Not an inspiring place
There are many places in Moscow where it is not easy to believe that you are in a city full of monuments of architecture and culture. These areas are typical, chaotic and bleak. Most often, "lost" places are built up in a mixture of panel-type housing, some kind of long-incapacitated industry and a whole collection of typological rarities, which, for some unknown reason, occupy an area whose cost is close to the level of the most expensive megacities in the world. They are concentrated in a wide belt between the Third Transport Ring and the MCC. It is better to navigate there with the help of a navigator, the shortest paths are required, and streets often have not only a name, but also a number.
These districts were not popular development sites either in the early 2000s, when there were enough places and prestigious ones, and in the 2010s, when the crisis redistributed priorities in favor of the fields near Moscow. Now the objective lack of places for construction, complemented by the city's urban planning policy and the launch of the MCC, has given the green light to projects to reformat the “lost areas” into something more modern, efficient and comfortable.
One of these areas, which are now undergoing a radical transformation, is located between Prospekt Mira and the tracks of the Yaroslavl direction, immediately behind which is Sokolniki Park. The front buildings along the avenue are quickly replaced by variegated residential quarters, squeezed between large and not so large reservations of former industrial zones. In their place, multifunctional complexes are now being actively built, for example, according to the SPEECH project, the Silver Fountain residential complex is being actively built, nearby ADM is completing the 1147 residential complex.
Here, at the crossroads of Novoalekseevskaya and Malomoskovskaya streets, two 1st Rizhsky lanes and Pavel Korchanin street, forming, for lack of a more suitable word, a small area, in 2012 the development company "Turman" invited Sergei Skuratov to design a residential complex (see. 2012 story about his project).
“Before starting work on the concept, I went to the site several times,” recalls the architect. - And every time I struggled with the thought: “maybe we won't do anything?” - the surrounding buildings were so chaotic and repulsive. It was not clear whether it could be somehow streamlined, made at least somewhat compositionally and stylistically meaningful. We had to come up with a solution that could "pull" the entire area out of the town-planning swamp, just as Baron Munchausen pulled himself and his horse out of the bog by his own pigtail. And we decided that we would do it. We will bring into this comatose environment some kind of sharpness, an accent that will make it come to life."
Dominance concept
On the site of the future residential complex, there was a gas station, dilapidated buildings of a bus depot and locksmith's workshops. The exceptions were several residential single and multi-entrance panel houses and the high panel tower of the GIPROSTROYMOST institute, which was adjacent to the former building of the House of Culture, and now the Evangelical Church.
The only treasures of the area are several surviving brick buildings of the "pseudo-Russian style" of the late 19th century - the Bakhrushin brothers' orphanage and the Alekseevskaya pumping station, most of which is now being built up with buildings of the Silver Fountain residential complex. The charisma of old brick buildings with distinctive white details on red-brown facades is barely enough to withstand the dominant panel and galvanized gray that has grown here year after year. But it was their presence that inspired Sergey Skuratov's team to actively use bricks as a radical means of combating environmental inertia and chaos.
In addition to the material accent, the complex needed an equally striking spatial solution. The main parameters of the future complex were determined in advance: two buildings with a height of 64 and 37 meters (17 and 8 floors) were to grow here. The main compositional question was how to collect and organize the space around the intersection with the help of two volumes that are inferior in height to the neighbors - primarily the institute building.
Of the numerous coordinate systems collected on a square resembling an oblique star, the authors chose, as the most accented, the axis of Pavel Korchagin Street, and oriented their complex parallel to it and the institute building, leaving a triangular area undeveloped - a free space in front of the main facade of the high building. Similar gaps were left in front of other buildings overlooking the square. Due to the diversity in space, the interdependence of the new complex and the institute tower is felt more subconsciously than as part of a built-up coordinate system. The ensemble does not add up - too variegated and unequal elements coexist here. But thanks to its clear composition, impressive volume, powerful color scheme and intense inner drama, Egodom acts as the missing element that organizes and unites everything around.
The paired composition of the buildings is built according to the classical scheme - additions and contrasts. According to Sergei Skuratov, “a clear architectural technique is used here: two volumes, horizontal and vertical, work as a leader and a follower, a spatial dialogue is established between them. The resulting tension is enough to guarantee the complex the role of an urban planning accent, organizing the urban space around itself and giving the square a new quality."
The plastic solution of each body exactly corresponds to its role in the pair composition. The first building, high, dominant, in addition to its dimensions, is distinguished by emphasized dynamics and emotionality. The half-height cut breaks the monotony of a flat parallelepiped that grows out of a complex structure at the level of the first floor, which is part of the courtyard system of the complex. The stained-glass belt, slightly recessed inside the "brick body", is perceived as an air gap, above which the upper part of the case hovers, as if supported by a magnetic cushion. And as if under the influence of magnetic currents, the second half of the body turns slightly around its axis, exposing a beveled corner towards the ill-fated square. This slight, only intended deviation from parallelism is enough to give dynamics to the entire composition.
The second building is content with a secondary role - restrained plastic echoes the "big brother", but not in everything repeats his techniques. For example, if in the first volume the triangular overhang of the upper block protrudes outward, creating a spectacular cut-off on the main facade, then in the second, the three-story part of the top, on the contrary, is recessed, which can be regarded as a way to minimize conflict with the external environment and make the silhouette more picturesque.
Brick-glass shell
The facade solution of the complex seems simple only at first glance. The material characteristic of many of Sergey Skuratov's buildings - hand-molded brick of a rich reddish-brown color, with its picturesqueness, materiality and warmth - in combination with the laconic volumes of Egodom gives a powerful impetus that enhances the findings of a volumetric-spatial composition - and at the same time emphasizes respectful attitude towards the adjacent historical brick buildings, demonstrating the continuity of the tradition set by them.
