Urban Living – Sofiyskaya Embankment
caption
- LOCATION
- Russia, Moscow
- STATUS
- Closed competition
- YEAR
- 2015
- CLIENT
- Capital Group
The large lot between the Sofiyskaya Embankment on the north and Bolotnaya square on the south near the Bolshoy Kamenniy Bridge, with the long series of alterations and transformations over time, is a magnificent test of how a new “urban living” can pursue the desired comfortable character of inner city housing and at the same time be deeply rooted in the unique landscape of the river and of the Kremlin silhouette on the other bank.
In our proposal for Sofiyskaya Embankment, the structure of the voids which founds the position and orientation of the buildings puts together at least three different goals: the first one is the response to the overall scale and structure of the neighboring blocks; the second are the issues of correct sun exposure of all the rooms and apartments; the third, the sight lines from and to the incredible silhouette of the city center and its monuments, which rightfully deserved the UNESCO nomination as a protected world heritage site.
The apartment complexes are organized along a series of very clear paths which lead from the common pedestrian access on the square to the atriums of the single blocks of the vertical distribution to the apartments. All the entrances to the apartment atriums are reached from this semi-private sequence of gardens. The landscaping of the gardens separates the common paths to the atriums from the semi-elliptical green “craters” which give light and air to the residential part of the socle floor facing the private green courts. On the two sides of the new boulevard and on the north head toward the cultural heritage buildings, the commercial and service spaces look out onto the new sunken public paths, animating them at all hours.
The distribution of the apartments on the various floors is the fruit of a very careful study of the different cuts and types requested by the brief, so to maximize variety. The sun orientation, the long views toward the north side of the river, and the relationship with private gardens, balconies and rooftop patios generate perfect arrangements of the interiors of the single apartments, with more traditional solutions on one level interlaced with more particular ones like the one of the townhouses, maisonettes and penthouses.
caption