The work of foreign architects in Russia has always been determined by local circumstances. Even if we limit ourselves to the modern era, the most striking examples, the building of the Le Corbusier Centrosoyuz and the textile factory "Red Banner" by Erich Mendelssohn, were built with a distortion of the project, and their architects showed considerable dissatisfaction with the result. Similar stories are well known these days and are much more common than success stories.
A different matter is the buildings of the embassies, which are de facto being built on the territory of Russia, but for foreign customers of a special kind. This is the "purest" import of foreign architecture, often creating the impression of a slightly fantastic transfer of "their" ideas and traditions into "our" reality, and very relevant ones. Suffice it to recall the rational-neoclassical
the building of the German Embassy in St. Petersburg (1913) by Peter Behrens, one of the forerunners of modernism, in whose workshop Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe worked (Mies was the head of the Russian building, although he did not supervise the author), and the interior design by Hans Hollein Department of Culture and Press Service in the old US Embassy in Moscow (1974). Or the Finnish Embassy in Kropotkinsky Pereulok: this monument of the Finnish modern movement was built according to the project of Hilding Eckelund in 1938, when Russian architecture took on completely different tracks. Already in the new Russia, a British diplomatic mission appeared (2000, Ahrends, Burton & Koralek) - probably not the most outstanding and contextual phenomenon in English architecture, but still surprising as a fragment of London at the turn of the millennium landed on Stalin's embankment.
The new building of the Swiss Embassy in Moscow, which was officially opened in June this year, on the one hand, cannot boast of the dramatic appearance or circumstances of the project, on the other, it fully continues the line of importing ideas. The restrained volume seems unusual and fresh in the diverse surroundings of Moscow lanes. Apparently, it was precisely the effect of surprise created by the emphasized laconicism of its street facades that caused on the sidelines - among the capital's architects and architectural historians - reproaches to the project for its lack of context and lack of aesthetic elaboration. Although what critics would like to see in its place, it is difficult to say: next to it is a typical brick nine-story building, a magnificent apartment building, a wooden manor house (1871) and an eclectic mansion that belonged to it, now the main building of the Swiss Embassy (1892), the late Soviet embassy of Kazakhstan (originally - a hotel for the 1980 Olympics), empire wings and a small park of the House of Pioneers. What is the main landmark in such a diverse environment? Whichever you choose, perhaps you will be mistaken.
The architects of the new building, Doris Welhli and Uli Brauen, speaking at the Carte Blanche series event at the Swiss Embassy in May this year, said that their professors at the Ecole Polytechnique de la Federal in Lausanne (EPFL), prominent representatives of the Ticino tendenza direction Luigi Snozzi and Aurelio Galfetti, urged them to pay attention to the context in the first place, which Brauen Waelchli Architectes try to take into account in all their works. However, the authors recalled, imitation of historical buildings is uncharacteristic for Western architecture these days - and the prevalence of such imitation surprised them in Moscow. Their building does not seek to copy its neighbors, but on the street facades it takes into account the proportions of the main building, a mansion of the late 19th century; from there a regular row of windows is taken. Along Gusyatnikov Lane, the building is two-story, that is, it is equal in height to its predecessor, and along the border with the von Behrens estate it reaches three stories, but the upper one is “masked” by the white color of the wall.
The location of the new buildings around the perimeter made it possible to dispense with high fences and at the same time provide the necessary security (as Uli Brauen recalled, one of the important requirements for the projects of embassies is the ability to barricade there, if necessary). A specially left undeveloped corner of the site at the intersection of Gusyatnikov Lane with Ogorodnaya Sloboda allows you to see the courtyard - a key component of the project. I would like to add that such a solution also visually hides the new building in the main perspective - from the Myasnitskaya side, from where, it seems, the bulk of pedestrians go to the embassy. As a result, the building is perceived by them in a strong perspective and does not violate the context at all, whatever it may be. The three-story part, which is really visible only when moving to Myasnitskaya, is hidden behind the trees of the estate; from the side of the park, its length is quite short, and there it also gets lost in the greenery.
In the course of discussions between the authors of the project and their Moscow colleagues, the street facade acquired a white window frame, reminiscent of classic platbands, which should facilitate the integration of the building into the environment. However, as the architects explained, despite the lengthy approval process due to the location of the building in the center of Moscow, the project remained practically unchanged compared to the 2007 competition proposal.
