The ABV Group concept is one of a number of projects related to an extensive program of reconstruction of Moscow automatic telephone exchanges, which have lost their practical meaning after the transition to digital standards after the fourth industrial revolution, when the areas required for switches seem to have decreased not even by tens, but by hundreds time.
Meanwhile, the reconstructed building occupies a fairly prominent place both in the city: at the very beginning of Novy Arbat, at the corner of Gogolevsky Boulevard, in the pandan "Prague" at the beginning of the old Arbat - and in the history of capital modernism: it was built in 1965 by the team of workshop No. 23 of Mosproject- 1 under the leadership of Viktor Yegerev as the House of Communications and accommodated ("Lenin's" post office, telegraph, telephone), but seriously, in addition to automatic automatic telephone exchange, there was also a telegraph, a long-distance communication center, fully justifying its central location with its multifunctionality. Unlike an automatic telephone exchange, but similar to a Soviet research institute, a narrow seven-story plate with laconic ribbon windows and strokes of metal lamellas, in the late 1990s received a granite cladding of the first tier pillars with a characteristic postmodern arch, and since the late 2000s, the facade has increasingly begun to be tightened with a solid the canvas of the media screen, so now it is perceived as a giant billboard on the eve of Novy Arbat. And once it was a contemporary of the construction and propylaea of Kalininsky Prospekt, the notorious "false jaw of Moscow", which gave rise to a lot of controversy, songs and even, I would say, which in many ways became a stimulus for the development of both the contextual method and the urban protection movement. Meanwhile, a significant place, a witness of Soviet filming, rallies of 1991, then 2012, is developing: Novy Arbat glows almost like Manhattan, a couple of years ago it was equipped with a long shop - in a word, everything is in sequence. The turn came to the reconstruction of the building-shield at the beginning of the notorious avenue, not all the same to do with an advertising media facade.
Modern view of the House of Communications:
So, Nikita Biryukov's workshop proposed the concept of transforming the PBX into a three-star hotel. The existing basement is planned to be converted into an automated parking, buses drive up from the side of Merzlyakovsky lane, transverse to Novy Arbat - the lane passes through the building with a low passage, which is also narrowed by late granite pylons on the sides. The architects free the pillars, transform them into shiny metal pillars, and the translucent, cleaned second floor levels the squat proportions of the driveway. From the side of the lane, it is not that a courtyard is formed, but the city here, in contrast to the avenue, is quiet, and passengers can be dropped off right at the entrance to the lobby of the first floor. From the side of the avenue, the "travel arch" is marked with a wide, light visor, marking its presence in space.
Modern view of the "arch" from the side of Merzlyakovsky lane:
The architects admitted that they had been looking for facade solutions for quite a long time - they went through about five options, including both high-tech and “art-deco”, which are popular in our time, with stone facades. The source of the final version was the design of the Futuriliner bus show, the hero car of the "Parade of Progress" - a show invented by General Motors to demonstrate new technologies: a bright, streamlined, with shiny metal grooves on the sides, a projectile that amazed the American imagination of the 1930s. However, a similar technique - shiny polished steel groove rails - was used by Aleksey Dushkin in his 1938 Mayakovskaya metro station lobby.
The shiny metal and grooves were borrowed from the bus itself. Stripes of polished steel on the facade bend, tying the horizontal and vertical lines into a single weaving and working on the metaphor of an electronic circuit board with its metal tracks - a reminder of the technological essence of the building, of the history of the transformation of a huge switch house into a small computer part. And at the same time, IT imagery, according to the authors, is associated with one of the investment areas of the customer of this project, AFK Sistema; it is echoed by the name of the hotel: Ihouse - suppose that stands for (intelligent) house. But the metal grooves not only emphasize the flexible graphics of the walkways, but also remind of the sun-proof lamellas of the existing building - the "bundle" of smooth and ribbed stripes in the reconstructed version becomes thinner, but still retains a connection with the original building, which is also retrospective and modern. The authors seem to find and sharpen its futuristic features.
On the columns that unite the first two floors, the grooves fold into graceful fluted muds that take on the role of capitals, but look like gears, which is quite logical for both the advanced version of the technogenic Art Deco of the 1930s, and for many other versions of the architecture of modernism. constantly looking for connections between the modern imagery of the mechanism and the eternal elements of the ancient order.
Further, the facades are cleared as much as possible from both late buildings and the original concrete panels: the interfloor lintels are thin, the windows are "to the floor", the interior is luxuriously light, which is beautiful, although unexpected for three stars. However, the privacy of living quarters is also taken into account, it is clearly seen that transparent glass alternates with darkened glass, which supports the role of the background. The first two floors behind the columns are completely glass with thin joints; at night, their showcases should glow brightly.
The interior of the building in the project is also freed as much as possible: the technical layout of the House of Communications could not suit the hotel in any way. The first floor is devoted to shops, cafes and a lobby, the second will apparently house offices, and the hotel itself starts from the third floor, where the lobby is located; above are numbers.
It must be admitted that this "retrofuturistic" version of the reconstruction, perhaps, is able to revive the beginning of Novy Arbat - a street that was once declaratively modern, a new one from the new, which became a stumbling block in disputes about the priorities of renovation or, on the contrary, preservation of the city. And now - fashionable, painfully noisy, sparkling, and this is unique for Moscow in its own way. The house, shining with a polished steel frame, as well as with the light of showcases, but at the same time retaining the restraint of the rhythm, proportions, shape of the old ATS building, and in addition connected in the prototypes of the 1930s, becomes a good "right pylon of propyls" of the avenue, especially if take into account that the second pylon is Prague, the building is completely different, opposite, neoclassical. Yes, and retrofuturism itself is now a peak, relevant phenomenon, the story of the dream of the future is finally realized as such, and it is no longer comme il faut to strive forward without looking back. It's for the best.
