Suzdal Lakes are one of the few places popular outside the city center, even though swimming in them is strictly prohibited. Coming here is almost the same as going to the bay or out of town. Pine trees with picturesque roots, blueberry bushes, a mirror of water and fishing - all this is part of the St. Petersburg identity, which you somehow forget about, constantly plying in granite, asphalt and concrete, so the mood is here, despite the massive buildings, which instantly grows behind “buffer of cottages and low-rise residential complexes, completely suburban.
In the chain of Suzdal lakes, Nizhnee is the largest and at the same time the most "wild", polluted and remote. However, soon all three lakes will be improved and, probably, it will look much more attractive.
The site where the sports center is being built is located at the far end of the lake, at the intersection of two large highways. Behind the Vyborg highway, along which Petersburgers will someday travel to Finland again, are crowded blocks of Soviet development with a "front" front of car dealerships and residential buildings of the recent era of gigantism. Beyond the Suzdal Highway - the edge of the city: cabbage fields and a car parking lot. The snow-white sports center designed by Futura Architects will really look like an object from the future in this location.
The complex shape of the building is the result of working with site restrictions, the main of which is the relief, which cannot be changed more than half a meter from the existing elevations. “It was difficult to fit the building into a slope with a drop of almost an entire floor, now builders, technicians and people continue to suffer with this drop - in St. Petersburg they are not used to moving along the slope, because we have an almost flat city. But everyone is trying,”- now the head of the bureau, Oleg Manov, is ironic, but it is obvious that a lot of nerves have been damaged.
The building is two-storey, almost square in plan. All five facades - the roof cannot be ignored here - are completely different. Conventionally, the main facade faces the Vyborg highway. The customer really wanted to see solid stained-glass glazing here, but the architects found it problematic due to the multi-lane highway located 25 meters away: the constant flickering of cars, bright headlights and noise will interfere with people who are inside, and besides, the stained glass window would have to be washed almost not every three months.
The resolution of the collision was not obvious: outside the stained-glass window is covered by three hanging "ribbons" of different widths, installed at different angles, they are held by walls and consoles. This is a kind of "screen" from the outside bustle, which also creates a play of light and shadow and gives the building a dynamic. A difficult decision had to be defended: first to the customer, then to the KGIOP and the expertise, and then to the builders, who, according to Oleg Manov, are convinced that it is impossible to make hanging elements made of monolithic reinforced concrete.
The found theme of turning planes is also supported on other facades, the axis for which is an angular pylon, "a functional and vital thing": it appeared as a response to the need to hide the gas pipe of the boiler room. The resulting accent “seems to stop the hanging walls with its vertically directed mass, sets a visual point, after which the development line along the highway ends, and after a few tens of meters a large traffic junction begins,” explains Oleg Manov. On our own behalf, we add that this small detail, in combination with the roof slopes and plastering, immediately triggers associative thinking and adds the warmth of a Russian stove to a functionalist building.
The Starozhilovka River is overlooked by administrative premises, coaches, rooms for storing equipment, which is reflected on the facade by rows of small windows. The main premises - a dance hall on the first floor and a universal sports hall on the second floor - are oriented towards the Lower Suzdal Lake, here the glazing is the most extensive. The building is covered with a roof with many slopes of small slopes, which will be visible from certain points, which, according to the architects, adds to the intimacy of the building.
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zooming Incision. Private sports club © FUTURA-Architects
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zooming Facade in I-A axes. Private sports club © FUTURA-Architects
Mineral plaster with a minimum fraction was chosen for finishing the facades. They decided to abandon rustication, again because of the high pollution of the highway, as well as for the sake of greater brevity: “Around the buildings of different height from 25-storey to individual housing construction, roads, mixed greenery, so for the integrity of the perception of the form, you need to make a single monolith - this can be achieved just thanks a flat white surface,”explains Oleg Manov.
The construction is planned to be completed next year, and the improvement of the lake should be completed by about the same time.
![EQUITONE [Natura] N164 White: Delicate White](https://i.architectureprof.com/images/004/image-9928-j.webp "EQUITONE [Natura] N164 White: Delicate White")