At first glance, its plot is unambiguously interesting and relevant: both in Russia and in the rest of the world, ordinary buildings of half a century - or even less - require major repairs or even seem morally obsolete. The solution in the form of demolition, which is equally eagerly practiced both in our country and abroad, is not always the most economical and even more environmentally friendly. Complaints also arise about the layout of the areas built up at that time: residents are not satisfied with the density of buildings, excessive simplicity of plans, monotony, etc. And just from the last circumstance follows the first "ambiguity" "Modernization of modernism": unlike another project of the Biennale “City transformation”, entirely devoted to urban planning, it “fluctuates” between the scale of an individual building and the complex reconstruction of a residential area: for example, the stands of the Dutch bureaus Buro Van Schagen and De Nijl Architects, which are located in the main part of this exhibition (18 and 19 rooms in 3- floor) develop exactly the last theme. However, all the projects presented by these architects are extremely interesting, as they relate to the general problems of such a development: insufficient communication between individual quarters and districts, an ill-conceived transport system and the interpretation of public space, the absence of readable boundaries between public and private territories and excessive building density (for example, the use of multi-storey buildings where single-family houses will now be sufficient).
Two different "scales", of course, can be successfully brought together, as shown by the exposition "Modernization of panel buildings. Experience of Germany”, organized by the magazine“Project Baltia”and the Chamber of Architects of the state of Brandenburg. It consists of two parts: the first shows in detail the best examples of the modernization of buildings of different types (schools, housing, educational buildings, community centers, etc.), the second - plans for the reconstruction of residential areas and green areas. Undoubtedly, the territory of the former GDR for objective reasons leads in the number and quality of such projects, so it is not surprising that the “experience of Germany” turned out to be the most diverse of those presented (and therefore, according to the organizers of the “Modernization of Modernism,” it was assigned a “central place”). But, on the other hand, this voluminous exhibition looks like a detailed catalog next to brochures next to the rest of the exposition, which does not contribute to creating a coherent impression.
Especially disappointing in comparison is the “Romanian experience” - the Magic Blocks project, a variant of the exhibition of the same name shown at the Aedes gallery in Berlin last fall, reduced to the size of one small stand. At the same time, the topic was raised there, which is very interesting for the Russian public: in Bucharest, too, there is an acute problem of the reconstruction of the housing stock, for which the authorities do not want to allocate money, and the townspeople who privatized their apartments, perhaps, would like to do this, but do not imagine how (before the ingenious idea of voluntary-compulsory homeowners association has not yet reached there). At the same time, Bucharest also experienced a boom of "dot" and almost spontaneous development, and the districts of the socialist times were divided according to the principle of prestigious and non-prestigious. Romanian twists and turns, if not prompted a way out of the domestic situation, then at least led to reflections. Unfortunately, the annoying brevity of the information presented does not provide such an opportunity.
«New New Cheryomushki. Modernization of the (post) Soviet microdistrict”is the result of the work of the students of the Moscow Architectural Institute diploma studio under the leadership of Anna Bokova. This undoubtedly original project has both the strengths and weaknesses of all diplomas: among the first - the originality of ideas and approach, among the second - their undisguised utopianism.
The section “Russian experience” of complex modernization of residential buildings also includes the project of Nikita Sergienko, winner of the 1st prize of the competition of the International Union of Architects “Maxmix Cities”. His work "Microdistrict: Next Life" is dedicated to the reconstruction of the Moscow microdistrict "Otradnoye".
In a separate block PROM-2, organized by Project Baltia magazine, Russian examples of the reconstruction of industrial buildings and their adaptation to new functions are presented. Here are collected undoubtedly successful examples (the business centers "Langensiepen" and "Benois" by Sergei Tchoban in St. Petersburg, the ARTPLAY design center on the Yauza of Sergei Desyatov and the office building "Intellect-Telecom" "Project 21 -" Architecture "), although the specificity and The “realism” of this part of the exhibition, in comparison with its generalized and sometimes utopian or theoretical environment, again demonstrates the unexpected and somewhat inexplicable difference in scale characteristic of “Modernization of Modernism”.
However, the theory of modernism was touched upon at the exhibition and directly - in two projects of Vladimir Frolov, editor-in-chief of Project Baltia magazine. The first one is an "architectural zero-object" - a Soviet "residential unit" - a five-story building, turned into an ideal, absolute form (its model is placed on the border of halls 14 and 14a on the 2nd floor). A block of transparent concrete with its dimensions, but devoid of window and door openings (the passage inside is arranged through an underground ramp) should become the dwelling of the future and a “tool” for deurbanization, scattered over forests and fields with a density of 1 piece / 5 km2. The author derives this project from the Russian avant-garde, more precisely, from the experiments of Kazimir Malevich, and completes his other work with it - the video "Modernism: +/–" (hall 21 on the 3rd floor), which demonstrates the evolution of the interpretation of Soviet modernism by domestic artists and architects 1980s - 2000s - from rejection ("Style of 2001" by Mikhail Filippov) to complete acceptance (all the same "zero-object", which, however, looks more like a parody of avant-garde dreams of a new life than a serious social -architectural utopia).
In general, "Modernization of Modernism" evokes mixed feelings: the combination of brevity and detail, theory, utopia and pragmatism, the scale of huge areas and individual structures in a limited area makes the organizers suspect that there is no clear general concept and a superficial approach, although even superficial - in a direct sense of the word - the approach, when applied consistently, can give a very good result. This is demonstrated by the exhibition "Facelift: new faces of old acquaintances" of the Interni magazine in the lobby of the Central House of Artists: curators ordered projects for updating the appearance of Soviet panel houses to 10 young architects, and they offered various options for images that can be applied using facade panels and other materials to typical buildings - from the romantic outline of Petersburg sights (Andrey Barkhin) to digital codes (MilkFactory). Such a project is not that expensive and is quite feasible within the framework of a conventional overhaul, which includes facade insulation - as a rule, devoid of any aesthetic value.
