The main participants of the exhibition were students of groups led by architects Michael Eichner, Anna Bokova and Narine Tyutcheva, and the projects that made up the exposition and were later presented to the invited audience were selected by the student jury of the Moscow Architectural Institute. The concept of “best project” for them became synonymous with “creative” or “innovative” and, to a greater extent, characterized the approach to design itself, rather than the final result.
Each of the groups in the Enfilade of the Museum of Architecture was allocated a separate room, which housed detailed tablets and layouts, clearly demonstrating the architectural and urban planning ideas of their authors. On Fridays, the halls were filled with chairs, an impromptu lectern was located near the models, and an informal, but no less responsible defense began. According to the participants of the exhibition, it is even easier to tell about the project to a prepared and biased audience represented by the professors of the Moscow Architectural Institute than to practicing architects, famous art critics, friends and visitors who accidentally glanced at the light. It is no coincidence that after the presentation of each of the projects, their authors were asked a lot of questions, which often developed into lengthy discussions.
The first to defend their projects were students of Anna Bokova. The group was given the task of developing the territory of the Basmanny district of Moscow. Each architect designed a separate building, but within the framework of a single principle of shaping, which, as it was said in the explanation to the projects, "is based on the study of natural and anthropogenic formations and the creation of appropriate algorithms developed through physical modeling and experiments with materials." In other words, at first the students studied the nature and morphology of the landscape and buildings of the Basmanny District in the most detailed way, based on this work, they created certain "patterns" that most corresponded to the spirit of the area, and then, using these "patterns", they "cut out" buildings.
According to Anna Bokova herself, the main theme of her students' theses is the search for a form and opportunities for its transformation in an architectural object. Thus, a tangled ball of confetti turns into a shell of a multifunctional concourse, a cut foam rubber sponge into the Museum of Ecology, and a dough growing by yeast becomes a prototype for the shell of a university campus. In each of these projects, it is the form that is primary, and the authors place the main stake on the aesthetic pleasure of contemplating it.
The next to be presented to the public were the works of students Narine Tyutcheva. They also designed individual buildings within the framework of the general urban development concept "Zeleny Val", which provides for the revival of lifeless industrial and, in particular, areas adjacent to the railway. The students proposed a variety of scenarios for the return of these lands to the active life of the city - from the traditional already blocking the tracks with platforms on which social housing and infrastructure facilities are then built, to the inclusion of railways in the urban transport system. Among the works was presented a project for the reconstruction of an industrial building for a family and leisure center, which, according to the author, is very lacking in Moscow. In defending the projects of this group, special emphasis was placed on the fact that industrial territories should be involved in solving the most pressing urban planning and social problems of the city, and then, as the organizers of the exhibition (by the way, recent graduates themselves) promise, “everything will be fine”.
The latest presentation of the projects of the group of Michael Eichner, a professor invited from Munich, took place within the framework of the exhibition. He chose a new microdistrict in Kaluga, located on the right bank of the Oka, as an object for designing. So far, absolutely nothing is known about this residential area, and such a situation turned out to be only in the hands of the teacher - Eichner's students themselves carried out all the necessary research both on the territory of the future construction and all its social aspects. The professor taught his students not only to develop projects of comfortable neighborhoods and beautiful houses in them, but to start work with a simple question "Who needs this exactly?" After all, an architect and especially a city planner must have a very good idea of the needs of the city and its population in new square meters, the number of infrastructure facilities and comfortable walking areas.
However, the most curious result of Eichner's cooperation with Russian students is that the collected information - all kinds of diagrams, tables and graphs - can be used in the future in the design and not only as sources of valuable information. So, for example, the plan of a multifunctional residential complex in a new microdistrict directly repeats the bends of the social activity schedule, which either takes off, forming multi-storey volumes, then falls, and then courtyards-wells appear in the structure of the complex.
Public discussion of diplomas is a new practice for the Moscow Architectural Institute, and, as already mentioned, it was initiated precisely by students who were eager to discuss their graduation projects with fresh and interesting people. During public discussions in the Museum of Architecture, no one gave grades to students and did not arrange exams, but in fact, novice architects received a unique experience of public protection of their projects, which, of course, will be useful to them in future work on public and residential buildings, and even more so on urban planning concepts.