If we go back to the import topic, then - as far as it is possible these days to talk about national schools - the new embassy building is perceived as very Swiss. In addition to the mentioned contextuality in a broad sense in the spirit of "Ticino tendenza", Welhli and Brauen, according to them, put the quality of light and space, simplicity, detail and "authenticity" at the forefront, strive for the constant relevance of the project - both cultural and environmental stability, and therefore avoid "stylistic gimmicks", as they are short-lived. All this - of course, with the always missing subtleties of the glance of a foreigner, that is, the author of this article - seems to be typical for many representatives of the Swiss architectural school. Thus, the courtyard with a colonnade of concrete pillars resembles not even the buildings of the Tichin tendency, but the key work of its predecessor, Rino Tami,
the cantonal library in Lugano (1940). However, Uli Brauen explains the appearance of this colonnade differently: by education, he is not only an architect, but also a designer, and considers it very important to demonstrate the structure in the project - this gives the building a strong character, although in the Moscow case, such a decision turned out to be difficult: potential cold bridges were especially problematic due to climatic conditions.
The courtyard with glazed facades provides all interiors with sunlight. Offices with a free plan and meeting rooms go there, while individual offices are located on the outer facades. The external environment is always visible from the corridors, so it is very easy to navigate the building. Partitions can be moved, openings can be used to accommodate both built-in wardrobes and doors, that is, the building should easily meet the changing needs of users over time.
In addition to the widespread use of natural light, among the green components of the project are controlled ventilation with energy recovery and a waste heat recovery system. Wooden parts - the work of Swiss craftsmen, also "imported" was quartzite from Waltz and a number of other materials, construction was carried out by a local contractor, a Russian-Swiss company.
The reconstruction of the "original" embassy mansion deserves special mention. In contrast to the more neutral interiors of the new part, here a strong impression is created by the combination of the old, preserved by the beginning of the 21st century only as an idea, and the modern: rich colors of the walls, furniture and lamps by Swiss and “like-minded” designers. The historic building was touched by one of the few significant adjustments to the project on the way from competition to implementation, purely functional: at first, the architects placed the representative premises on the first floor, but they were told that in Moscow they are located higher, on the second. Downstairs are now the offices of Switzerland Tourism, Pro Helvetia and the Swiss Business Promotion Center. The facade of the mansion has been restored. Along the border with the park, where an extension of the 1960s was demolished within the framework of the project, the new and old buildings are connected, as well as on the opposite side, where a glazed corridor is arranged at ground level: for example, a complex for 100 rooms and 80 employees, which also includes the ambassador's apartment, on a plot of 3200 m2, looped around the yard.
Later, the authors of the project noticed that this courtyard resembles a map of Switzerland: this is how the idea of a landscape solution was born, where circles from the lawn mark the main cities of the cantons, and the federal capital, Bern, was additionally highlighted with an apple tree of the Berner Rosen variety, which originally gave the name of the competition project of the natives of this city Doris Welhli and Uli Brauen. The gardening theme is a reference to the history of the place, to pre-Petrine times, when vegetables and fruits were grown in Ogorodnaya Sloboda for the tsar's table.
For the first time, all divisions of the Swiss diplomatic mission in Russia are gathered under one roof: the project, which began with the announcement of the competition in 2007 and continued with the laying of the first stone in 2014, in the year of the 200th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, was actually completed in September 2018, when employees entered the building. Switzerland has invested 42.8 million francs in it, it is one of the largest budget new buildings for public institutions in recent years. The embassy in Moscow is also one of the largest in terms of the number of employees: only Washington and Beijing are ahead. By the way, in the summer of 2018, Brauen Waelchli Architectes won the competition for a new embassy building in the Chinese capital; in their portfolio they already have a similar institution in La Paz and an extension of the complex in Prague.
Finally, it is worth telling about the broader history of the project. The mansion, built for von Behrens in 1892 by the architect Nikolai Yakunin, was transferred to Switzerland in 1946, after the restoration of diplomatic relations (established in 1814, they were severed by the USSR in 1923 due to the acquittal of the assassin of Soviet diplomat Vaclav Vorovsky by a Swiss jury). Over time, its spaces ceased to suffice, so in the 1960s the aforementioned extension was erected, and to accommodate a number of temporary structures, the left side of von Behrens's wooden manor, bordering the embassy from the east, was demolished. However, the space shortage required a more energetic solution, so the idea of erecting a new building arose, which was implemented after 2005, when the Moscow government gave the Swiss embassy the right to build . For more details on the prerequisites and the course of construction, see the publication of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs “The Swiss Embassy in Moscow. Buildings and interiors”(Bern, 2019).
