At the moment, on the first floor of the Central House of Artists, twenty-four works of young architects, selected by the curator of the Arch Moscow ‘Next’ program, Bart Goldhorn, are exhibited. At the same time, twenty-four authors are sitting on the third floor of the Central House of Artists and in the company of computers, easels and a coffee machine, they catch beautiful architectural ideas by the tail. Tomorrow, the jury will select the best four from the works made right at the exhibition - their authors will go to Rotterdam to present themselves to the international jury. The jury will choose one out of four - he will receive a personal card at the next "Arch Moscow".
While the exhibition is open and the young architects are busy, we asked Bart Goldhorn, curator of the ‘Next’ program, to show us the works he personally liked. Those that the curator had in mind when referring to the ingenious projects sent to the New Names competition. Below I will try to convey the conversation that took place, as well as show and briefly describe those projects that the curator noted. There were six of them in total.
Archi.ru:
So, do you really think that among the works of young architects selected to participate in the "New Names" program there are genius ones?
Bart Golhorn:
Not all, of course. There are just good ones. There are brilliant ones. Rarely found, but they are.
[Nikita Asadov, Moscow. Skyscrapers. Drawn with a felt-tip pen, one per page. Each "skyscraper" consists of a base - a vertical rectangle designed to indicate its skyscraper, and one characteristic detail. The first is a "skyscraper with a front entrance", that is, with a portico, then - "with a turret" (similar to a toy rocket on the roof), with a fire escape, with an attic, with a basement, with garages, etc. All together they parody the main complexes of Moscow, either architects, or developers, or residents, or life in general.]
Bart Golhorn:
I really like this piece by Nikita Asadov. It is both artistic and relevant at the same time. The meaning is very precisely caught. Super thing. Incidentally, I first saw her here at the exhibition.
Archi.ru:
Nikita sent this to the competition?
Bart Golhorn:
I asked to send the best works and selected people, and they could exhibit whatever they wanted. Someone put up the same thing that they sent to the competition, someone showed another project. The authors themselves decided what to show them.
Archi.ru:
What else do you especially like from the exhibit?
[Rustam Kerimov and Natalia Zaichenko. Bureau "A-GA", Moscow. Residential building "Patriot" for a small-family hostel of 300 sq. for the military, Moscow region
Red brick building with triangular balconies. The balconies across the row are white and blue, all together: red-blue-white, forming the colors of the Russian flag]
Bart Golhorn:
I like simplicity here. Very poor building, no budget at all. The authors found a clever way out of the situation - they took paint, painted it according to the purpose in the colors of the flag. This is also architecture! It is important to understand that architecture is not always an expensive and complex decision, sometimes the share of artistry in the approach to a building can change a lot, even with a minimal budget.
With performance, however, worse … The blue color on the silicate brick is somehow difficult to read.
[Sasha Filimonov, Olga Filimonova. Captain Holland. Architectural and art installation in the Heijplaat harbor area. Rotterdam. Netherlands. Project-winner of the international competition Folly Dock IFCR Euromast Prize. First Prize for Originality.
The triangular tower should work like a water tower. Above - a boat, a symbol of salvation. A little lower is the zero mark (the tower should be installed in Holland, where the ground level is below the ocean level). At the very bottom there is a “pavilion of water”, a traditionally furnished room in a section, along the walls of which water is constantly flowing. Coziness, flooded with a flood. Water is supplied from a reservoir at the top of the tower]
Bart Golhorn:
This project won a competition in Holland, and they even managed to build it in Denmark. There was a layout of it at the festival. I believe that he brilliantly reflects the ideas of the Samara school of Malakhov. Those. this thing is brilliant in context.
This is something different from Nikita Asadov, who is on his own. Although there is something Japanese in him, and some kind of connection with Brodsky, although not direct, since he did not study with Brodsky.
[Evgeny Zhabreev, Tyumen. Project for the competition "House-autonomous". The author characterizes his project as “a universal mixed-use space”. This is a very laconic space, enclosed in a simple concrete shell with a traditional outline of walls and a gable roof. The end facades are completely glazed and transparent, the side facades, on the contrary, are deaf, without windows. It looks like a big concrete tent. The electricity supply is built into the floor; appliances can be connected from the floor in different places. There are no partitions, furniture can be arranged as needed as needed. It is typical that the car also drives into the house, so it may seem that a person lives in a garage. The main feeling, in addition to the emphasized laconicism of the situation, is that the author plays on the well-known image of Siberia as a very harsh place, as well as on the feeling of security and insecurity: either the house is a bunker, or there is none at all and the person is open to all winds.]
Bart Golhorn:
We received this project for the House-autonomous competition, and in my opinion, it is absolutely wonderful, just super. It has a strong concept, even research to some extent. Everything is fundamentally thought out.
Archi.ru:
Nevertheless, he did not win the Dom-autonomous competition?
Bart Golhorn:
Not. The winner was chosen by Norman Foster, and he chose a project, in my opinion, rather weak. True, the winning project probably expresses one simple idea better than others: how to make summer cottages that do not spoil the landscape. Dugout - it really does not spoil the landscape. A pragmatic choice, but his thought, I understand his thought.
[Elena Deshinova, Dmitry Goldberg. St. Petersburg. Interaction.
According to the authors, this is "an attempt to believe in the possibility of finding a person who speaks the same language with you …" and "an attempt to assess your relationship with society."
The action that turns the project into a happening consists in the fact that two participants put cardboard constructions on their heads with a narrow and differently turned viewing slit and unsuccessfully try to see each other through these slits. A fairly successful illustration of how the narrowness of the worldview makes it difficult to understand another person.]
Archi.ru:
It's more of a Happening than an architecture …
Bart Golhorn:
Here I like that people are trying to communicate, to explain something. Here architecture is presented as a process, not just a picture.
This project is alive, new, unexpected. It has its own genius.
Archi.ru:
Don't you think he looks a little like our late wallets, what Art-Bla and others did?
Bart Golhorn:
Perhaps yes. There are good traditions in Russia.
I think it's a matter of having some beginning, a kind of giftedness, and a penchant for that sort of thing. If this beginning is present in a person, then later, working with real objects, he will transfer it there too. And if there is no such beginning, then practice quickly and persistently dictates to the architect its platitudes and frameworks.
Although it must be admitted that this transfer does not always happen. Sometimes people who do good conceptual things by turning to practice lose this ability. Like Dealer and Scorfidio: I really like their conceptual things, but if you look at what they are building - where are these ideas, where did they go?
Archi.ru:
Do I need to understand that you chose the contestants on the principle of conceptuality? Or if you do not use this word, which many do not like - semantic richness, the presence of a certain message?
Bart Golhorn:
Yes, this is my opinion, maybe my personal position.
But here there are not works of genius, but simply masterly performed.
[as an example, we look at the stand of Yana Tsebruk (co-authors Olga Nesvetailo, Oleg Tkachuk, Victor Tsebruk. St. Petersburg. The stand presents projects presented at the international Koivusaari ideas competition. Koivusaari Island is a new district of Helsinki at the western entrance to the capital. At the stand - several plastic studies on the theme of European nonlinear ornamental architecture, recalls the images of several Western "stars" at once.]
Bart Golhorn:
They do not have a completely new approach to architecture, but their authors masterfully develop a certain direction. I also paid attention to this quality, it is also important for me.
But for me, of course, it is more important and interesting what the jury will say.
