Despite the fact that in recent years our architects have traveled a lot, and various sponsors have actively organized mass races on foreign objects, this trip to the Lake Constance region was the first of its kind. Here, on the border of Germany, Austria, Switzerland (with Liechtenstein who joined it), as a rule, come European opera lovers, skiers, specialists in rural urbanism. Russian tourists could only accidentally catch a glimpse of modern architecture - in addition to excursions to historical sights. But it is in this province that it is especially noticeable that in Europe the quality of architecture and the quality of life do not depend on the degree of proximity to state centers. And Zumthor's philosophy is the sum of the general reflections and architectural practice of the region. Actually, modern architecture, its connections, roots were the subject of interest of the participants of the trip, and no one corrected this interest in the direction of acquaintance with certain materials and technologies. In general, they did without sponsors, on their own.
The second important point is that people who are able to recognize, understand and evaluate information gathered on the campaign. In the town of Ljdesh, we were shown a community center - a multifunctional (post office, restaurant, kindergarten, city hall) wooden building with a canopy of solar panels over the courdoner. Built according to the project of Herman Kaufman's bureau, in 4 years the Center has received thousands of tourists from different countries. The story of what a "passive house" is, was substantially supplemented by our travel companion, Candidate of Sciences Boris Kuleba. He drew a general picture of the use of energy saving in construction, the problems faced by our designers …
The trip was made possible thanks to the connections that journalist Natalia Kleist maintains between the architects of Vorarlberg (western Austria) and Nizhny Novgorod. For two years in a row, architects from Bregenz have held master classes during the International Day of Architecture. And for the participants of the architect, Mikhail Untertrifaller personally arranged a tour of the famous House of Festivals and Congresses, where the popular summer opera festival on the water takes place, which served as the entourage for the filming of the last episode about James Bond. (When our group passed other sightseers, people applauded Untertrifaller, the author of the House project). The versatile complex has indoor and outdoor stages, rehearsal rooms, and excellent meeting and meeting facilities. In addition to the opera show on the water - this year the decorations were fragments of the Statue of Liberty, and the king in Hades was played by a black artist - the House hosts contemporary music festivals gathering real connoisseurs.
Here in Bregenz, not far from the House, is the CUBE of Peter Zumthor - the Center for Contemporary Art. It is a concrete monolith with translucent glass panels that change shades depending on the lighting. That incredible milky green hue in photographs turns out to be a living color of water in mountain rivers and lakes. Exactly the same - in Innsbruck at the Zaha Hadid stations, where the matt shimmer of forms is like a splash from the Inn River.
Seeing the color of the water, noticing the shades of stone, admiring rusty iron, not being afraid of how the boards will turn gray from the rains, catching the sun's rays and opening up space for air - all this is important for the architects of the region - as, probably, the customer's desire to get useful square meters. Compact and gloomy as grottoes, the baths in Swiss False are the best confirmation that architecture is a spatial experience. Feelings that are washed, illuminated, gently dried on the rough surfaces of slate, just so that we can re-experience the beauty of the world.
To train these feelings, even the Parliament building in Vaduz was built: the ascetic gray street ends with a clear yellow - a building with a sharp roof, a square and brick edges of a shady garden above the parking lot. Not far away is a fountain that … you have to listen to. A box-parallelepiped with a slot-door - a jet sweeps over it and falls with a crash. As for square meters, Angelo Roventa demonstrated an ingenious solution to increase them during a meeting of our group with colleagues at the Vorarlberg Institute of Architecture. It all depends on how you count … A room of 60 square meters can be easily turned into a space of 220 squares! Several movements of the levers (Swiss mechanics for archives), and the wall cabinets move along runners: the bathroom gives way to the kitchen, the kitchen folds the bedroom, then everyone immediately goes to the side, giving the living room space. Nothing superfluous, but the total is 220!
As noted by the same Boris Kuleba, such a decision, perhaps, will especially inspire not interior designers, but real estate sellers …
Even huge Munich did not fall out of the general mood of travel, although it became the most tiring part of it. But if you go to the Pinakothek, to the Olympic Park, the discomfort of being in the metropolis disappears. This year the Museum Quarter was replenished - the Brandhorst Museum was opened - with ceramic multi-colored "sticks" along the facade, with wooden fragments of the interiors. Two main objects in the capital of Bavaria in the itinerary of our hike are also associated with the work of Austrian architects: BMW World and the Academy of Arts Bureau Koop Himmel (b) lau. And if the car "tornado" is undoubtedly one of the loudest showrooms in the world, the deconstructivism of the "Academy" captivates with its very human face and scale. Starting from the fact that next to the entrance there is a hammered-up ladder platform for everyone who wants to relax, the building is open to visitors - and the doors open automatically for everyone. It was not possible to find out whether communications are convenient and whether the classrooms are located correctly, because we ourselves were comfortable and pleasant to explore this institution with a spacious atrium. The spirit of creative relaxedness is what this object conveys. Freedom, bestowed by high-tech capabilities, and that that comes from harmony within a person.
The trip lasted only eight days, lived in Bregenz, Innsbruck and Munich. We went to museums, visited the opera, watched a film at a real estate agency whose building was built like an airplane. We got on the ferry to the city on the island - Lindau. They drank beer, tasted cheese in the village shop, sipped coffee in the tower built by Domenique Perrault. There were moods to go up to the Alps, swim a lot, see palaces, stay in the village awaiting the Schubert festival … So, we'll be back.
