Section "Armada"

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

The Armada club house is located in the southern part of the historical center of Yekaterinburg, in the Oktyabrsky district. The surroundings are colorful, the Empire and pseudo-Russian style coexist with constructivism and five-story buildings, new residential buildings are not without success reaching the 20-story mark. Nearby is the 25-storey WTC tower, in the near future there is a large office of Sberbank, and several more scaled buildings in the spirit of the late 1990s - 2000s, mostly glass-striped. Yekaterinburg is a dynamically developing and developing city, so it won't be boring.

Although the "quiet" historical environment is also present here, in addition, it is a 5-minute walk from the new residential complex both to the Iset River embankment and to the nearest park (named after Pavlik Morozov, scary to say). And the club house itself is located exactly in the center of the quarter, in the very middle, which should provide its residents with protection from street noise and a sense of privacy.

Клубный дом «Армада» Фотография © Максим Лоскутов/предоставлено АБ «Гордеев–Демидов»

Thus, one of the tasks faced by the authors of the project was to fit it into the multi-component environment of the city center, and in such a way that "with the required amount of living space, the volume of the building would not interfere with the historical perspective that opens onto the Holy Trinity Cathedral." The cathedral is a majestic Empire building with a golden dome and a high bell tower, located in the next block, next to the WTC.

House "Armada" consists of six sections in the underground parking, grouped in a semi-open quarter in the shape of the letter "P". The pedestrian courtyard faces south and is well lit by the sun. A sports ground adjoins it on this side.

The volume is subordinated to the theme of variable number of storeys - from 10 to 15 floors. Its eastern part, built as part of the first stage from the side of the park, is noticeably higher, and the western part, facing the river, is lower. But the volume, despite the division into two stages, does not look torn and stepped - on the contrary, it is subordinated to the wildness of the bevel. The top of the house is cut from east to west, terraces of the upper penthouse apartments are formed on the roofs, with views of the sunset over the river.

Клубный дом «Армада» © АБ «Гордеев-Демидов»

And also to the city and the Yekaterinburg circus - a monument of modernism, known for its lattice openwork dome.

The second time the theme of "cut" appears at the southern end of the house: the southern walls are finished with panels imitating wood, as are the walls between the terraces on the roof and inserts that animate the first floor. The reddish “tree”, which has acquired a terracotta shade in the photographs, here denotes a warmer “inner matter”, and from the south side the house seems to be cut off: as if a full block was planned, but half was cut off, simultaneously emphasizing the silhouette of the volume, which echoes with pitched roofs of historic buildings. Definitely, the southern façade-section is the brightest and most memorable perspective of the new residential complex.

The coarse white mesh of the facades is formed by plaster surfaces with black inserts between the windows, combined in vertical pairs. The mesh - sometimes thick, sometimes sparse, stepped on a bevel, alternates narrow windows and wide loggias, and in general works like a visual corset: it makes the volume elegantly taut and at the same time noticeable in a variegated environment.

The two lower floors, where office space, shops, a kindergarten and a gym are located, in contrast to the "white top", are decorated with dark slabs and black metal that match the glass and lively "wood" inserts. Their facades are slightly deepened, and the white facades are cantilevered and finished with the same panels imitating wood at the ends - all together, including the volumetric compositions of entrances and large dark canopies, creates a sufficiently developed "Suprematist" play of volumes.

The apartments are spacious, the layouts are rational, the kitchens are large, the rooms are isolated; all apartments have glazed balconies. The two- and three-room apartments have two bathrooms, a place for dressing rooms and other utility rooms is planned. Each floor has two to five apartments. The entrance area of the halls and vestibules is designed in a calm beige color scheme.

In conclusion, we note that the architecture of the house, hidden in the courtyard in a variegated environment and endowed with a high status of "club" real estate, does not exactly correspond to the real estate name "Armada", which is associated rather with something very large and perhaps even somewhat frightening. The house, on the contrary, is very rational and even moderate: it not only combines versatility and moderate height, but also the design of its architecture - on the one hand, is bold and bright, on the other, confidently restrained, measured, unlike some neighboring buildings. So it is quite possible to consider it a "rational grain" in the development of a prestigious district located in the center, but near the park and by the river.