The exhibition of the Dedalo Minosse prize winners came to Moscow as part of a large international tour timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the competition, which was celebrated in 2008. Over the years, the competition, held in Vicenza by ALA-Assoarchitetti and l'ARCA magazine with the support of the Veneto District Administration, has evolved from a regional show of the best Italian buildings into an international competition in which the world's leading designers take part. Among the Dedalo Minosse laureates are such big names as Mario Botta, Richard Mayer, Zaha Hadid, Manfredi Nicoletti, Mecanoo bureau. However, the uniqueness of the competition lies not so much in the vast geography of the participants and the degree of their stardom, but in its concept. The fact is that the competition is conceived as a "pair tournament" in which tandems "architect - customer" compete, that is, the author of the project and his client, who trusted the talent of the architect, ordered him the project and paid for the implementation. Accordingly, in case of victory, both go to the award, each receives his own personal prize.
I think that any architect will agree with the fact that in the fate of each project the fundamental role is played by the customer. Finding the perfect customer is a dream that for many designers remains a pipe dream. But those rare cases when a creative person meets understanding and support from his client, as a rule, are crowned with truly outstanding works, sometimes even with the discovery of new directions in art. It is not surprising that the organizers of the competition gave him the names of the legendary Daedalus and Minos: the first, as you know, was an architect, and the second king, who ordered him to build the infamous Labyrinth on the island of Crete. In addition to these mythological prototypes, the description of the competition contains other examples of fruitful unions of architects and their customers that are more real and close to us in time.
In Russia, almost nothing was known about the Dedalo Minosse award until very recently. For the first time, an exhibition of the laureates of this competition was held in Moscow within the framework of the Zodchestvo festival in 2006. It was then that the Italian guests drew attention to the projects of Totan Kuzembaev, exhibited there, made for the PIRogovo resort, and invited him to nominate his works for the prize.
The fact that among all the variety of buildings demonstrated at the Zodchestvo festival, the choice of the organizers of Dedalo Minosse fell on Kuzembaev and his Pirogov projects seems deeply symbolic. Indeed, for Russia, this is almost the only example of such a long-term cooperation of one customer with one architect. For more than 7 years, Totan Kuzembaev has designed and built dozens of buildings on the territory of the resort, from a tiny boiler room to impressive country houses with an area of up to 1000 square meters. Most of these objects have been repeatedly published in the professional press and praised by critics for an amazing symbiosis of traditional materials, conceptual forms and often radical colorism. Along with Kuzembaev, other leading Russian architects, such as Alexander Brodsky, Evgeny Ass, Nikolai Lyzlov and Vladimir Plotkin, are building in PIRogovo, but even this “competition” did not destroy the long-term creative tandem.
The results of this collaboration were presented for the competition along with almost 600 other buildings from around the world, but they were not lost against their background. On the contrary, Kuzembaev's works made such a strong impression on the jury that the first nominated project from Russia for the entire existence of the Dedalo Minosse Prize received a special prize. It was an unexpected and therefore doubly pleasant victory, which confirmed the correctness of the innovative architectural and landscape concept implemented at PIRogovo.
In order to once again emphasize the merits of Totan Kuzembaev's buildings, the expressiveness and amazing charm of which, unfortunately, no photograph can express, the organizers of the exhibition tour decided to hold the Moscow part in PIRogovo, in the building of the Golf Club designed by him. . Of course, this significantly narrowed the circle of visitors to the exhibition. It is clear that not everyone will be able to get out of the city for half a day and get to the resort just to get acquainted with the best projects that have been named the winners of the Dedalo Minosse prize over the past 10 years. This is perhaps the only drawback of the exhibition, although it is also worth noting the modest size of the display boards, which makes it difficult to study the projects presented in detail. However, on the other hand, those who do come to PIRogovo these days will be able to personally enjoy the main character of the exhibition - the buildings on the territory of the resort, which became the first Russian laureate of the Dedalo Minosse Prize.
