For my final project I chose a building that is the only house with galleries in Moscow. It is located in Basmannyy district. The address is Pokrovka, 4. I was attracted by its unusual appearance. It has 2 absolutely different facades. The one facing Pokrovka  has an official severe look, but  internal facade looks rather informal.

I was deeply inspired by Renata Letvinova’s movie «There is no depth for me» where she interviews soviet cinema stars. They tell her about their lives, their regrets and achievements.  Almost all of them suffer from loneliness because they devoted a large part of their life to the career. And now when they are old their life seems wasted to them.

My project is about creation a house-theatre for old actresses. This is a space where they could live either  constantly or from time to time and work. Many comfortable conditions were created for them - there are 6 apartments on the 2 floor. Shared living rooms where they could  talk and discourse the future plans and also shared dining room where they gather for breakfast made specially for them. There is a Yoga class and a laundry. Everything here helps them avoid daily routine problems and is intended to create as many places for communication ad idea exchange, future professional growth as possible.

In spite of the fact the living rooms are located on the southern part of the building there is no enough light there because of the galleries. That is why I use roof lights.

Each apartment is different: it could have its own specialization according to the owners interest.

The main goal of the project is to show and help them understand they still could be useful as teachers or just as pleasant company. There experience is unique and is of great value.

I need to create a comfortable space for old people and fresh and contemporary one on another hand to attract more visitors. 

The ground floor is a public zone. You can get there throughout the arch but the shop and cafe have separate entrances from Pokrovka street. There is a reception area  with and cashier wardrobe on undergondfloor, from where visitors can get to  the TV studio. Shouting of reality shows takes place here and people can watch the process ar even participate in it. The reception zone is also connected to a vintage shop with beauty area. Here the actresse can sell their theatrical dresses and use at the beauty area before TV shows. In the left part of the building there is a Cafe with kitchen food storage and unloading area. You can entrance to the cinema through the cafe.

    The second floor is a semi-public zone. There is a cafe with a video wall where visitors can seat in front of each other, have a lunch and watch a movie on several screens on the wall.  Thank to special loud speakers the sound  by each table is only heart by the people seated  at it. There is no cacophony. There is also a video archive, small infornal cinema for watching movie using film tape and one more room with a projector and a screen for thematic watching.

    The right part of the 1 floor is for students of theatrical high school. They use a separate entrance from Pokrovka street to get there. There are rehearsal room. art studio and musical rehearsal room with sound record studio. The left and right parts of the 1 floor is connected by the space above the arch. This is an office for administrational personal.

    The actresses use a lift to move between the floors. It is also used for deliveryng  food to another kitchen.

The galleries of the 1 and 2 floor stay open. The curtain can cover the galleries and open those areas where the performance takes place. It has automatic system. In the beginning of performance all curtains are closed, then suddenly one window opens and  show begins. Then  the scene is over, curtains close and performance moves to another window.

Residents of neighboring houses can bring their own chairs and enjoy the Soviet cinema with visitors the “Old Theatre”. 

I noticed there are many rounded shapes inscribe in rectangular form and I decided to keep this «game» and continue it in my project. This is how I created those red metal arches. They make inner facade more theatrical. I change the construction of handrails for make the galleries more suitable for observation.  Now they consent of 3 horizontal bars prevent a sitting man from falling down. There is a special foot rest for the people seating on a balcony floor.

Curtains associated with cinema and theatre. The curtain theme can also be seen in the walls. I use wavy plywood structure which looks like theatre curtain. You can see it everywhere - in the shop this structure separates the ladder area from the rest of the shop. At the reception area it is just a wall. The same structure is used in the summer theatre to support the screen.

From Pokrovka side the windows are set with different depth. I set some table tops in the window niches at a different hight. The deeper is the niche the more people going along the street can be involved in what is happening in the space behind the window. So I can change how people can be involved.  For example Tv studio has 2 windows but one of them has a deep niche from the street so that people can become a part of audience. Where as another one located in front of presEnter does not allow to do it for avoiding a bed situation when some crazy people are in the picture. 

    This wooden structures have different purpose, for instance in the shop it works as a shield for some stuff on sale. In the cafe - as a bench.

In my project I partly use existing materials. Metaphorically this combining the new and the old symbolizes my general conceptions. Concrete, old brick walls…