The Quartet quarter will be built on the western outskirts of Penza - in the elongated part of the city, which is gradually being reduced to the M5 Ural highway to Moscow. On one side of the site there is a lively Stroiteley Avenue, on the opposite side there are garages and the Kuibyshev railway line, behind which forests and cottage settlements begin. Across Stasova street from the future “Kvartal” there is a recently built sports palace “Burtasy”, which is surrounded by nondescript residential buildings of the 70-80s. The "Quartet" should become a new local dominant.
From the railway and garages, which also provide a sanitary zone, the architects separated the quarter with a five-story parking building. It is followed by a sports ground with a football field, which is crossed by a path leading from the parking lot to the courtyard of residential buildings. Such an arrangement, as conceived by the authors, subconsciously pushes residents to active leisure in the fresh air, while they follow the parking-apartment route every day.
Four residential buildings with a height of 17 floors stand at the corners of an almost square plot of land, forming a courtyard closed from cars and permeable to pedestrians. From the west and east, the buildings are united by a stylobate. The paths of the recreational areas of the courtyard and the sports ground are oriented diagonally, which gives the plan a resemblance to the "Suprematist Composition" by Kazimir Malevich.
It turned out to be three squares: the “core” of the yard, the “belt” of residential buildings and the “frame” of the inner-quarter driveways with open parking lots. The facades also work on this idea of "centricity" - from the side of the street, the residential buildings are dressed in a dark gray "peel", and look into the courtyard in a tender ivory color. But the quarter is not that impregnable: some of the ends were left light in order to "open up" the inner space to the outside viewer.
Plastic techniques on all facades are the same: the extended "lenses" of the balconies are not regularly arranged, and together with baskets for air conditioners and decorative window frames create a dynamic and plastic composition. Balconies are located across the floor, which reflects the variety of apartment layouts. Color combinations play a decisive role: if pistachio blotches on a contrasting dark gray background evoke associations with loopholes, then on neutral beige - rather with champagne bubbles. Although everything in general may remind of the first leaves in the spring forest - which should work well to maintain a positive mood of the residents.
The ground floors of all buildings and stylobates are faced with fiber cement slabs of the same green color, which continues in the interior of the entrance lobbies and public areas.
The improvement of the Quartet was carried out by the Veshch architectural bureau, which made the courtyard even more "home" and "home", adding simple joys: a hill for a winter slide, picnic areas and modules in the form of Lego cubes, under the canopy of which there are tables, hammocks or swing.