on the top of one of the Krylatsky Hills, it itself is a fairly massive volume based on the ratio of the area of the site and the number of areas specified by the developer. The attention of the architectural community to the site was drawn in 2013, when a closed competition was announced with a very representative composition of participants. The competition was won by the bureau "Sergey Skuratov ARCHITECTS", but soon after that the position of the developer changed, and the Dutch, who already had some experience in the architectural development of Russian spaces, were invited for the design. The current name of the complex is a tribute to the nationality of the design company, hinting, apparently, at a certain aristocracy: the prefix van der speaks of the noble origin of its owner. Which is quite consistent with the class of the project, which in the process of work has grown from just a business to a business premium.
Despite the prestige of the direction, the area in question is built up rather chaotically, so, according to the head of the APEX architectural studio Anton Bondarenko, there was especially nothing to interact with there. Of the nearest dominants - only a 150-meter tower on the opposite side of Yartsevskaya Street, around - five-storey buildings to be demolished, further along Rublevka - a row of low panel buildings, moved inland from the highway, along a backup. That is, like it or not, a new residential complex will inevitably assume the role of dominant. Interestingly, with all this, the designers of Vander Park had not so much to worry about not blocking the sun for someone as they themselves had to somehow get away from the long shadow stretching all the way from the Molodezhnaya metro station, next to which there is another one 150-meter tower. As for the rest, the urban fabric here is quite free, so that the problems of density and insolation had to be solved only within the complex itself. However, it is precisely these requirements that largely influenced the volumetric-spatial solution: towers and shifts in volumes actually make it possible to "sculpt" a shape that delicately takes into account the insolation norms.
On a curvilinear uneven section, inscribed in a conditional square, there are eight towers of different levels - from 19 to 26 - planted at different angles to each other. The towers are located on a stylobate that occupies the entire area of the site - there is a parking under it - plus they are connected by low-rise, from four to six floors, sectional blocks. They are arranged in two macro-buildings, connected by a gallery running along the entire inner side of the courtyard, at the level of the first floor. The first floors are dedicated to trade and services - there are a shop, a fitness center, a kids club, a medical center and a beauty salon. Each of the towers, in turn, consists of block-modules, stacked on top of each other with seeming negligence - like some gigantic kid clumsily, but diligently, built his city here from gigantic parts.
Developing the concept of a residential complex, the designers were inspired by the image of Moscow as a modern metropolis with its characteristic high building density, which cannot be accepted as an existing fact, but can be softened by architectural methods, brought closer to a human-scale volume. Therefore, each block is understood as a residential module accessible to human perception, read - a separate house, which the area of the site does not allow to be located next to each other, but they can be combined vertically by placing them on top of each other. From the point of view of visual perception, such a solution avoids the feeling of a certain monolithic pressing mass, and from a practical point of view it gives another bonus - thanks to the shifting of the blocks relative to each other, space is formed for spacious terraces, which provide additional advantages to a number of apartments.
Similar bonuses, by the way, will be received by residents of apartments overlooking the roof of low-rise buildings, as well as owners of premises on the second floor of the complex - they are accompanied by terraces with an area of about 150 m2facing the courtyard and separated by large green areas. “This is another way to show that even in a highly urbanized environment there can be quite comfortable space outside the apartment, and even individual space,” comments Anton Bondarenko.
Each block has its own type of windows. At the same time, all the facades are organized by a strict brick lattice, the rhythm of which is identical throughout the entire area, only at the highest level, where the cells also capture the technical floor, they turned out to be more elongated. However, within the framework of this lattice, in each module, the arrangement of window openings is made in its own way: if in the low-rise sections the windows are without breakdown, then in the high-rise blocks, say, three windows of the same width, or one narrow and one wide, can be arranged, and so on. … The spaces between unusually high openings - since the height of the floor in buildings is higher than average, the windows reach 2.30 m - are covered with hinged composite panels in two shades of gray: under the windows it is darker to emphasize the shape of the window opening, and for the panels between the glasses, neutral gray, which only serves as the background. By the way, this is a rare case when the correction according to the materials, which took place after the approval of the project, went to his advantage - initially it was planned to fill the walls with plaster.
