The flour mill complex of the trading house "Emelyan Bashkirov with sons" is located in the historical part of Nizhny Novgorod, on the banks of the Oka, right next to the metro bridge. It was erected from 1870 to 1914 by the architect Robert Keelewijn. In Soviet times, the complex was rebuilt and expanded; it underwent major changes after an explosion and a fire in 1952. The flour mill operated until 2007, but has since been closed and abandoned, attracting mainly local stalkers and film crews.
In 2008, the territory of the plant was transferred to NKHP-Development OJSC, which
undertook to prepare her for redevelopment and build a hotel complex. Since then, pre-design work has been carried out: measurements and engineering surveys of buildings, topographic and geological surveys have been carried out. In 2012, Sergey Timofeev's PTMA prepared a project for the planning and land surveying of the territory, and the conceptual project was completed by the "PTMA Architectural Workshop" in 2018. The authors sought to create "a functionally diverse quarter with a comfortable urban environment, while preserving historical objects, the industrial spirit of the place and traces of time." …
On the site there are three cultural heritage sites with the status of a monument of regional significance: a mill building, a hostel for workers and a storage shed. The project also preserves an elevator built on the site of one of the mill buildings in the 1970s, and a warehouse terminal that appeared on the banks of the Oka in the late 2000s. From the north adjoins the former complex of the steam mill M. A. Degtyarev, who is occupied by tenants and is not included in the project, as well as the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist.
The height difference on the site reaches 25 meters, so the buildings are located on two levels. The mill building and the elevator overlook the lower Chernigovskaya street, the upper Garshina street, which has become an intra-quarter longitudinal axis, - the rest of the buildings, united by modern "inserts" of a residential building and offices. Passing streets are connected by a pedestrian path with a staircase, from the side of Chernigovskaya street - an entrance to the underground parking. Another, open, parking is arranged under the supports of the metro bridge on Kazanskaya Square.
The architects are adapting the former seven-story mill into a residential building with an area of 6,000 m2, and the elevator - for a multifunctional complex with offices, apartments and hotel rooms.
The chief architect of the project, Alexei Pushkarev, first heard the idea of adjusting the elevator from his scientific advisor, Professor Ronald Rovers (Zuyd University of Applied Sciences), during an internship in the Netherlands in 2010. The issue was also discussed with the design engineer Piotr Tarzhynski (Piotr Tarczynski, Buro Happold) during his visit to Nizhny Novgorod: after viewing the archival drawings, there was a hope that reconstruction is possible.
In 2014, the first planning schemes for organizing space in the "banks" appeared. Over time, the investor's appetites have calmed down: from the previously agreed 130-meter tower of the hotel on the site of the elevator, they came to the idea of its preservation and reconstruction. In 2018, detailed surveys of structures and soils were carried out. Calculations have again confirmed that the elevator can be given a second life.
In the concrete sections of the granary with a diameter of six meters, part of the walls will be removed and the windows pierced: you will get universal rooms similar to capsules. The cylinders will build on seven additional floors. The building will become taller than the metro bridge, which to some extent will correct the latter's discordant dominance over the environment. The distribution tower will be occupied by staircase and elevator nodes and utilities. The area of the renovated elevator will be 22,000 m2.
The former dormitory for workers will be converted into a medical center, and the storage facilities - into offices. The "gaps" between them will fill an office building and a residential building, which will create a unified development front along Garshina Street. On the ground floors of all buildings of the complex there are restaurants, trade and service.
According to the project, the bank of the Oka turns into a comfortable promenade with two points of attraction: a former warehouse converted into a universal hall with an area of 1,500 m2, and a small ellipsoidal cafe on the quayside structures.
Alexey Pushkarev says about the idea of the cafe that “I wanted to use the cargo berths, the so-called bulls. Their top mark is 72 meters above sea level, and civilian objects in this place can be placed at least 75 so that they are not flooded in a flood. Therefore, it was necessary to raise the volume of the cafe above the "bulls", and it broke away from the land and from the water. Hence the image of an airship-submarine appeared, which both hovers and floats at the same time.
Currently, the site is working on the conservation of cultural heritage objects, their boundaries and protection zones are being established.
