The giant sail house on Khodynskoye Pole is a building that was called the most interesting project of the XXI century

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Many unusual houses have been built in Moscow, however, not all of them are old. For example, one of the most interesting and controversial buildings, the Sail House, appeared in the 21st century. A giant teardrop-shaped residential building located on Grizodubova Street (Khodynskoye Pole) really resembles a sail blown up in the wind, which looks grandiose and arouses curiosity. And the history of this multi-storey building is also interesting.

A giant house in a historic site

In addition to the aforementioned nickname, the building is also popularly called "House-Drop", "House-Whale", "House-Ear", "House-Snail" and even "House-Coin", although its shape is not round at all. Rather, it resembles a horizontal comma or drop half. But most of all, it really looks like a sail, which is reflected in its most common name.

Khodynskoe Pole is a place with an ancient history. It is known that Dmitry Donskoy bequeathed it to his son in the XIV century, and three centuries later Vasily Shuisky defeated False Dmitry II here.

Over the centuries, certain significant events have constantly taken place here, so the history of Khodynka itself deserves a separate story. In later times, already in the 20th century, this area was also in the spotlight. In 1918, the first parade of the Red Army dedicated to May Day was held here, and for almost a hundred years an airfield worked here (the last plane flew from here in 2003). By the way, on the site of the runway of this first airfield in the country, now there is a House-Sail.

In 2004, the area began to be actively built up with residential buildings. As you know, there is a huge shopping and entertainment center and an ice palace on Khodynka. Now the area resembles a town of the future - very unusual, modern buildings have been erected here, and, moreover, they are placed very chaotically. I must say that the strange and majestic Sail House fits perfectly into this "company", being in fact the main accent of this architectural composition.

Initially, the authors of the project, Andrei Bokov and Boris Uborevich-Borovsky, had no plans to build a teardrop-shaped building here: the only task was to design the longest house in Europe. But taking into account all the nuances (for example, the fact that there will be a school with a stadium near the house and they cannot be shaded, and enough sunlight must get into the windows), the authors had to show incredible imagination. This is how the arch and hump accent arose, which eventually became a giant blob in the style of high-rise buildings in Dubai.

The project was changed based on the wishes of investors

The house is based on two arcs and their radius is not the same. The width of the building in the center is one, and at the edges is different. In general, the house is rather narrow, so the "drop" seems completely flat.

The construction went on for several years. During the design and construction of the building, a number of factors had to be taken into account, requiring new engineering and architectural solutions. These are non-standard elevator mechanisms (the upper floors of the entrances are not on the same level, therefore, two hollow arcs had to be made for engineering networks and other communications), and difficulties in removing snow from a sloping roof, and unequal layout of apartments. And all these difficulties are only because the building is arched. As they say, beauty requires sacrifice.

The house is divided into several sections, each of which has its own entrance with a lobby and its own elevators. The highest part of the building has 24 floors, and there are only 272 apartments in the Sail House. The ground floors house various organizations, and the rest are residential. It is interesting that the house even has glazed terraces intended for arranging a winter garden. They are located in end flats.

Special attention should be paid to the rectangular red stemalite insert in the center of the house, which looks like a patch. This strange block is not at all a creative idea of the architects, but appeared here as a result of their disagreement with the investors. Initially, the architects planned to leave an empty space in the center of the Sails House, overlooking the Aviation Museum located behind the building. The idea, you see, is original. However, investors considered this to be an irrational use of the area, because it was in their interests to sell as many premises as possible. Therefore, we had to fill the "hole" with apartments.

Also, at the request of the customer, the architects abandoned the initial idea to leave the balconies at the ends of the building open (they had to be glazed), and to make the facade smooth (it was decided to include some of the loggias in the area of the apartments, and as a result, the windows had different depths).

Controversy continues to this day about the architectural value of the building. Someone considers him beautiful and grandiose, someone - ridiculous, unsuccessful. However, the fact remains: 11 years ago, Internet users named the Sail House the best building of the year (12 completed projects were put to the vote). And some connoisseurs of architecture consider it to be the most interesting house built in Moscow since the beginning of the 21st century.

Another interesting building appeared in Moscow during the “Luzhkov era”. House-egg, the most original and prohibitively expensive, just like the Sail House, it has both admirers and opponents.