Work on the bas-reliefs for the swimming center Luzhniki is in progress

Replicas of twelve bas-reliefs will decorate the Luzhniki pool after reconstruction by the competition-winning UNK project. We plan to place them on the main and side facades, said the chief architect of Moscow Sergey Kuznetsov.

The bas-reliefs for the new multifunctional swimming complex Luzhniki are made using a special technology based on architectural approaches used in the USSR in the 20th century. «The replicas of the bas-reliefs will be two-sided, so they can be seen both from the street and inside the building.» The metal structure will help to fix the elements on the facade. The bas-reliefs are made of fiber-reinforced concrete with the dimensions of 12×8 meters. As Sergey Sobyanin has communicated, at present the monolithic frame of the swimming complex has been fully installed, the works are supposed to be finished this year," said Sergey Kuznetsov.

In total, 12 bas-reliefs will be made, they will be placed on the sides and on the central facade. According to the technology, first the sculptor makes the replica manually out of clay in sizes 1:2, after the model is approved, a 3D survey of the work will be done and a mold for bas-relief casting will be created. The service life of will be over 40 years. Replicas will reproduce the historical panels exactly. They were featured in the characteristic style of Soviet romanticism of the 1950s in competitions of various kinds, sportsmen with cups and laurel wreaths, tight-fitting Komsomol girls in bathing suits, nude figures in poses resembling ancient statues. The authors of the bas-reliefs are the legendary trio of sculptors of the sixties, participants of the group «LESS» V. Lemport, V. Sidur, N. Silis. The panels were created and installed in 1956.

«The decision to recreate this element of the facade corresponds to the tasks of preserving the recognizable look of the building of the swimming pool. Thus, a kind of design code has appeared that refers to its history,» said Yuliy Borisov, managing partner of UNK project.

The new building of the pool will preserve the main features of the old one and, accordingly, the stylistic unity with the other sports facilities of Luzhniki. In the course of the work the colonnade will be recreated, and historical high reliefs taken from the old building will be placed inside the new building on the wall of the main entrance to the pool area. Now they are in the storage in the «Luzhniki», later they will be handed over for restoration.

Remember that after the reconstruction of the pool, it will combine under one roof a professional 50-meter pool for 10 lanes and two 25-meter pools foe three 3 lanes in each, a water park, sports training halls, a fitness center, a boxing club, a children’s sports center. The area of the pool will increase from 19.7 to 56.5 thousand square meters.