Quayside house. The palace

“Barkley-plaza”, an office building along the Prechistinskaya quay fronts the river as well as “Danilovsky fort”. But it looks more like a palace, than a fort.

Written by:
Julia Tarabarina

13 August 2009

Object

Architect:

Firm:

Sergey Skuratov architects

Object:

Multyfunctional complex on Prechistenskaia quay (Barkli plaza)
Russia, Moscow, Prechistenskaia quay, 17-19; Kursovoy lane, 17

Project Team:
S.Skuratov, N.Demidov, A.Medvedev, N.Ishutina, P.Shalimov

2003 — 2004 / 2005 — 2008

Client - ZAO 'Ux-Vostok'

The second “quayside house” designed by Sergei Skuratov is “Barkley-plaza”. This is a mixed-use building: under the ground there is a parking lot, in the stylobate there is a retail centre, over it there are offices, over office spaces there are apartments. The complex is separated from the river by the highway and includes a number of constructions, built in two lines on the single stylobate – the one line is extended forward to the front façade, behind the second line repeats it. The volumes are arranged in chessboard order: the front line is dashed and in the gaps the second is seen. Between the blocks there is a mini-park on the roof of the first storey. This is an interior space, it is not well-seen for people walking or driving by. But it is not totally isolated like a palace-well, but fenced off by single constructions. This makes the entire construction lighter, or rather airier like it is being ventilated inside. Massiveness of the entire block is avoided and it is turned into a kind of city block. All the five buildings of “Barkley-Plaza” face Ostozhenka with their stone side and its glass side fronts the river. So, from the opposite bank of the river all the facades (3 on the front line and 2 on the second line) merge into a solid glass line, dark, color of the river. There shape the two types of constructions and two types of facades each addressing its context: the urban “ostozhensky” white stone and “river” glass. Especially as there is an intriguing space, and the glass surface itself is non-uniform, dark and light planes of diverse scale of matte appearance alternate and create an enlarged image of ripple.

Architect:

Firm:

Sergey Skuratov architects

Object:

13 August 2009

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