The apart-hotel is planned to be built on the left bank of the Moscow, along the Dosflot passage. The site is located on the first line, with access to the city beach, and is separated from the water only by a wide strip of trees. The L-shaped platform stretches along the coast. Previously, it was occupied by a five-story brick hotel building, long abandoned and now designated for demolition.
The surroundings are micro-district: residential quarters, two schools, a kindergarten - all in dense thickets of deciduous trees. Almost all buildings are located on the other side of the Dosflot passage. The new house will interact with it to a lesser extent, and to a greater extent - with the channel to them. Moscow and its opposite bank, on which the spire of the recently restored Northern River Station is dominantly marked. From May to October, dozens of cruise ships leave from its pier - a fascinating sight. And it was it, in all likelihood, that determined the main idea of the project: a house that looks like a ship - a steamer house.
The project was developed by the architectural bureau "Mezonproekt" by order of the company "Capital-Invest" in 2017. One of the tasks that the architects set for themselves was to preserve the existing trees, tightly surrounding the site from all sides, but at the same time to maximize the view of the water and the opposite the bank of the canal. Hence, a simple and clear composition, repeating the outlines of the site and the house previously located on it. A small indent from the borders was made only from the side of the courtyard - to organize a landscaped area in front of the entrance to the hotel lobby.
The complex is divided into two separate buildings, placed perpendicular to each other and joined at the ground floor level by a common stylobate. According to the head of the architectural bureau, Ilya Mashkov, initially the authors considered the option of a solid building repeating the shape of the site, but then the idea arose to divide the volume into two buildings for easier perception. One, five-storey-high extended building, fixes the border along the Dosflot passage, but looks at the water. The second is a six-story block, its end faces the canal, and it is this end that acts as the main facade. He also creates an artistic and semantic portrait of the entire complex.
The contour of the house, if you look at it from the front, is quite simple, two-part, without a noticeable difference in height, with a wide gap between the buildings. But when viewed from an angle, a silhouette bevel is immediately indicated - terraces - "decks", masts and pipes, ladders - "ladders", along which, it seems, gallant sailors are about to begin to climb. The pipes, large and high, as on the very first steamboats, are nothing more than exhaust shafts; usually it is customary to hide them, but here they accentuated "in Roger's way". The terraces provided on each floor are also quite functional - residents will be able to go out on them to admire the panorama of the Khimki reservoir.
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Image 
zooming 1/9 House "Steamship" © Mezonproject
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zooming 2/9 House "Steamship" © Mezonproekt
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zooming 3/9 House "Steamship" © Mezonproekt
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zooming 4/9 House "Steamship" © Mezonproekt
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zooming 5/9 House "Steamship" © Mezonproekt
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zooming 6/9 House "Steamship" © Mezonproekt
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zooming 7/9 House "Steamship" © Mezonproekt
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zooming 8/9 House "Steamship" © Mezonproekt
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zooming 9/9 House "Steamship" © Mezonproekt
Moreover, this is not quite a house-ship in the sense of a modernist stamp - although the vent-exit pipes originate from there, but here the "ship" is subjected to deconstruction: it may be a ship, or perhaps a dock. In any case, there is no hint of the aerodynamic shape, bow and stern of the building, which is about to float, is not here: rather, we are shown a set of elements of a ship-steamer, offering to evaluate the somewhat brutal plasticity of the terraces-decks, which seem to be a fragment of what -that stray "Titanic". But it is precisely a fragment and a decoration, an application for discourse, and not a semblance.
Ilya Mashkov, Mezonproject
“The idea of a steamer house came about after we had drawn the terraces and chimneys.
Then we decided to enhance the emerging image, add an element of recognizability, tried to make the pipes sculptural, and the terraces - similar to the decks of a sea vessel”.
