Published on Archi.ru (https://archi.ru)

19.02.2010

House with gryphons

Anna Martovitskaya, Julia Tarabarina
Studio:
Evgeniy Gerasimov & partners

“Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners” designed a building, resembling both a Venetian palace by the water and a romantic castle, for Krestovsky island, which for a few years now has been seized with an elite housing development boom.

River was the main guide for Evgeny Gerasimov in work on the future residential. A building seen from the water in full view, in Petersburg can never be either conservative or faded. So, giving way to the charm of the area, Evgeny Gerasimov designed a house-palace, or rather a house-castle. Well, there are a lot of allusion can be make out from its architecture. First of all, it is Venice. Where else can you see a brick palazzo with white stone details proudly standing by the water? Today many cities have such, but definitely a Venetian palace gave birth to the image. Obvious inspired by the well-known phrase "North Venice" ... But in Venice, and in other cities, such palaces are usually located among their own kind but not in the open country. The building looks like an embryo of a stone city established on the bank waiting for future neighbors. But the house is the only now and looks quite surprising among birch trees - it's rectangular volume is too sharp, too reserved. Here appears another image of a castle, mote exactly, there can be seen an allusion to Paul I palaces, Mikhailovsky Castle and Gatchina. It was Paul I who started turning St. Petersburg palaces, frivolous and pompous or elegant and classic, into romantic castles. He built Mikhailovsky Castle, columns and galleries were replaced by towers, plain windows and walls. If we return to the house on Deputatskaya, the romantic image of the castle is hidden within the courtyard. Each of the four corners of the courtyard (by the way, is a typical for St. Petersburg well-yard, but with glassed top according to the modern fashion) has rusticated square towers with small rectangle windows, arranged spirally and diagonally. There are typical stair towers with real stairs inside. An interesting concept and especially significant about it seems image and function match.

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