The concept of a residential complex on the eastern outskirts of Orenburg, developed by SK&P architects in 2016, resembles pilot renovation projects and projects of the competition for new standard housing of the AHML in format - the former are similar in size to the site, more than 100 hectares, the latter are of a modest height from five to seven floors, which fits neatly into the restrictions proposed by Strelka Design Bureau. However, the project appeared a year earlier and is not at all connected with the newly developed principles, although it adheres to a similar approach.
“Modern construction in Orenburg is represented by rather traditional 17-20-storey buildings, reminiscent of the post-Soviet and early perestroika micro-district buildings,” says Igor Shvartsman, head of SKiP. - It seems that this mass of housing fully covers the quantitative needs of the city. And the investment company "Orenburgstroy" also has several projects of this kind. Competition between developers is proceeding according to established rules. They compete mainly in small details, colors - yes, probably that is all.
Our customer came up with the idea to try to compete in another field, to offer the market a different product. This is how the task was born for low-rise buildings with a comfortable environment both in your yard and outside. Special emphasis was placed on the facades: they had to be restrained, diverse, but at the same time systemic and inexpensive."
The territory with a total area of 150 hectares - one and a half times more than pilot renovation projects - adjoins the western border to the Zagorodnoye Highway, which serves as a bypass highway for Orenburg. Formally, the urban area stretches for another 14 kilometers to the east, but it is completely undeveloped and is occupied by meadows of the forest-steppe (there are few forests here) and summer cottages. Typical greenfield, and even minor roads are mostly still under construction; they will appear simultaneously with the construction of the residential complex.
Starting from the analysis of the terrain, the authors first of all drew attention to the ravine that crosses the territory diagonally from southeast to northwest. The ravine becomes the axis of the boulevard-park, the main public space of the district, strictly pedestrian. At its beginning, a place for a church was found, at the highest point. Behind it there is an area, further a chain of artificial ponds "flowing" along the slope of the relief from south to north; some geoplastics for a change. “We examined the area and, standing at the northern junction with the Zagorodnoye Highway, we saw a pipe designed to drain water from the ravine,” says GAP Anastasia Khomyakova. “There is no river here, and we decided that an artificial reservoir could decorate the boulevard, give it variety.”
The park is crossed by two highways, one of them is across the bridge. It creates additional spatial intrigue, allowing cars to cross the boulevard without disturbing the pedestrian zone. The boulevard-park is located far enough from the main and most intense route of the Zagorodnoye Highway, which should make it a place of calm and meditative. The main park is complemented by squares, for which there was a place between the blocks, and another boulevard, smaller, from north to south. A cycle path loop runs along the perimeter.
On the side of the highway, the architects envisage a "buffer zone" of shops designed for both residents of the new district and nearby town houses behind the highway. The main focus of this pragmatic-public zone should be a sports center with an adjoining stadium - its authors proposed to place it in the northern corner of the district, at the junction-exit from the highway. The transport scheme provides several levels of accessibility: the highway takes over the role of the main city artery, it is adjoined by a semi-ring of wide streets framing the area, connecting two interchanges, southern and northern. Two streets separate residential buildings from the highway shopping area and provide convenient access to shops. The entire territory is permeated with capillaries along at the same: they surround the quarters and connect them together. All parking lots are flat, along the driveways between blocks, plus a few spots on the periphery of the territory. The infrastructure of the district consists of 7 kindergartens, 3 schools, one “art school”, 3 sports zones with hockey “boxes”.
The houses themselves are 29 blocks with a height of 4-7 floors. All of them have courtyards without cars, closed for the sake of protection from the Orenburg winds: that is why the narrow gaps between the houses are nowhere located opposite each other. The main entrances are from the outside, but the entrances are through. For residents of the first floors, front gardens are planned in the courtyards - but there are no shops in the first floors, they are assembled closer to the highway.
The houses are of different heights: closer to the edges and corners there are seven floors, towards the center their height decreases in small steps to four - the height changes smoothly, but constantly, the risalits and ledges often alternate, working against monotony for the feeling of a small city.
There are no multi-storey or underground parking lots: it was the customer's decision; flat parking lots are distributed along the contour of houses and also in large spots, closer to the periphery of the territory and to public areas.
The customer, the Orenburgstroy company, owns its own reinforced concrete plant with a small design institute attached to it. The plant produces panels, from which it is planned to assemble the load-bearing frame of the sections of the residential complex, therefore the layouts and proportions in the project are subordinated to the module of the panels and the structure laid down in them. In particular, this is the reason for the atypical floor-to-floor height of 2.86 m and the step of load-bearing walls of 3.3 m.
Meanwhile, within the framework of the given proportions and mainly of small apartments, the architects managed to creatively work with the layouts: in particular, they avoided the "window-in-window" look in the corners of the blocks, but, moving away from the traditional reception "in the corner of the communication node" stairs and use sunlight for living rooms.
Apartments in the residential complex, following the market trends, are small, about half of one-room apartments, but at least 15% of three-room apartments, they have layouts with two bathrooms. There are lifts everywhere, including the four-story sections.
If the panels of the constructive are planned to be manufactured at a local factory, then for the facades the architects proposed Sembrit - fiber-reinforced concrete dyed in mass. The facades were solved in one step: the staircase and elevator nodes are dark gray, the rest of the walls are light with colored Sembrit inserts, “cut” into thin stripes and overlapped like colored boards. The color allows for marking at home and helps with navigation, and the fact that the material is mass-colored should ensure durability. "We used these panels in the rainbow-pixel house"
Avant-garde "on Novocheremushkinskaya street, - Anastasia Khomyakova recalls, - and they have not deteriorated at all since 2006". All balconies are glazed, boxes are provided for air conditioners.
Opportunities, pros and cons of low-rise buildings are now a hot topic against the background of Moscow, and not only, "anthills". In addition, design standards in recent years have significantly grown and become more complex, a whole "primer", a set of techniques for comfortable housing has been compiled. It is easy to see that this project, developed in 2016, has a lot of the "gentleman's set". Perhaps it lacks some modern gloss and shine, marketing-attractive details such as supernaturally unique playgrounds, pitched roofs or terraces on the roofs, bunk apartments - expensive elements that can bring an LCD project to a state of wow, and then, perhaps, and prevent him from incarnating.
In this case - the architects emphasize this - the project was made strictly according to the customer's specifications, who, in turn, is experimenting for the first time with low-rise construction in Orenburg in general and, first of all, would like to understand how the apartments in such a complex will be sold on the market, which means that and how quickly to build. The framework was quite economical, marketing moves were not laid. The architects of SK&P, we recall, worked only on a concept that the customer plans to implement with the help of his institute and concrete products, and very gradually, in parts, perhaps building not even quarterly, but section by section. Meanwhile, many of the elements that are relevant today are planned here, for example, the front gardens at the first floors. The houses do not stand too tightly, it was possible to avoid the well-known drawbacks of the quarterly layout, primarily ineffective corners, while maintaining its advantages: protection from the wind and courtyards without cars. In the absence of bright inclusions in the project, the hand of architects is felt, having delved into the details, both in general and in particular.
At the same time, the main charm of the project is in its reality, in the line found between saving and observing the things necessary for comfort. The project is calm and "real", tuned in to its implementation - and it is precisely such examples that are needed to make the dream of a new format for urban spaces come true.
