The press conference was also attended by the curator of the Russian pavilion Grigory Revzin and Irina Korobyina, director of the Center for Contemporary Architecture. They explained that Lieser with his project will “play” for a team of Western architects - against Russian masters - in the “Tournament for Russia”, a kind of “struggle for architectural quality”. In connection with the theme of the future Biennale, Irina Korobyina also noted the success of the Russian architect Totan Kuzembaev: his project "Nomad's Dwelling" was included in the international exposition of the Venetian exhibition, personally curated by Aaron Betsky.
Lieser's project, which the jury of the Yakut competition liked more than the works of its rivals: Massimiliano Fuksas, Antoine Predok, the Nötelings Riedijk workshop, was selected for the exposition of the Russian pavilion at the Biennale for the creative independence of its author. His unbiased attitude to any established architectural theses turns this work and other projects of Thomas Lieser into the results of "ideal" experiments carried out in the complete absence of the "environment" of sociocultural memory, traditions, habits and standards.
Such work from scratch is a new position for Russia, therefore Grigory Revzin considered it important to present such a variant of the creative credo in the national exhibition at the Biennale.
The typology of the project is also important: in the last decades of the 20th century, museum buildings have become a kind of litmus test of modern architecture, reflecting all of its transformations and development lines. If we also recall the "Bilbao Syndrome" created by the Guggenheim Museum of Frank Gehry as a catalyst for urban development, Lieser's project turns into an almost archetypal symbol of the architecture of the beginning of the third millennium.
Now the project of the Mammoth Museum is undergoing some transformation: before being exhibited at the Biennale, it is detailed on the basis of a mathematical system developed by the architect by analyzing the terrain typical of permafrost regions. This is how the semi-geometric, semi-organic volume of the new building appeared, raised 5 m above the ground on "legs" and as if climbing a nearby mountain. Inside there will be an exposition dedicated to mammoths and other extinct animals, permafrost as a natural phenomenon, as well as a laboratory for genetic research.
This building will be innovative not only from a formal point of view: the technological solution developed by the architect for the harsh climate of Yakutia is also unique. Its walls are made of double glass panels with airgel insulation inside - in direct conflict with the original competition task, in which the organizers asked participants to keep the glazing surface to a minimum.
But the Lieser version has better thermal insulation performance than more traditional materials. As a result, it became possible to revive the interior space of the building with winter gardens, as well as not to be afraid of heating the soil under the building and the subsequent subsidence of the building.
The project is also related to the environmental theme: a scientific center is planned as part of the building, where, among other things, it is planned to study the problems of climate change and environmental protection: in Yakutia, global warming is also felt, so this direction will be especially relevant for the new museum.
In general, the work of Thomas Lieser combines architecture itself, the mathematical logic of a formal solution and the natural science component into a single complex: just as, in his words, the architects of the Russian avant-garde - the inspirers of his work - turned architecture and art into an integral ensemble.
