Sminex is building its “Atlantis”

New renderings have been released for the large-scale Sminex project on the site of the former “Heliumash” plant at 25 Avtozavodskaya Street. And now it’s clear what’s planned for the site. The main part of the project consists of several residential buildings ranging from 6 to 34 stories in height. A total of 1,329 apartments are planned.

The architecture is quite bold. The large horizontal volumes appear to have been stacked on top of one another and slightly shifted. It feels like a cross between Atlantis The Royal in Dubai and The Interlace in Singapore. For Moscow, this kind of skyline still looks unusual. And that’s a good thing. The city certainly didn’t need yet another glass rectangle.

Two business centers, 15 and 17 stories tall, will be built nearby. The architects linked the buildings’ designs to the site’s history: the factory was called “Heliumash,” so they tried to incorporate the image of helium-filled balloons into the buildings’ design. The result is quite literal, but at least it’s not boring. Further back on the site, there will be more intimate residential buildings. In the center is a large courtyard-park.

And this is perhaps one of the most interesting parts of the project. Sminex plans to build an open-air promenade along the waterfront with cafes and restaurants. They want to connect it to the walking path from the Marc Chagall Embankment.

If everything goes according to plan, this could become not just a gated residential complex, but a new urban destination along the waterfront. And that would significantly change the perception of the entire area. Previously, this part of Avtozavodskaya Street was hardly associated with walks along the Moskva River, restaurants, and high-end architecture. Now, it looks like it will be. 

The project is located in the Danilovsky District, about 1.5 km from the “Tulskaya” metro station. There’s no price or sales launch date yet, but the project has already made a visual impression. And in the Moscow market, where many new developments start to blend into one another even at the rendering stage, that in itself is a pretty good result.