Let's make a reservation right away that the volume-spatial solution of a parallelepiped on a rectangular section between Luzhnetskiy proezd and the Third Transport Ring does not belong to the UNK project at all. The concept of Yulia Borisov won a closed competition initiated by the chief architect of Moscow, Sergei Kuznetsov, for the sake of rethinking the volume, which did not look very "sporty", although it was intended to accommodate two sports organizations: the Sambo Federation and the Boxing Federation. Sergey Kuznetsov, as it is well known in the professional environment, is a principled supporter of competitive procedures: “A healthy competitive environment is created for architects, which clearly shows, among other things, the best projects to themselves,” emphasizes the chief architect. “The work of different teams on one object helps to see alternative points of view - the participants of the competition share ideas, the professional environment develops.” The terms of reference were developed by Moskomarkhitektura together with TPO "Pride". In addition to the UNK project, the competition was attended by: TPO Pride, the Kamen group, Timur Bashkaev's ABTB, Vladimir Plotkin's TPO Reserve, and the ASADOV bureau. The first two contestants offered 2 options each, so a total of 10 concepts came out, you can get acquainted with them in more detail here.
So, the UNK project proposal became the winner of the competition.
Actually, the theme of the parallelepiped did not arise by chance, but was a consequence of the features and limitations of the site. It is narrow and elongated, it is over 330 meters long, and the aspect ratio is one to five. On the one hand, the Third Ring, on the other, Luzhniki Street, its width is 35 m, which makes the viewing perspective relatively close - there is simply no place to look at the building from afar. The TTK, in this place called Novoluzhnetskiy proezd, is essentially a wall, a high flyover with an open parking lot under it. It was impossible to increase the volume of the center in height due to the limitation of the height of 27 m, due to the proximity, albeit on the other side of the highway, of the ensemble of the Novodevichy Convent. The customer did not allow digging deep underground due to budget constraints and optimization of construction times. In addition, we recall that the rectangular “suitcase” volume was actually designed and approved, the bidders were required to propose an improvement within the existing parameters, which, as we can see, were determined rather rigidly - that is, in essence, to draw the facades. But the UNK project, like their competition peers, focused primarily on functional zoning and scoping - even within predefined contours.
“The task of“dressing the facades”was not exactly feasible,” explains Yuliy Borisov. - Here is a warehouse, and everything that you do not do with it: different constructions, undercuts, windows - all this will be a fake decoration, a box is a box, such a big brick. Therefore, the architects went from the function itself - they laid it out in space, brought it to the facades, and made the architecture itself "speaking".
From the point of view of function, in this large block, in fact, there are two different buildings with their own engineering systems, entrances and infrastructure: the SAMBO Federation and the Boxing Federation have in common - only a media screen for posters on the main facade.
“When we received the initial zoning from colleagues, the functions were mixed, for example, there were two halls for competitions, but one foyer, engineering networks were mixed, but, in my opinion, not fully worked out. Then it turned out that these two organizations do not communicate with each other at all, and it is not clear how they will divide time if they have a common foyer. Architecture is, in fact, a function put into space, but there was no detailed disassembly of it. To imagine this zoning, we just had to mentally live in this building for several days with the customers, which we did. This is a very complex complex, it combines training zones, a mini-hotel, administration, a medical unit, swimming pools, cafes … In the end, we completely disassembled all these functions into two organizations, including networks, and the customers liked the idea. The only thing left for them to share is the multimedia screen."
A sports function somewhere requires natural light, but somewhere, on the contrary, does without it. Compositionally, this gave room for maneuver: two huge arenas for competitions of both federations, equipped with blister stands for two thousand people, moved into the depths of the building - they do not need natural light, the battles are watched on screens. Above them, in the "brace", were located impressive technical volumes for large engineering and air conditioning systems. Hotel rooms for athletes and administrative offices with the ability to access the roof were sent deep into the building. But the "wings" of the palace - where the training halls are located on the second floor - opened as transparent walls to the panorama of the Sparrow Hills and became the main attractors of the new architectural object.
“As a child, I myself practiced sambo in the basement and I know how much this does not contribute to the quality progress of an athlete,” says Yuliy Borisov. - In addition, the very closedness of the training space does not in any way solve the issue of attracting people there. And now sports are like instagram - people need to see the picture in order to get interested, go there, and these are the tasks of architecture. We wanted everyone to be able to see the workouts, because the best advertisement for something is to see the process, and no multimedia can replace showcases."
