Stores Pretended To Be Cultural

Stores Pretended To Be Cultural
Stores Pretended To Be Cultural

Video: Stores Pretended To Be Cultural

Video: Stores Pretended To Be Cultural
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The meeting of the ECOS Presidium, dedicated to the fate of Pushkin Square, caused a real stir. It was attended by officials of the Moscow Committee for Architecture and Architecture, and practicing architects, and defenders of heritage sites, and, of course, numerous journalists, including representatives of several TV channels. Thanks to the television cameras intently examining the tablets hung on the walls, this usually so intimate and purely professional event looked more like the Public Council under the mayor of Moscow. However, the topic was acute and universally significant: Pushkinskaya Square is perhaps the most “popular” place in the city.

The idea of reclaiming the space under the square was first recorded in the 1971 master plan for the development of Moscow, which was supposed to start "undermining" the capital's center from this very place. In its current form, the project emerged in 2005, when the Moscow Government signed an investment contract with Tverskoy TDC OJSC. Very little is known about this company: 30 percent of its shares belong to the city, the remaining 70 - to the Turkish company MNG Holding, which is engaged in the design. In 2006, the project was rejected by ECOS, in 2007 - by the Public Council, tk. he did not satisfy either the issues of social adaptation, or the law on heritage. In particular, the experts demanded to significantly reduce the trade function and, in order to minimize pressure on the historical landscape, remove the entire ground part of the project, namely the three-story complex with an entrance from Sytinsky Lane. A little later in the same 2007, the Moscow Government issued a decree that replaced the trade function in the project with a cultural and leisure one, but last year another decree restored trade in its former rights.

In the meantime, archaeological excavations began on the square, and these works, which were not previously announced, extremely puzzled and frightened local residents and heritage defenders - both of them seriously feared that, under the guise of archaeological research, construction work began in the area of the square. At the same time, the project itself was shrouded in mystery, and only at the beginning of this year, statements by the chief architect of Moscow, Alexander Kuzmin, appeared in the media about the new version of the project and the readiness to bring it back to ECOS, and then to public hearings.

So what did the ECOS members see? In its current form, the project for the reconstruction of Pushkinskaya Square still involves the creation of a developed underground part under it. It will have three levels, which will house a parking lot for 800 cars, all kinds of shops and fast food, as well as a cultural and entertainment part, which includes a square museum, a four-hall cinema, a rollerdrome and an ice rink. In the current project, trade occupies only 20 percent of the total area of new construction - together with "leisure", the center will occupy about 30 thousand square meters. All ground objects have disappeared from the project, the level of the Pushkin square is leveled to Sytinsky lane, and the lane itself is expanding twice. And, finally, the underground passages between three metro stations (Pushkinskaya, Tverskaya and Chekhovskaya) at the lower level are doubled to form a common wide space.

However, the project still does not give answers to most of the questions regarding the internal layout of the underground complex. Such uncertainty is associated with possible encumbrances that will be imposed by archaeological finds - the foundations of ancient structures. As the head of the excavations, the chief archaeologist of Moscow, Alexander Veksler, told at the ECOS meeting, these fragments belong mainly to the Passion Monastery, on the territory of which there was a temple, a necropolis and a bell tower built by the architect Bykovsky, as well as the church of Dmitry Solunsky (mid-17th century, 1 third XIX century), the Tverskaya Tower of the White City and the buildings of the Bronnaya Sloboda. The question of the attitude of the authors of the project for the reconstruction of Pushkinskaya Square to these possible finds especially interested the members of ECOS. The chairman of the council, Alexander Kudryavtsev, directly asked for clarification from the chief architect of the project, Mr. H. Bozoglu, for whom, by the way, this meeting was the first public appearance in Russia. As it turned out, the Turkish architect is ready to adjust the project in accordance with the results of archaeological research, even though Mr. Bozoglu complained that due to numerous restrictions, the project has already lost most of its economic benefits.

