The residential complex of two houses is called "Moskovsky" in honor of the avenue on which it stands. ID Moskovskiy (ID is part of the abbreviation from the name of the developer company EID, Euroinvest Development) is located behind the Obvodny Canal in the central part of a large block bounded by Moskovsky Prospekt, Smolenskaya and Zaozernaya streets. His environment: ordinary buildings of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries - along the building lines and in the depths of the quarter; Soviet neoclassicism of the 1930-1950s - a house with an arch of Lev Kosven in 1953 overlooks the red line of the avenue; on the plots to the east - residential high-rise buildings of the 2000s. The complex is being built on the territory of the former All-Russian Research Institute of High Frequency Currents.
"ID Moskovsky" includes two elements: the first is a nine-storey, L-shaped in plan (1st and 2nd sections), and the second is a ten-storey, U-shaped (3rd section).
The houses, connected by a pylonade, do not close the courtyard, which is outlined only on two sides by an L-shaped building, but stand next to each other, facing the front facades of Moskovsky Prospekt. Their location on the second line does not negate the compositional and volumetric-spatial connection with the building of the avenue. The entrance portal of the first section is coaxial to the symmetrical Kosvena house, facing the red line; its passage arch becomes a kind of front entrance, preceding the regular space of the courtyard. The third section is located on the same axis with the arch of the house No. 76 on Moskovsky Prospekt, its long facade becomes a kind of screen, shielding the historical courtyards from the blank firewalls of modern buildings.
This house, in contrast to previous projects, where layouts were mainly carried out by our partners, was created entirely by my team, therefore, in my opinion, it turned out to be more integral, harmonious and consonant with the St. Petersburg-Leningrad tradition. In a sense, I was inspired by the example of Lidval, who started with expensive and elaborately decorated buildings, such as the apartment building for his mother on Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt, then created the architecture of very simple housing for the workers of the Nobel factory, and later returned to the expensive segment with found solutions. finding some ideal balance of the simple and the complex.
Compared to the previous projects of Stepan Lipgart, "Moskovsky" is noticeably stricter. This is a generalized neoclassicism, close to Behrens and the Soviet 1930s who succeeded him, with Art Deco elements and no rounded lines at all. No capitals, no jibs, no heels. The author explains the harsh nature of the architecture by the fact that the house is located in the depths of the block, and the courtyard facades of St. Petersburg houses are traditionally more stingy with decor. But just plastically "Moskovsky" is very inventive and does not look like a courtyard. Along with the generalized order, characteristic of the neoclassicism of the 1920s – 1930s, in "Moskovsky" there is also an aspiration to the sky, inherent in Art Deco architecture and Lipgart's favorite theme of burdened impulse. Which, in particular, are embodied in the front facade of the first house.
This façade, closest to Moskovsky Prospekt, is defined by powerful vertical movement. In its center there is a two-tier entrance portal of the first section, elongated upward, representing a semicircular niche with a flat end. This portal, as it were, is doubled by a narrow "frame" four stories high, which in turn is framed by a six-story central projection, built on by a three-story attic. There is a vertical composition that is as tall as a house, reminiscent of the lens of an old camera from the side angles with its “telescopicity”.
Both elements of the "Moskovsky" complex have a traditional structure for the classics: a basement, a mezzanine center and a relatively light top. (The plinth will be faced with fiberglass concrete under limestone, and the upper tiers will be finished with plaster). Facade compositions of houses are in a visual dialogue, correlated with each other with the help of through motives: portal, risalit, bay window and terrace-pergola. The strong-willed and austere main facade of the first house is contrasted with the courtyard, structured with faceted bay windows typical for St. Petersburg, which in the upper tier continue with terraces-pergolas. This is another vertical development technique. First, the onslaught of matter (bay window), then a neutral smooth wall and, finally, a decrease in materiality (terrace-pergola).
In the facade of the ten-story second house, different themes are superimposed, like a stretch in a fugue: a portal, risalits, bay windows, pergolas, exhibited in the first house sequentially, are pressed here, superimposed on each other. The entrance portal of the second house is the same two-tier and vertical in outline as in the first one, but it is devoid of a recess-niche and is not duplicated by “frames” in the upper floors. Here, on the first two floors, a finish different from the first house was used, rustic, which, among other things, emphasizes the different function of the lower part of the houses (commercial premises and a kindergarten, respectively). In the architecture of the second house, on the one hand, there is no such powerful impulse as in the main facade of the first house, on the other hand, the plastic saturation is higher. There is almost no smooth wall here, on the contrary, the number of layers, profiles, protruding and recessed elements is large and varied.
