Archi.ru: Sergei Aleksandrovich, what is happening today in quarter 473 in Khamovniki? At what stage is the project implementation?
Sergey Skuratov: The construction of the first phase of the project has now begun, namely the 1st and 4th quarters. A wall is being erected in the ground. Unfortunately, our workshop was not chosen as the general designer of Garden Quarters. We did not win the tender, as it seems to us, for two reasons. Firstly, they did not offer the lowest cost of services, perfectly understanding how much work we actually have to do, and secondly, we have always been quite principled and, in general, tough in defending our design decisions. Having created an interlayer between ourselves and us in the form of a general designer, the customer probably hopes to get another lever of pressure on us if the situation forces him to economize and simplify the architecture. In our opinion, this is a rather serious omission on his part, which in the future threatens to turn into big problems for the project. Now we are formally responsible only for the architecture of the quarter, but in reality, of course, we will root for the entire project. It was originally developed as an example of solving modern architectural problems at the urban planning level, and we feel ourselves to be its keepers.
Archi.ru: Surely, the craze of developers for tenders that allow them to find the cheapest specialists affected not only this section of the design …
Sergey Skuratov: Alas, in the process of working on the project, almost all our fears and pessimistic forecasts come true. In order to implement such a large-scale project, a consolidated team is needed, but, unfortunately, there is none. In particular, the customer decided to enter into a contract directly with the design engineers. But such a scheme of interaction is rather difficult to implement in life, especially since neither engineers nor designers participate in the development of working documentation. This reduces the degree of professional responsibility for the final result, and, naturally, this could not but affect the quality of the design product. Some engineering sections, to be honest, demanded rework at the very last moment.
Archi.ru: Speaking of the team, do you mean your fellow architects who were invited to design individual houses in residential areas?
Sergey Skuratov: The idea of inviting a large number of stars to one project, of course, had a very positive effect on the image of the Sadovye Kvartaly brand. However, we would become a team only if we worked on house projects together, constantly discussing our ideas and proposals. Naturally, in practice, everything turned out quite differently: the bureaus received the "design code" we had developed and each rethought it in its own way. I do not want to offend my colleagues, they are all very worthy and talented architects, but some of them did not comply with the recommended parameters of the houses and made them brighter and more expressive than the overall architectural composition required. Trying to make outstanding houses, some architects drew apartments with such complex layouts that there are concerns about their liquidity on the market. And since the quarter was originally conceived as a single urban-planning organism, I had to take into account all the assumptions made by my colleagues, correcting the designs of my houses - the integrity and expressiveness of the Garden Quarters environment is above all for me. I tried to enclose all the buildings of the quarter in an architectural round dance - the viewer, at least a sophisticated one, should be clear without words in what relations the volumes are between themselves, where this or that material, this or that form is taken from in their facing. Wednesday should talk about itself.
Archi.ru: Have the public buildings in the quarter underwent any changes?
Sergey Skuratov: The school has changed a lot. In a nutshell, it has ceased to be glass. This volume was conceived as a phantom, a light and weightless building against the background of the surrounding brick houses, personifying the future. However, in the City Department of Education and Science, we were told that the school in no case can be made of glass - and it is unsafe, they say, it is, and it is very difficult to operate. Confused the officials and the console, they all asked to substitute her legs. As for the console, in the end we managed to defend it: we provided all the calculations proving that additional supports of this structure are not needed. But the glass had to be replaced with copper, not patinated, but rubbed, brown-rusty. Surrounded by brick houses, it looks very advantageous.
In general, over the four years that work on this project has been going on, the regulatory framework has changed dramatically more than once, and this, of course, has always been most directly reflected in the quarter. For example, now fire passages should be on all sides of the building. This entailed a huge number of compositional and planning adjustments, in particular, almost all pedestrian bridges became humpbacked so that a fire engine could pass under them. Insolation standards for residential courtyards have also become stricter. In particular, all playgrounds in kindergartens should now have a two-hour insolation, so we raised them closer to the sun, which significantly changed the relief and landscaping of all neighborhoods.
If we talk about the impact of the economic crisis on the project, then it was most noticeable in the internal layouts of residential buildings: the area of apartments was reduced, and their total number, respectively, increased. We have also somewhat simplified the arch building that frames the historic building designed by R. Klein. And if initially only one apartment was designed in the arch itself, now its area is divided into three apartments. The architecture of the supporting buildings of the arch and of the neighboring building - Klein's “brother” destroyed in Soviet times - has also changed a lot, it has become more collected and integral. In other words, comparing the projects of 2007 and the end of 2009, an observant viewer will find quite a few differences. Perhaps the main change affected the finishing materials used in all quarters - there are fewer of them, and this also works for the unity of the environment.
Archi.ru: For four years you have been working on the project of the multifunctional complex "Garden Quarters". How long do you think it will take to implement?
Sergey Skuratov: I think about ten years. If it were not for the crisis, then such a project could have been implemented in five to six years, but one has to make allowances for the economic situation. And in this situation, the main thing is that its implementation does not stop. Despite all the difficulties, the project continues to live, and at the end of the path I still see the garden city. That is, light, of course.
