Going Beyond

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

At the request of the customer, the location of the facility is not disclosed. The site is located in the historical area of a large city, but slightly away from the main attractions. However, there is no shortage of variety: in the neighbors of the future residential complex, there was a postmodern theater, a 24-storey residential complex, and a string of renovated mansions from the last century, and even an urban villa designed with the participation of a Spanish architect. It was she who became the fulcrum for the new residential complex in this colorful oriental environment - the OSA bureau has been exploring such a typology for a long time in its projects.

Despite the fact that there are no height restrictions, and the aforementioned high-rise complex is already inhabited opposite the site, the customer set the seemingly incredible limit of eight floors. As the chief architect of the project, Vasily Krapivin, admits, housing of a comfortable scale for a person is a rare success that allows for more complex and interesting work with the facade and proportions.

It is already known that the project will not be implemented, but for architects it remains valuable, because in the process of creative searches they managed to experiment and find non-trivial and at the same time viable solutions: "free" facades and complex multi-level space that meets both fire safety requirements and and other applicable regulations.

Жилой квартал в центре города © Архитектурное Бюро ОСА

A dense road network and a small module of quarters are a preserved reminder of the suburban past of this part of the city. The architects maintain this historic dimension by dividing the site into three small, permeable neighborhoods. The “core” of the complex is the dotted houses that respond to the scale of the “Spanish” urban villas and mansions along the parallel street. Two sectional buildings correspond to larger buildings and “corners” cover the quarter.

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1/4 Residential area in the city center © OSA Architectural Bureau
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2/4 Residential area in the city center © OSA Architectural Bureau
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3/4 Residential area in the city center © OSA Architectural Bureau
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4/4 Residential area in the city center © OSA Architectural Bureau

The buildings in each block are connected by a special variation of the stylobate: it is formed due to one-storey volumes, to which "bridges" are thrown from the first residential floors. On the upper level of the stylobate there are private areas with all the necessary grounds and landscaping. The lower level is a continuation of the city street, with cafes, shops and offices, various indoor and outdoor landscaped areas, entrances to the underground parking. In this way, the architects gently integrate the complex into urban everyday life, and also achieve greater transparency of the boundaries between different parts of the buildings: from the windows of the apartments one can observe the street life of the lower levels, and from below there are views not only of the hanging gardens, but also of the facades worth exploring.

According to the original plan of the architects, each block can be entered or entered from all four sides. However, in spite of the fact that the raised level naturally separates the “courtyards” from casual visitors, the customer asked to limit the entrance to the inner space with a pass system.

The "insular" position of the houses and the rather large distances between them made each side of the block the front. Facades took on a special meaning, and architects also approached them inventively.

First of all, the staircase and elevator node, which is more typical for modern European houses, is placed in the center of the building - this allows not to waste the area of the facade on it. Also, thanks to the displaced construct, the layouts of the apartments are made free: the architects propose to arrange all furniture and equipment along the inner walls or in the center of the rooms, leaving a free "suite" space along the windows. This solution not only allows you not to depend on the constructive step and metrics of the windows - in this case, you can make at least continuous stained-glass glazing, but also gives the space of the rooms a special "sound" - usually you can freely approach the window only in a very large apartment. These two techniques allow you to implement almost any facades.

Taking into account the polyphony of the context in which it is impossible to isolate the dominant motive, OSA proposes to make all three quarters of its complex different, which will help to avoid monotony and achieve "affinity" with the surrounding buildings. Using the example of a small quarter, the architects have developed six quite different facade themes, each of which has its own sub-options based on the choice of material. As noted in the presentation, the bureau "managed to create conditions for free creativity and balanced decisions of the architect and developer."

The developer settled on the "Tradition" option - the safest and most understandable, but because of the above techniques, it is still not boring: different sizes of windows and corner terraces on a "seamless" background with a brick texture create an irregular pattern and make you study the surface, wandering around it with your eyes and finding no repetitions. In order to prevent the plastic from being disturbed by accidental “switching on” of air conditioners, technical loggias are provided for the installation of climate control systems. Contrasting brick shades give each of the buildings its own personality.

Vasily Krapivin says that the implementation of the idea of a multi-level courtyard and free facades was like a complex chess game in which the opponent is, of course, the current norms with their tactics of exhausting the opponent. However, with all the spatial complexity, purity of lines and proportions, all the necessary requirements were met. Checkmate and checkmate to fire ramps - is this not a sign of skill?