Six types of bricks were used in the decoration of the buildings, the general principle is from darker, chocolate brown, for the lower blocks, to light beige in the upper ones. The material, which is made by Hagemeister, is distinguished by the transition of shades and in the dimensions of one brick; the masonry is also not smooth, some of the bricks protrude in relief, and in the decoration of the low-rise sections, the vertical masonry is also mixed with the horizontal one. As a result, the facades turned out to be very textured, visually complex, as if vibrating - another technique that works to "blur" volumes.
In the whole Vander Park complex, in principle, there are no two identical floors, de Architekten Cie offered 73 types of apartments ranging from 23 to 230 m2… Such an unprecedented complexity of the apartment design demanded from the Russian partners serious work to find non-standard solutions. To begin with, we had to move the wet zones, which, according to Russian standards, should be located strictly one below the other, but in the Dutch project they freely migrated over the entire floor area. In addition, adjustments related to insolation were not without - for example, under the four-meter consoles formed as a result of the shift of residential modules, it was more appropriate to arrange more spacious apartments so that more light gets inside. As well as apartments with access to terraces, it was logical to make more - a lot in the form of a studio or one-room apartment with a 150-meter terrace would look rather strange on the Russian market.
And, of course, constructive difficulties. APEX has developed a number of unique solutions specifically for this project. For example, the architects proposed to install inclined pylons, thanks to which the load from the cantilever outlets during the transition from one block to another is compensated for and at the same time the area of the apartments is not "eaten away". Another non-standard technique is the technical floor, located directly above the stylobate, with a height of less than 1.8 m, where all engineering communications are collected, which otherwise would take place in the entrance halls and the premises intended for rent on the ground floor. Technical spaces are also provided on the upper floors - thanks to this, there are no protruding staircase and elevator blocks on the roof.
APEX specialists worked closely with the Dutch company.
West 8, which developed the landscaping project. The courtyard of the Vander Park residential complex, in accordance with the concept of de Architekten Cie, is completely closed. Residents get inside through an electronic control system, and the buildings do not have a through lobby and the entrance to the entrances is exclusively from the courtyard. “Our Dutch colleagues believe that a person should not be confined within the walls of his apartment, he needs space for walking and communicating with neighbors, which means that adults and children should be provided with complete safety within the yard,” comments Anton Bondarenko. Together with the landscape architects from West 8, we selected plants that were authentic to our northern latitudes, worked out the foundation for the heavy gazebos they proposed … Functionally, the courtyard is divided into three thematic zones - for active games, quiet rest and the so-called "transit" zone where the main streams of residents meet and visitors to the complex. Playgrounds are divided into age categories - up to 5 years old, from 5 to 10 years old, and for children over 10 years old - which also allows you to distribute flows and, in addition, ensure the safety of children - the playground for the smallest is assigned to a quiet recreation area. Despite the fact that the courtyard is located on the roof of the stylobate, the project managed to provide for the landing of large-sized vehicles - especially for this, at the cost of losing several parking spaces, holes were cut to the entire depth minus the first floor.
The interiors of the lobbies and community groups were completely handled by APEX architects. The sales office - a minimalistic volume made of glass and wood-treated metal - is also their job, as well as the development of navigation systems on residential floors and in the parking lot. “At the moment, Vander Park for us is the face of the company, its business card,” admits Anton Bondarenko. And the point here is not only that this object is, as they say, in plain sight - being one of the first large-scale projects of the bureau, it allowed not only to lay down the key values and principles of the company, but also to qualitatively raise the level of the team - by revealing the unique competencies of employees working in conditions of tight deadlines, strictly specified TEPs and the need to use unique and ingenious technological solutions.
