Dune Bends

2024 Author: David Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 02:26

The coastal part of the Kurortny district of St. Petersburg is very similar to Jurmala: a cold bay, a wide sandy beach 50 km long, dunes, relict pines. Once there was a glacier, then the Litorin Sea - after them there was a hilly relief with small rivers, lakes and moraines. It is always surprising that after spending half an hour in a train or car, after the granite and concrete of the city, you will find yourself in a completely different, truly resort environment.

The area is built up with summer cottages, old and new sanatoriums, cottage settlements of varying degrees of elite, "big" houses are only in Sestroretsk - a city with a population of just over 40 thousand people. Here is the complex of apartments "Light World" INSIDE ", which the developer Seven Suns calls a park of health.

The plot is fabulous - a little away from the city, the former territory of the "Dyuny" boarding house, many trees, the first line, the most beautiful beach in St. Petersburg "Laskovy", in the other direction - terrenkurs of the "Kurort" station. Another attraction is the only nudist beach in St. Petersburg, spontaneously formed a few years ago on a patch of land across the Malaya Sestra River.

Парк здоровья «Светлый мир ВНУТРИ». © Архитектурная мастерская «АММ-проект»

Sergei Oreshkin, whose bureau has prepared a master plan for the future complex, says that in the "underbelly" of the dunes, which gradually rise to an impressive 30 meters, a special microclimate is formed, the healing effect of which is complemented by pines planted specifically for the boarding house. It was impossible not to maintain such advantages, so the general plan was based on three factors, three “geniuses of the place”: dunes, trees and a view of the bay.

On the topographic survey, the architects circled "islets" with valuable trees: stocky pines, elms, oaks, spruces - which made it possible to outline free zones, mainly on the northern slopes of the dunes, where the buildings were placed, harmonizing their shapes with the curves of the relief. Then the houses began to be turned so as to open as many windows as possible to the bay. In the gaps, elliptical buildings arose, which differ in class: there are very few apartments in them. The winding houses of the first line serve as a windscreen for the interior.

In total, the complex has 19 houses of 5-6 floors, which does not exceed the height of pine trees - from the side of the beach, the complex is not exactly invisible, but peeps out from behind the trees very delicately, largely due to the decoration: the ceramics of the curtain facade imitates a pine board.

Парк здоровья «Светлый мир ВНУТРИ». Проект, 2015. Генплан © Архитектурное бюро «А. Лен»

The complex has an outstanding infrastructure: in addition to the usual cafes and a kindergarten, there is already or is planned a health food store, a health and wellness center, a sports complex with a swimming pool, baths, a kite and windsurf school, tennis courts, and even an institute for spiritual practice.

All roofs are in use, which cost the architects some effort, since it was necessary to solve the issues of safe and comfortable operation. Terrace boards, pebbles and sun loungers echo the resort atmosphere, where you can sunbathe, do yoga, admire the stars, sunsets or colorful kites.

The developer wanted to create conditions for a certain lifestyle, similar to a summer cottage or a sanatorium: in the morning on one of the roofs, exercises take place every day, then people go to breakfast, after which they can ride a bike or ski. In a word, healthy lifestyle all year round.

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1/8 Health Park "The Bright World INSIDE". © Architectural studio "AMM-project"
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2/8 Health Park “The Bright World INSIDE”. © Architectural studio "AMM-project"
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3/8 Health Park "The Bright World INSIDE". © Architectural studio "AMM-project"
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4/8 Health Park "The Bright World INSIDE". © Architectural studio "AMM-project"
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5/8 Health Park "The Bright World INSIDE". © Architectural studio "AMM-project"
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6/8 Health Park "The Bright World INSIDE". © Architectural studio "AMM-project"
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7/8 Health Park "The Bright World INSIDE".© Architectural studio "AMM-project"
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8/8 Health Park "The Bright World INSIDE". © Architectural studio "AMM-project"

Laying paths and platforms, the architects tried to turn the inner space of the complex into a landscape park: pine trees now complement lawns, hydrangeas, barberry, euonymus. Children's houses, benches, gazebos and other MAFs are not standard and are made in the same style. All cars remain in the parking lot designed at the entrance to the complex. The Light World INSIDE has already received several awards for its landscaping.

It is assumed that apartments ranging from 20 to 80 m² will be used as a weekend house or a modern summer cottage: you enjoy the country life, and the management company looks after the lawn and flower beds. The picture is completed by the barbecue area, where you can have a picnic in any weather, perhaps the complex will also have public greenhouses and garden beds.

The project was carried out in the studio "AMM-Project" by Yuri Mityurev on the basis of the master plan of the bureau "A. Len". The composition has been completely preserved, the internal planning structure of buildings and the external stylistic solution have changed: the facades have become flatter and "Scandinavian".

The originally proposed plastic cellular structure was smoothed out due to wind loads, and the white ceramics were replaced with "wooden" ones. As for the layouts, the economic expediency worked here: if "A. Len" followed the contours of the buildings and made the rooms trapezoidal, then AMM proposed an orthogonal structure of apartments, all complex lines went into loggias, which is simpler and cheaper.

“The bright world“INSIDE”is a rare example for St. Petersburg: an interesting silhouette, almost a tree, lush greenery, various public spaces. It is probably impossible to call the complex ideally contextual, since it, in particular, does not say anything about the Dunes boarding house that was here, and its scale affects the landscape quite significantly. On the other hand, the architects and the developer appeal to the aesthetics of the Scandinavian countries neighboring the bay, preserve the trees and, perhaps most importantly, the atmosphere. If not the St. Petersburg creative dacha, since its intimacy is already too luxurious and unattainable, then certainly a sanatorium-resort, where it is not bad to leave for a week before the second.