Throughout the last year the name of the residential complex "Finansist" was appearing on front pages of St. Petersburg newspapers. The conflict was up because of the height of the new building, designed by "Yevgeny Gerasimov and Partners” studio for the 27th line of Vasilevsky Island. Defenders of the canonical panoramas of St. Petersburg demanded for reduction of the residential towers height, but legality of the three-dimensional solution had all the required approvals. "Finansist" is not only a remarkable piece of new architecture of St. Petersburg, but also is an interesting legal precedent, shedding a new light on the relationships between developers and the city on the Neva monument preservation agencies.
Residential complex "Finansist" designed by "Yevgeny Gerasimov and Partners” studio is constructed on the cross of the Bolshoi avenue - the main traffic artery of Vasilevsky Island - and 27th Line. Among the numerous neighboring crosses of the island, this one is definitely the greenest and most comfortable. Very likely the developer would name the residential complex "Green harbor" or "Garden", but nearby there was held a construction of a Commodity Stock Exchange (chief designer: ZAO “Torgproekt"). Yevgeny Gerasimov designed the building taking into account the architectural design of the Exchange complex, and this considerably limited the creative process in addition to the restrictions of the historical area. Generally speaking, the impressive building of the Exchanges, richly glassed and covered with a massive curved roof, left no maneuver space for the architect.
From the very start Gerasimov realized that his project must be as austere and elegant and symmetrical as possible otherwise it would merge with the impressive silhouette of the Exchange, and together they would block the majority of the canonical views to Vasilevsky Island. On the other hand, how a real financer is supposed to look if not disciplined, slightly tanned, wearing an expensive suit and a thin elegant briefcase? Such is the building designed by Yevgeny Gerasimov. The residential complex is broken into two high-rise rectangular volumes, mounted on a common two-storey stylobate with an inner yard between them. This elevated modest space is partly green and is used as a walking area and arrangement of a summer café. The towers of ”Finansist” fronts the Bolshoi Avenue with their narrow lacking windows facades (width is 19 meters). They font the Lines with broad sides with numerous windows. At the ends of the towers, the architects placed apartments, viewing the two sides of the world, so that the deaf piers which add the facade original St. Petersburg "harmonies austere” do not affect illumination of the residential spaces.
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