THE CONCEPT:
With the great number of buildings the Pushkin museum is a town on its own within within the city. The museum town will be mainly populated by pedestrians, strolling from one exhibition to another or hanging around having a little break.
The area of the museum is not just a place to pass by; it’s a place to be. This means that cars and motorists are the only guests of the public space. Cards for logistic means are welcome but the design will be determined by pedestrians – a so called shared space.
QUARTER 30
New depositary, restoration and exhibition building (DRE).
The new depositary, restoration and exhibition building (DRE) is situated in the far northwest side of the quarter 30 in the new Museum town. Its specific placing is an elongated stripe of land roughly east-west orientated with a complex configuration due to the existing heritage buildings. The level drop between the both ends of this stripe is around 4 meters.
On the northeast side we have the Stulov family tenement building (by architect Arkhipov, 1913) that is the tallest building in the vicinity. As its direct neighbors we have a complex of mansions (by architect Shutssman, 1913) that holds today the Museion Educational Center. On the southwest side we have the Glebova’s House (by architect Shestyakov, 1826) that houses nowadays the Graphics House. On the southeast side and along almost the whole site we have a sequence of buildings under reconstruction that will hold in the near future an educational and investigation centre for restoration and storage of art. These buildings are: the main building from Shulavalova’s mansion (1804), the Prince Volkhonsky’s chambers (1682), and the Renkevich mansions main house wing building (1788).
On our site we can find two buildings considered protected heritage and several others that have no protection status that will be demolished.
QUARTER 32
The quarter is situated in the southeast side of the site, right on the main pedestrian flow between the main building and the access to the Kropotkinskaya metro station. Therefore, the area becomes the main entry path for the majority of visitors. We can even suggest this area to be an open-air entrance to the whole Museum town.
Apart from the pedestrian flows, the 32nd quarter displays an extraordinary set of heritage constructions dating back to different eras. Together those buildings create a unique landscape and atmosphere of the place.
The first thing that one sees while entering the quarter is the 1930’s petrol station ensemble with a cash pavilion, designed by architect A. Dushkine. In our proposal we suggest saving this station (without its main function) and making of it a symbol of the arrival. The station’s pavilion will also serve as information and meeting point as well as a beacon to facilitate the navigation on the territory.
A 3-level visitor underground car park has been equally designed on the site. The level -1 will be connected to the exit from the metro station Kropotkinskaya as well as the future station Volkhonka.
The quarter 32 will serve the Main entrance for the territory of the Museum town.