“We wanted to find a balance between statics and dynamics of the facade structure,” says Sergey Skuratov.- We wanted to do a thing that worries. On the one hand, it shocks, provokes the surrounding space, and on the other hand, it creates the effect of solid stability, inspiring confidence in power. As a result, the house became imposing, but not pompous; orderly, but alive."
On brick facades, a subtle and sometimes ironic confrontation between statics and dynamics, space and plane develops. Architects set certain rules for the facade game and immediately violate them, but so delicately that only by concentrating and checking the drawings, it is possible to understand what, and most importantly, why was declared at the beginning and then changed.
End and side facades are designed in different ways. The latter are a clear structure of vertical columns and horizontal lintels lined with bricks, behind which glistens a glass stained-glass window, reflecting either a gray, like old silver, or a Moscow-style pale blue sky. An interesting point: on the side facades of the low case and on the lower part of the high case, the vertical posts, row by row, go with a half-step shift. Due to the rather narrow gap between the pillars, the eyes are far from immediately recognizing this geometric trick, due to which, subconsciously, the facade seems more plastic and lively. Narrow loggias located behind brick posts play a significant role in achieving this optical effect. Their depth disappears, giving way to mini-bay windows pushed close to the "lattice".
The height of the horizontal rows also varies: from a two-story at the bottom of the complex to a one-story at the top with a transition to an attic floor increased by 2.5 times, hiding prestigious penthouses and spacious, deep terraces, which can be glazed in the future, behind a thin brick "lattice" or left as it is, if the owners want to enjoy not only the views, but also the fresh air.
On the front facades, which play the role of "outposts" of the composition, the metric rhythm is more complicated. Only the narrow vertical of the central part is made similar to the side facades - in the form of a brick structure in front of the stained-glass backdrop. Along the sides of them, in a checkerboard pattern, the smooth planes of the masonry and the sections of the blind "lattice" alternate.
The Moscow sun cannot please the townspeople with an active play of chiaroscuro, but everything that can be squeezed out of it using a limited set of techniques for working with structural "grids", stained-glass windows, color and texture of brickwork, the architects represent on the facades of Egodom.
Inner world
Two buildings of different height are located on the site parallel to each other with a shift exactly in the width of the "tower", avoiding the "window-to-window" look. On the ground floor level, the buildings are connected by a brick fence that protects the courtyard of the complex from unwanted contact with the environment and its inhabitants. The posts of the brick fence were supposed to repeat the rhythm of the brick imposts on the facade, but for economic reasons, the column spacing was doubled, which complicated the intended comparison; however, it is readable.
An additional obstacle is created by a level difference - the space of the courtyard is lowered by three meters. This solution, which has already been successfully tested by Sergey Skuratov's team in Sadovye Kvartalah, allows to achieve the privacy of the courtyard and at the same time to structure it. The recessed courtyard is divided into several terraces, some of which, which are in the general access of the inhabitants of the complex, are connected by stairs and walkways, and some of which are intended for walks for kindergarten groups from a preschool educational institution located in one of the buildings, are isolated. According to the architects, this option is much preferable to the courtyard raised on the roof of the stylobate, where people do not feel protected.
Another important argument in favor of the sunken courtyard was the desire of the architects to make double-height lobbies with a height of nine meters. Such a space at the entrance to a residential building creates a completely different quality atmosphere and immediately increases the status of the complex. At the entrance minus the first level there are also cafes and several premises for rent.
Under the entire plot there is a two-level underground parking, the entrance to which is from Novoalekseevskaya Street through a large brick arch, one of the most photogenic details of the complex, combined with the view of the brick and glass buildings that opens behind it, as if frozen for a second in some kind of slow dance, unambiguously telling each guest: "you are entering the world created by the architect Sergei Skuratov."
Appropriate courage
On
The website of the Egodom residential complex published a quote from Sergei Skuratov, in which he regrets that there is very little bold and at the same time appropriate modern architecture in Moscow architecture. At first glance, these qualities cannot organically complement each other. Bold can and should be accent, author's architecture, architecture-gesture that claims to dominate the urban environment. Relevance is a property that is usually expected from the background or environmental architecture, deliberately focused on the most delicate entry into the already existing building. How can these qualities be combined in one architectural object? It's like striving for contemporary tradition or multifaceted simplicity. It is not surprising that there are not many buildings with such a combination of qualities. It is strange that they exist at all. And among them, as expected, appear the works of the author of the paradoxical quotation. It would seem that the architecture of Sergei Skuratov is always an author's gesture, recognizable, bright, modern, often provocative. And yet its architecture is absolutely appropriate. Take "Danilovsky Fort": the boldness of a "live" plastic form and, at the same time, an amazing adequacy, compliance with the surrounding buildings along the embankment. The situation is similar with Barkli-Plaza on Prechistenskaya Embankment, Art-House or with a house on Burdenko Street.
A new house on Novoalekseevskaya street has every right to take a place in this row. It again found a balance of radicalism and correctness, accent (iconicity) and relevance, individuality and ensemble.
For Sergei Skuratov himself, these contrasting combinations are an organic part of his work and inherent properties of his works. The desire to combine them is so common that it is not even perceived as some kind of special, special technique or method. It is not surprising that Sergey Skuratov categorically suppresses any attempts to “believe harmony with algebra”: “There is no need to try to see a rigid methodology in each of our projects or buildings. She's gone. There are compositional principles, subjective preferences, there is, let's say, the author's handwriting, which moves from project to project and forms the core of my creative personality, makes my projects recognizable. They are distinguished, since this is exactly what I strive for, a certain integrity, even simplicity, but just in such quantity so as not to become boring or lifeless."