It should be noted that such a loyal position of the Turkish designer was very impressed by the Chairman of the ECOS Presidium - probably, in the history of discussing the project for the reconstruction of Pushkin Square, experts first met the willingness of the opposite side (in this case, the designers) to cooperate. The statement by the Turkish architect greatly enlivened the mood in the hall and gave the discussion a more constructive direction. A number of specific proposals for improving the transport part of the project were made by its constant opponent Mikhail Blinkin, head of the Research Institute of Transport and Road Facilities. In particular, in order to preserve pedestrian traffic and enable people to cross the area not underground, but along it (by the way, up to 300 thousand passengers use this interchange hub per day), Blinkin suggested installing additional traffic lights. In his opinion, a traffic light is also needed for cars that pass over the tunnel, otherwise they will create a traffic jam at the next intersection with Mokhovaya Street. It is also necessary, in his opinion, to expand the complex section at the confluence of three automobile streams - at the intersection of Sytinsky Lane and Tverskoy Boulevard.

It should be admitted that although the current project is not perfect, it looks an order of magnitude more literate than the previous one. The very procedure of the meeting turned out to be just as constructive, which was probably the result of the establishment of interaction between different branches of government within the Moscow Committee for Architecture and Architecture. The fact that such contact was really established was evidenced by the presence in the hall, along with members of ECOS, of the chief architect of Moscow, Alexander Kuzmin, the head of Mosproekt-2, Mikhail Posokhin, and director of the Research and Development Institute of the General Plan, Sergei Tkachenko. The meeting was also very positively affected by the fact that the updated project for the reconstruction of the square was presented to ECOS in February, and the experts had enough time to study and analyze it. Alexander Kudryavtsev also noted the high level of preparation of the exposition.

Nevertheless, ECOS has many complaints about the project. They were formulated in his speech by the Deputy Chairman of the Council Boris Pasternak. According to him, the main problem of the project is that Pushkinskaya Square is actually excluded from pedestrian traffic. Not only does the square itself threaten to become empty and become a place much less socially attractive than it is now, the routes under the square of all those people who come to theaters and cinema and concert halls have not yet been thought out. In order to cross the square, all of them will by all means go down to the shopping center, having overcome several stairs to which there is no alternative - no ramps or travelators. Secondly, although the new project evens out Novopushkinsky square, the landscape of this monument of gardening art is not preserved in the end, because the main alley along Tverskoy Boulevard ends with a flight of stairs. And finally, according to the results of preliminary archaeological excavations, the foundations of the churches end up in the cinema zone, and the wall of the White City - in the kiosk zone. And although ECOS categorically insists on preserving these original fragments in their place, so far the project does not have any worthy options for museumification of archaeological finds.

As a result of a three-hour discussion, ECOS recognized the project for the reconstruction of Pushkinskaya Square as very crude and uncontested. By the way, there are options for displacing the tunnel and keeping Tverskoy Boulevard intact, but they have not yet been considered. In his closing speech, Alexander Kuzmin agreed with the right of experts to discuss these options as well, but he strongly questioned the idea of passing a tunnel along Tverskaya Street - in his opinion, this would interfere with the holding of demonstrations, processions and parades. According to the chief architect of Moscow, the project for the reconstruction of Pushkinskaya Square requires additional adjustments, after which it will again be returned to ECOS for consideration. But about the public hearings, which Alexander Kuzmin announced in the press not so long ago, this time there was no talk. It is possible that this topic was avoided at the meeting because local residents have already collected 50 thousand signatures against the project, and the discussion on the reconstruction of the Cannon promises to be very long.

Of course, it would be easier to defend the historical appearance of the square if it was under state protection, but the application for recognition of it as a landmark is under consideration by the Moscow Heritage Committee. Which, it must be admitted, is still taking a wait-and-see attitude, not approving either the reconstruction project or the protection status of the square. However, there is no doubt that ultimately they will dig under the area, there is no doubt - the project has long been included in the General Plan and PZZ with the proviso that the height and density indicator is zero: the latter means that ground construction on the area should not happen …

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