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ENERGY TOWN (A.Gerasimenko, archi.ru, 27-06-2008)

The territory of the Sharapovsky career in Mytishchi has been mastered by Moscow architects for a long time. Initially, the workshop of A. Asadov won the competition for the reconstruction of the square in front of the station, located to the south-east of the quarry. The construction of the bright red shopping complex was eventually carried out by the studio Arch 4, but according to the Assad concept. Then, already directly by the workshop of A. Asadov, residential complexes “Gulliver” and “Perspective” were built, increasingly surrounding a large sandy patch of wasteland, remaining in the place of the quarry – a sort of bald spot inside the urban space. To close the “ring” of buildings should the volume of the school of Olympic reserve. Then the Sharapovsky quarry will be turned into a park and a new natural zone will be formed in Mytishchi.
The building, which more and more surrounds the spot of the quarry, is subordinated to the high white volume of the newly built Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Thus, the Gulliver complex was built in the form of a huge comet tail, the “head” of which was the church building. A long, curved house bows down in front of the temple, and moving away from it – it adds more and more height – and finally “explodes” with huge multi-colored towers.
The school will become the second “tail of the comet” – it will be located on the opposite side of the church, from the south. Thus, while designing the school, the architects of A. Asadov’s workshop followed the plastic principles that they themselves had previously invented for this place, designing the “Gulliver”: the dominant position of the church is strongly emphasized by the architectural behavior of its “suite” —the latter, however, is not extinguished in front of the temple, but he emphasizes its whiteness by its cheerful multicolor.
The school of Olympic reserve will combine the usual general educational training with professional sports – so its building has many functions, and they are located in a variety of sizes. The corps of the future school vaguely resemble a layer cake – the “layers” stretch along the envelope of the Novomytishchinsky prospect and are “stitched” by the transverse atrium. The configuration of buildings changes as one moves deeper into the future of the park, from the more traditional and “classic” to the “natural-ecological” one.
The first, on the line of the avenue, is the building of the existing lyceum, which it was decided to preserve and reconstruct, slightly reviving the facades – to reveal pilasters, cornices, pediments. Such an approach to a typical school building, almost like a “monument of architecture”, forms the history of the place and enriches it, though not very ancient, but with memories of the past. In front of the old building a wooden portico will be built – the main entrance to the ensemble of school buildings, behind which the already mentioned atrium will begin, uniting, like a giant paper clip, the main buildings of the school with each other.
The next, second building retreats from the old lyceum in a smooth, wide arc, as if “paying homage” to the building being preserved. Its long curved facade will be covered with a glass screen on wooden pillars, designed to reflect the trees of the existing apple orchard. This is a kind of air layer, “a transitional space between the building and the garden,” says the head of the workshop and one of the co-authors of the project, Andrei Asadov. In the arc-shaped building will accommodate school classes, designed for 1000 students. A similarly extended, but straight dormitory building adjoins its eastern butt – there is a hint of constructivism in it: the butt is rounded, and the green color of the jumpers between the windows creates a similarity to the ribbons.
Several volumes of various configurations, larger and smaller, covered with glazed tiles of bright local colors — yellow, red, blue — were attached to the opposite facade of the arc-shaped educational building. They will accommodate: a dining room, an assembly hall, workshops and a lobby for primary classes.
Next – a giant striped green “snake” – a complex of several sports facilities, united under one roof, smoothly “growing into the ground” from the future park. It will house two sports halls – for ordinary students and for future professional athletes, an adult and children’s pool, an ice skating rink and a large universal hall with stands for 3.5 thousand people in a separate petal volume. An inner street arises between the “school” and the “sports” part, even a square, pleasing the eye with green lawns, the colorful colors of the facades, and a slight zigzag trajectory.
In sum, a school-city or school-quarter is obtained, which consistently, but unevenly – with periodic bursts of either color or form – develops, starting from an almost traditional “orchestra” with an apple orchard to a large non-linear “snake” of gymnasiums, which tends to merge with the park . It is characteristic that the “town” formed in the space between the old school building being preserved and the phlegmatic green giant is very bright and diverse. As if some kind of “explosive” energy was released between the two poles.
The project definitely does not fit into the image of an educational institution that is familiar to us from childhood – institutions are usually more severe than joyful. “Among other things, we were inspired by a good example of a boarding school in Kozhukhovo built by the Atrium bureau, one of the first examples in Russia of the optimistic architecture of a children’s educational institution,” says Andrei Asadov. Indeed, before our eyes, a new trend is emerging and developing in the architecture of school complexes – complex, diverse, bright, cheerful, fun.