On the territory of the Mosfilm film concern, it was required to build two production facilities: a shooting pavilion and a place to store numerous Mosfilm props. “When I got there for the first time and we were led through the pavilions, I was completely struck by the architectural ensemble of the 1950s with its apple orchard, this is an interesting monument of its time. And at the same time, it is surprising how much is technically outdated, especially when you consider that filming techniques are developing and modern cinema is a much more complex system than it was 70 years ago. Mosfilm, unlike the Parisian film studio or Hollywood, is located in the city center, which is apt. But while remaining on the historical territory and preserving its monuments, film studios need to develop, this is a natural process for a working enterprise,”says Sergei Senkevich, head of the architectural studio of the APEX Design Bureau.
Indeed, on the territory of Mosfilm one can study the history of architecture of the twentieth century. The first building in the style of constructivism was built in 1927-1932, then neoclassical Stalinist buildings appeared along Mosfilmovskaya Street and the main entrance to the territory, begun in the 1930s, completed in 1954 by the author of the Big Mosfilm project, Trankvillitsky, in 1964 - a utilitarian production building, and in 1978 - a base for storing props.
“In the USSR, there were no standard projects for storing clothes,” says Sergei Senkevich, “and the typical project of a vegetable warehouse was adapted for storing costumes. Apart from the keepers of the fund, no one knew where what lay, and things often, due to inadequate storage conditions, were eaten by moths. The outdated building, as well as the pyrotechnic workshops that were not needed in the era of special effects, were demolished - new buildings were located in their place.
The pavilion and props storage building are part of the state program. FSUE "Mosfilm" is funded by the state. In 2013, its general director Karen Shakhnazarov sent proposals for development to the president, and after a while, on his order, part of the Mosfilm territory was transferred to the investor for housing construction. In addition, the investor received an obligation to build two filming pavilions, a cinema and concert hall and a building for storing props. As part of this program, APEX designed the 16th film studio and the Costume House. The work was preceded by a sketch of the props pavilion proposed by the film studio: turquoise in color and with a large skylight - and a simple functional terms of reference. The sketch was radically revised, convincing the customer of the correctness of the proposed solutions, without going beyond the budget.
The basement of the House of Costume and Props is now given over to the storage of vintage cars. There are rarities: Russo-Balt, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Yuri Detochkin's Volga and other vehicles familiar to many from domestic films. A separate room is provided for carts, carriages and carriages, a separate room for film vans.
The storage of the costume and props above is cataloged. At first, they wanted to use a carousel type of feeding, but with a small number of calls, this will not justify itself, so we limited ourselves to the pallet and rack systems. The joinery and props shops were also located. On the first floor, furniture - large-sized props and chandeliers, on the second - suits, on the third - shoes, so as not to carry heavy objects from the upper floors.
The budget for the facades was limited, in addition, it was important to provide maximum natural light, and the lantern in the center did not solve the problem. The problem of budget and lighting was largely helped by polycarbonate, which, as we now know, does not age quickly, and has even become an actual material for contemporary art and architecture.“For 40 years, the facade will definitely not grow old,” says Sergei Senkevich. - Austrian polycarbonate 5 cm thick turned out to be the best solution. Polycarbonate can be bent and looks beautiful at sunrise and sunset. In addition, we were faced with the task of building a warehouse and the material turned out to be quite adequate to the functional task."
The shooting pavilion is a deaf volume, absolute silence is needed there, so it is lined with three-layer concrete panels on a reinforced concrete frame. “Analogues - Cité du cinéma near Paris and Pinewood studios in London and other similar pavilions, all made of concrete. - says Sergei Senkevich. “We found a Rackley rubber matrix and achieved a crumpled texture, since it’s pointless to make smooth concrete in Russia, there will be no quality.”
For the shooting pavilion, Mosfilm workers tested many sizes. We chose 54x30 m, an area of about 1500 m2, 18 m high. This is the optimal format for filming both programs and films. There is a small acting workshop - make-up rooms and so on. Designers and architects have designed a system of telpher beams in a unified BIM environment, similar to the factory one: a decoration with 500-kilogram suspensions travels along the beams.
The two buildings form an ensemble due to the common rhythm and color scheme - a combination of charcoal gray with yellow cadmium: the first emphasizes the functionality of hangar buildings, the second enlivens them with a "sunny" accent. It is possible that the dark background indicates the hard work of filmmakers, and yellow flashes are designed to remind of the "gold" of a successful motion picture. In addition, colored verticals structure the volumes, compensating for their horizontality, and somewhere, for example, at the House of Suit, yellow slopes stop the movement of the polycarbonate tape-console. On the opposite side, they form an entrance portal, framing a stained glass window with a staircase behind it. I must say that the Mosfilm employees at first insisted on a small door, fearing freezing, but the architects managed to convince them. “Now in the space of the staircase it is possible to make exhibitions of props,” the authors suggest.
At the corner of the parking lot between the two buildings, the logo of the cinema concern was installed - the well-known corporate letters starting with an acute-angled "M". The letters, installed not in front of the entrance or the entrance, but almost in the middle of the territory of Mosfilm, have become a kind of internal heading, not a sign, but the core. “People climb on these letters and take a selfie for Instagram,” says Sergei Senkevich. "I believe that when people are photographed against the backdrop of a warehouse, it is a success."
The letters are reminiscent of the 1950s, the heyday of the Moscow film studio, and many well-known films. Let's see: maybe two new buildings, which not only added capacities to Mosfilm, but also noticeably refreshed its space, will become the driver of the capital's cinema development.