Among other things, the abundance of ledges and ledges allows you to make the "line" of balconies diversified: from French and "small for tea" - to the above-mentioned pergola terraces on the top floor.
The two houses are connected to each other by a pylonade of eight twin pylons carrying a promenade at the second floor level. It is impossible not to see here a reference to the Benois House on Kamennoostrovsky with a colonnade in the courdoner. The pilonade divides the courtyard into two parts and, structuring it, brings it on the one side to the front door of the second section, on the other to the entrance to the kindergarten located at the end of the third section. For the pupils of the kindergarten, the gallery of the pilonade will be of practical importance: on rainy days they will be able to take walks under its shade, on fine days they can march under it to the sites located in the northeastern part of the courtyard. A mini-garden, a public space, benches and tubs with plants will be installed on the roof of the gallery. It will be possible to get there both from the street by the stairs and from the second floor of the first house.
Note that the pilonade, like the colonnade, is an additional spatial experience. The space in front of her is always solemn, behind her is more intimate, the procession along her is a rhythmic adventure.
Lipgart's design for the lobbies will not be implemented. It's a pity, he continued the themes declared on the facades: seven-meter ceilings, accentuated verticals in the wall decor, three narrow windows in the second tier (the office of the management company), reminiscent of a concert organ. and n, wing patterns on the walls and art deco octagons tending to rhombuses. All these details set the solemn tone.
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zooming 1/4 The interior of the front door. Option, view 4. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 2/4 The interior of the front door. Option, view 3. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 3/4 Interior of the front door. Option, view 2. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 4/4 The interior of the front door. Option, view 1. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
As for the apartment design, in Moskovsky it is represented by options from studios to 4-room apartments, ranging from 35 m2 up to 138 m2… Two principles can be noted in their decisions. The area of the house decreases upward, while the apartments towards the upper floors become larger in area, and their number decreases.“A number of apartments are close to the pre-revolutionary enfilade layout and ceremonial layouts of the 1930-1950s,” says Stepan Lipgart. - We are talking primarily about symmetrical apartments of the third section [of the second house, - approx. Ed.], the center of which was a large living room with a bay window. Thus, not only in solving volumes and facades, but also in planning, we tried to follow the principles of a residential building, traditional for St. Petersburg-Leningrad."
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zooming 1/19 Section 1, plan of the 2nd floor. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 2/19 Section 1, plan of 3-6 floors. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 3/19 Section 1, plan of the 8th floor. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 4/19 Section 1, plan of the 9th floor. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 5/19 Section 1, roof plan. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 6/19 Section 1, cut 1-1. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 7/19 Section 1, plan of the 1st floor. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 8/19 Section 2, cut 2-2. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 9/19 Section 2, plan of the 1st floor. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 10/19 Section 2, plan of the 2nd floor. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 11/19 Section 2, plan of 3-6 floors. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 12/19 Section 2, plan of the 8th floor. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 13/19 Section 2, plan of the 9th floor. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 14/19 Section 3, cut 3-3. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 15/19 Section 3, plan of the 1st floor. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 16/19 Section 3, plan of the 2nd floor. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 17/19 Section 3, plan of 4-6 floors. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 18/19 Section 3, plan of 8-9 floors. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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zooming 19/19 Section 3, plan of the 10th floor. ID Moskovskiy © Lipgart Architects
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So, the house is strict in details, but it is staged in a complex and varied way. He responds to the St. Petersburg and Leningrad context, builds a "second front front" behind the line of Moskovsky Prospekt; he actively uses bay windows and pergola terraces, and his pylonade interprets Benois's idea. As for the severity of the solution, it seems to have two sides. On the one hand, it is a means of achieving restrained elegance without sacrificing meaningfulness, on the other hand, it is a means of monumentalizing and embodying an impulse of will - a heroic theme that is consistently developed in the works of Stepan Lipgart. In this sense, the house is close to the order ships of the graphic triptych shown by the architect at the November Zodchestvo festival: purposeful and elegantly powerful.
Such a mood is more than consonant with the last thunderous 2020, our "modern times", when a certain aestheticism does not exclude the exertion of all forces and self-discipline.