Such a solution with wide steps of terraces rising from the water to the shore is more typical for the southern resort architecture. However, even here, in the north-west of Moscow, due to its proximity to water and picturesque surroundings, it looks appropriate. I must say that the association with the resort is very fleeting and completely disappears upon a detailed examination of the facades. In the choice of materials, the proportions of the windows, the height of the floors - everything has a reference to industrial architecture. Even the pipes, which initially reminded us of the steamer, easily become part of the plot of the factory at the beginning of the 20th century.
To combine these two seemingly completely different stories - about a ship and a factory - the authors of the project decided to “calm down” the facades, make them stricter and more restrained. “The first versions were more naval,” says Ilya Mashkov, “with white hulls and colored pipes. Then they decided to move away from such a direct reading towards the image of the factory. This is how red bricks, tall windows and metal decorative elements appeared."
Ceramic tiles with a red brick texture were chosen as the main facing material. Brick surfaces are combined with metal ones. Grilles for air conditioners, decorative screens near windows, fences of French balconies, lining of air duct pipes, as well as fire escapes painted in black and brought out to the facade are made of metal. The latter technique makes us recall not only about Russian factories at the beginning of the last century, but also about residential areas of New York, for which steel fire escapes with balconies have become a kind of visiting card. By the way, red-brick walls, the so-called brownstone, and large windows, coupled with openwork staircases, are classics of New York architecture.
Turning to recognizable and traditional images of the past, the house does not forget to pay tribute to the techniques of modernity: hence the beat down rhythm of the facade mesh, which is created by means of windows of different sizes, and colored inserts from the profiled sheet. From it, the authors form real art panels with a rainbow of shades - from dark earthy to lavender. All this is spiced with plastic - volumetric and concave vertical panels give rise to an additional play of light and shadow. It seems that in this way the house responds to the sunset colors of the Khimki reservoir, because only the facades facing the water received splashes of color.
Dosflot Passage is a quiet and green place, it repeats the path of the bend of the canal and would have completely gone beyond the forest path, if not for the asphalt pavement. The façade of the complex, which is the most calm in terms of plasticity and color, goes out here. It maintains the character of the environment and fits well into the context in height, with a decrease in the direction of the water. The most accent detail of the complex from this angle is the decorative metal pergola on the roof, painted to match the facade tiles. It is assumed that in this part of the roof will be exploited. This landscaped area under a canopy will become an additional resting place for residents, which is important given the shortage of yard space.
The top of the building with a pergola is echoed by the design of the stylobate part, made in the same lattice style. The first floors are planned to accommodate a large lobby for residents, office space and a cafe. In the direction of the street, the cafe will open with large glass stained-glass windows, inviting residents of neighboring residential areas inside. A green alley will stretch along the entire street facade.
In the direction of the courtyard and the river on the ground floor there are apartments with glazed terraces framed with light thin frames.
The building with a total area of about 6,000 m² will feature apartments of various configurations and sizes - from one-room to four-room. Everywhere the possibility of organizing a full-fledged kitchen is provided. The underground floor will be occupied by a parking lot for 27 cars.
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zooming 1/9 House "Steamer". Plan -1 floor © Mezonproject
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zooming 2/9 House "Steamer". Plan 1st floor © Mezonproject
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zooming 3/9 House "Steamer". Floor plan 2 © Mezonproject
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zooming 4/9 House "Steamer". Plan 3rd floor © Mezonproject
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zooming 5/9 House "Steamer". Floor plan 4 © Mezonproject
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zooming 6/9 House "Steamer". Floor plan 5 © Mezonproject
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zooming 7/9 House "Steamer". Plan 6th floor © Mezonproject
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zooming 8/9 House "Steamer". Section 1-1 © Mezonproject
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zooming 9/9 House "Steamer". Section 2-2 and 3-3 © Mezonproject
In 2020, the apart-hotel project was among the finalists of the Moscow prize in the field of architecture and urban planning. Previously, he received the approval of the state examination and is now waiting for implementation.