However, it is impossible to see what is happening inside the halls, which are located from the second floor, that is, above six meters, from the sidewalk. UNK project came up with an original technical solution: the ceilings in the rooms were made inclined and mirrored so that they work like a periscope. Thus, the building opens up to the street not only with the first floor with a foyer, cafe and waiting areas where you can freely go and drink coffee, but also with the main volume with a system of open air spaces for training.
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zooming 1/3 Martial Arts Palace in Luzhniki, winner project of the competition, 2019 © UNK project
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zooming 2/3 Longitudinal section. Martial Arts Palace in Luzhniki, winner project of the competition, 2019 © UNK project
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zooming 3/3 Cross sections. Martial Arts Palace in Luzhniki, winner project of the competition, 2019 © UNK project
“We came up with the idea of hanging the ceiling at an angle of 45 degrees so that people walking down Luzhniki Street could see what is happening in the halls. Moreover, they have access to the best viewpoint of the training field - from above, in the mirror. It was a bit of a crazy idea, but we tested it several times in models, in 3ds Max, everything worked. Such techniques have been used before - SPEECH, for example, made a similar sloping canopy in the pavilion at the Milan EXPO. But in our project, we created even more rigid geometry. This jogging destroyed the hegemony of the parallelepiped, made it soaring, providing also reminiscences of the architecture of the Luzhniki stadiums themselves. I mean the space under the stands, which was present both in the small sports arena and in the outdoor pool. Here we interpreted this characteristic technique in our own way."
So, from the outside, the optical effect shifts the emphasis to refraction, almost like in a camera. A mirror prism is clearly visible behind the transparent walls, and the volume ceases to be a "box", acquiring the properties of a modernist experiment to resist gravity: we will see a shiny pyramid-shaped ingot, turned upside down with its wide side up, but resting on equally shiny metal columns - or a hypertrophied cornice, or a tool for experiments in the physics of light and refraction of rays.
Refraction, provided by the mirror surface of the polished metal, plays a meaning-forming role, transforming the volume into an iconic form, similar to the undulating roof of the neighboring Irina Viner Gymnastics Center, whose section, by the way, has a similar specificity. The buildings occupy symmetrical positions relative to the central axis of the Luzhniki Stadium, passing through the BSA, and take on the role of a kind of propylia. But if the Palace of Gymnastics is contrastingly modern in relation to the Luzhnetsky ensemble, then in the Palace of Martial Arts, firstly, as already mentioned, we can see an enlarged version of the cornice with columns, and secondly, due to the functional division into two organizations, here was formed classic”symmetrical composition. The Martial Arts Palace is modern, like the center of Irina Viner, but echoes the historical buildings of the Luzhniki Stadium.
Yulia Borisov is well acquainted with the language and the historically established "design code" of Luzhnikov: as you know, he is reconstructing the Aquatics Palace nearby - the project also won a competition organized by the Moskomaritektura, now its implementation is close to completion. The architect considered it obligatory to appeal to him in the current project. So, on the facades, in the areas of partial closure - these are the swimming pool areas in the center, the administration and hotel rooms for athletes, overlooking the Third Ring - vertical sun-protection slats made of fiber-reinforced concrete appeared. Together with the cladding of the lower floor, they remind of lightweight concrete, tiles from which cover all the historical buildings of Luzhnetsk. Another type of lamellas - made of polished stainless steel over structural glazing - is also quite "Soviet" style, reminiscent, for example, of the Mayakovskaya metro station.
“There are no architectural monuments and protected zones in Luzhniki, but in my opinion this is a full-fledged monument of urban planning,” says Yuliy Borisov. - We understood that the object should live in the Luzhniki Stadium, maintain the complex ensemble and its design code, with classical proportions, colonnades, characteristic materials such as lightweight concrete, and bas-reliefs. And secondly, the most valuable thing is that you have a stunning green area a few kilometers from the Kremlin overlooking Vorobyovy Gory. Such a few places can be seen, maybe only in Tokyo there is something similar, but the scale is different. These two things - subordination to the ensemble and openness to the city - we wanted to implement in this facility."
