We talked about the house on Malaya Ordynka, 19 several times: the project was completed and approved in 2016, and the construction was completed two years ago, in 2019. The house became a hero of the professional press - it seems that there is no critic who does not like it, because the authors, Andrey Romanov and Yekaterina Kuznetsova, and the ADM architects bureau managed to "get" into the format of the historical center both on a large scale and in texture - creating an image devoid of any pretense and noticeable stylization, and in many ways even cutting-edge.
The house consists of two sections, but for the sake of better matching the rhythm of the surrounding buildings, the street facade is divided not into two, but into three parts. The southern third, like the facades from the courtyard side, is designed in white stone in combination with wood - a material that has become quite traditional for the club houses of the Moscow center. The central part of the facade is finished with expensive dark brick interspersed with ornamental masonry and a complex layout of colors from terracotta to shiny metal scale. The brick facade has become an homage to the industrial past of Zamoskvorechye - it echoes the neighboring building of the late 19th century in the "brick style".
All windows of Malaya Ordynka 19 have Guardian Glass. And in order to combine the visual effect with the practical requirement privacy of residents, ADM architects, after consulting with the experts of the Guardian company, decided to use multifunctional glass with medium specularity “SunGuard® HP Neutral 60/40 ". As a rule, Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova prefer glass with the highest degree of transparency to mirrored glass, but in this case, since the house is not high, the windows face the side street, the glass “SunGuard® HP Neutral 60/40”was the basis for a reasonable compromise - not too shiny, but still protecting the interior spaces from prying eyes. In addition, being used in all three parts of the facade, this glass has become a unifying element: on a sunny day, you can clearly see how reflections of the sky "flash" the whole house, taking on the role of a kind of background, emphasizing the integrity of the various architectural solutions.
But the most noticeable, futuristic and modern was the northern part of the façade - entirely made of glass.
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zooming Residential building on Malaya Ordynka / ADM architects Photo © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / courtesy of ADM
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zooming Residential building on Malaya Ordynka / ADM architects Photo © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / courtesy of ADM
The northern third of the facades consists of floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows, which allows the apartments to be well illuminated with natural light, making the space inside feel “expensive”, which is quite consistent with the declared class of housing. But in addition to stained glass, which has long become customary, elements of curved glass are used here - a kind of curved shiny "curtains", which, on the one hand, cover the bedroom area, and on the other - turn the glass facade into a sculpture, the brightest and most attractive part of the whole composition, in its main accent. By itself, the motif of an open book or a kind of volumetric "butterfly" may resemble the brutalist IBM building in Madrid, but its composition is free-asymmetric and made of glass. Curved glass is not yet used very often in Moscow architecture and therefore is guaranteed to attract attention.
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zooming 1/3 Residential building on Malaya Ordynka / ADM architects Photo © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / courtesy of ADM
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zooming 2/3 Residential building on Malaya Ordynka / ADM architects Photo © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / courtesy of ADM
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zooming 3/3 Residential building on Malaya Ordynka / ADM architects Photo © Yaroslav Lukyanchenko / courtesy of ADM
And, of course, from the point of view of glass production, glass "butterflies" are the most interesting part of the project, both visually and technically. Shiny curved "curtains" give the facade airiness and lightness - but they, however, proved to be difficult to implement. The fact is that in Russia a hardening furnace is most often used, which cannot bend a part with a radius of less than 60 centimeters. In this case, a sharper "corner" was required. After a long search, it was decided to use another, more difficult and rare method of bending - gravitational: it made it possible to make a radius of only 4.5 cm, thirteen times smaller.
They did not completely bend a sheet of glass in different directions, it was divided into parts, and each was attached separately, but close to each other, creating the effect of a single canvas - on the diagram, the circles indicate the joints.
Initially, it was precisely the curved elements that were planned - to make the "curtains" mirrored, and the glass behind it transparent, but the mirror coating was severely damaged during the bending process and, moreover, the danger of the "lens effect" increased many times over. So the aesthetics were turned upside down: “SunGuard® HP Neutral 60/40 "medium specularity now gracefully shaded the clear curved glass" Guardian ExtraClear®».
The safety of the structures was also a priority - they are unusual and non-standard, it was necessary to calculate any possible events, and for this two techniques were used.
Firstly, the "butterflies" themselves are made of triplex, so if the glass breaks, it will not fall down like rain from fragments, but only crack and remain in place.
Secondly, the developers took into account the "lens effect" mentioned above. Glass is known to be capable of not only transmitting and reflecting, but also focusing light - especially curved glass; it is known that mirrored skyscrapers set fire to cars, melted paint on neighboring buildings and asphalt on sidewalks, and sometimes even bystanders received minor burns - all this despite the fact that the facade of the buildings was barely curved.
In the situation with wavelike "butterflies", this moment had to be taken into account, since the bends could act as a magnifying glass, so only after calculating the simulation of light reflections, it became clear that butterflies are safe for neighboring buildings, cars and city dwellers passing by.
The development of the project lasted three years, and throughout the entire time, ADM architects continued to look for ways to implement the idea of "butterflies". At some point, the "northern" building was even offered to simply be faced with brick, but the airy glass version looked so elegant and harmonious that the ADM architects preferred to continue their search rather than redraw the idea, and experienced Guardian experts made calculations, advised and helped in the implementation of the project in during the entire period of design and implementation.
For Moscow, the architecture of "Malaya Ordynka, 19" is unique, nowhere else is a similar idea - bent flowed as an element of decor and a kind of screen - was not used until 2020. Its implementation of a bold modern idea was the result of the joint efforts of the architects and experts of the Guardian.
The project became, in particular, a finalist of the Urban Awards 2019 competition in the category "Elite-class residential complex of the year".
