In September, after the renovation, a library and art-residence SHKAF opened in the Polyustrovo district of St. Petersburg, which is historical, but remote from the center. The building in which it is located is part of an experimental house built for the workers of the Krasny Vyborzhets plant according to the design of Svyatoslav Gaikovich, Oleg Frontinsky and Victoria Veryuzhskaya in 1982. The main feature of the house is the three-level apartments, in which all bedrooms are oriented to the south, and the kitchens and living rooms are to the north. The two-storey annex housed a dining room, a cookery, as well as a cultural and leisure center, which later became the Piskarevsky Library and Cultural Center, and now a Wardrobe.
Across the road from the Wardrobe is Polyustrovsky Park and a cluster of new business centers and residential complexes, and in the immediate vicinity - a typical micro-district development of the 60-70s, as well as another representative of late Soviet modernism - built for the Olympic Games
hotel "Karelia", which they tried to update in a different way - by painting the walls under a suitcase.
SHKAF is not the first project of the Central Library System of the Krasnogvardeisky District, which is perhaps the only one in the city seriously and very successfully engaged in the creation of public spaces in residential areas on a non-commercial basis. In 2013, the updated
library named after Gogol, in 2017 - the library "Rzhevskaya", next in line is the children's library number 1, which in 2021 will begin work as a cultural center "NOTA".
For the cabinet with its unique location, in 2018, with the support of Project Baltia magazine, the Art Residence competition was held, in which 11 bureaus took part. The building was never renovated, the second light was partially covered by a suspended ceiling, inside - the district library as we are used to seeing it. The participants of the competition had to preserve the architecture, breathe new life into the space and create the atmosphere of a writer's house and a creative residence. According to the jury headed by Svyatoslav Gaykovich, the Serious Project studio coped with the task best of all, the project of which was implemented.
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zooming 1/4 Library before renovation Photo courtesy of the library and art-residence SHKAF
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zooming 2/4 Piskarevsky Cultural and Library Center before reconstruction Photo courtesy of the library and art-residence SHKAF
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zooming 3/4 Piskarevsky Cultural and Library Center before reconstruction Photo courtesy of the library and the art-residence SHKAF
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zooming 4/4 Piskarevsky cultural and library center before reconstruction Photo courtesy of the library and art-residence of the SHKAF
Outside, the building remained the same: the brickwork was renovated and covered with embossed plaster, the skylights were restored, and the engineering networks were replaced. The main changes concerned the internal content. Instead of melancholy reading rooms with bars on the windows, there are light and cozy spaces where you want to linger, comfortable and equipped with everything you need for a modern creative process.
As in any public space, the program plays a decisive role in the life of the cabinet. The art residence works in four areas: literature, design, performing arts, and also architecture. The activity is built around sessions, during which residents of the district, together with experts, discuss certain topics, as well as cases - art festivals, professional conferences or thematic exhibitions. In addition to the atmosphere and inspiration, SHKAF also offers specific tools: from specialized books to the latest multimedia complex in a classic blackbox room. Inside there is a designer's office, a Writer's office, a space for lectures, and even - for doing nothing, an idle room.
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zooming 1/7 Cafe "Time". CUPBOARD. Library & Art Residence Photo © Alexander Belyaev
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zooming 2/7 Hall Dialogue. CUPBOARD. Library & Art Residence Photo © Alexander Belyaev
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zooming 3/7 Hall Dialogue. CUPBOARD. Library & Art Residence Photo © Alexander Belyaev
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zooming 4/7 The office of a bum. CUPBOARD. Library & Art Residence Photo © Alexander Belyaev
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zooming 5/7 Hall, Floor of the Incarnation. CUPBOARD. Library & Art Residence Photo © Alexander Belyaev
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zooming 6/7 Hall, Concept Floor. CUPBOARD. Library & Art Residence Photo © Alexander Belyaev
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zooming 7/7 Black Hall Place. CUPBOARD. Library & Art Residence Photo © Alexander Belyaev
The Wardrobe also found a place for Tochka, the first gallery of architectural photography in the city, whose partner is Project Baltia magazine. Until January, it hosts the exhibition “Leningrad Modernism and Postmodernism. A View from the XXI Century”. The synergy of space and its filling works to rethink the architectural heritage of the second half of the 20th century.
Photos of the monuments of modernism, shown at the exhibition of the gallery "Tochka" in the space of the cabinet:
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zooming 1/5 Kindergarten number 19 in the Central District. Photo © Vladimir Antoshchenkov
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zooming 2/5 Dormitory of the Admiralty Association Photo © Alexander Terebenin
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zooming 3/5 Professional Lyceum of Technology and Design (former vocational school at the Skorokhod plant) Photo © Alexander Lavrentiev
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zooming 4/5 SCC "Petersburg" Photo © Yuri Palmin
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zooming 5/5 Administration of the Petrogradsky District Photo © Ivan Chernykh
The next stage is the improvement of the park adjacent to the residence, for which the concept is already ready. They plan to plant even more greenery here, move the parking lot to the courtyard, install small architectural forms and art objects, and then give lectures, hold exhibitions, and tune visitors to the desired creative mood.
The project was named CABINET - a piece of furniture, as you know, mysterious and multifunctional, inside which you will not find anything - from your favorite sweater to skeletons and secret doors. But in the new incarnation, this is by no means a Yugoslavian "wall" and not a mezzanine, a collection of evidence of the past mundane by Soviet life, but rather a rack of
BILLY series, neat and pleasant to the eye. A modern attractive interior, as well as a well-chosen function, are simple but effective tools for the popularization and preservation of vulnerable late Soviet architecture. The value of which is manifested the brighter, the more modern buildings surround it.
The example of the CABINET gives rise to once again dreaming about houses of culture within walking distance, which could turn the outskirts of the city into a more pleasant place to live, where the shopping center - the only possible place for leisure - finally has a competitor and an alternative.
