The exhibition was the first event that took place in the chamber hall of the Pharmaceutical Garden, recently added to the old greenhouse. Anyone who has been to this extraordinary oasis remembers that a large parterre with a rectangular pond is laid out in front of the greenhouse. Along the parterre lined up "architectural trees" - participants in the exhibition-competition of garden sculpture, which accompanies the exhibition of the nominees for the award. Together they form a new festival of landscape architecture, established by the Union of Architects of Russia (SAR) and the Association of Landscape Architects.
We would like to point out right away that with the long-term festival “Landscape architecture. View from home”the current one has nothing in common. The exhibition on Brestskaya is an event of an urban scale, it is annually organized by the Moscow Committee for Architecture and Construction. The new festival, as Sergei Kachanov, the vice-president of the SAR, emphasized at its opening, is an all-Russian event. Firstly, because the regions are participating in the review. And secondly, after the presentation of the awards, it is planned to make the exhibition mobile and show it in different cities, thereby creating a precedent for the formation of a professional environment. According to Taisiya Volftrub, president of the Association of Landscape Architects, specialists in this field are somehow separated from the "big architecture" and rather inactively participate in national shows and festivals. Perhaps, the generally low interest of the authorities in the problem of the appearance of cities is reflected, - noted the chief artist of Moscow, Igor Voskresensky.
The festival is focused on showing creative works, and its commercial part is minimal; it is not a commercial enterprise at all, the organizers say. According to Sergei Kachanov, the new landscape festival is another innovation of the "Bokov team", which sets itself the task of "raising the status of the profession of an architect in society." The CAP has already established a new award for urban planning, which will be awarded at Zodchestvo, and is going to establish another one for design. So the award given to landscape architects fits into a number of new awards from the Union of Architects.
More than 70 participants are represented at the current competition. Among the works - several very familiar from the same exhibition at the Brest projects of the TERRA bureau, "Mosproekt-2" or the Archstoyanie festival. There are many urban improvement projects - among regional objects, this is perhaps the main typology. I would like to especially note the section on the restoration of historical gardens and parks, about which, as a rule, little is known, even despite the fact that among them there are also very significant objects, such as, for example, the restoration of the garden-parterre of the Smolny Palace or the design of the Catherine Square in front of the Alexandria Theater in St. Petersburg.
One can sympathize with the jury, which has to judge a motley collection of very different objects shown at the exhibition - at first glance, it is somehow even difficult to compare them with each other. Although, for clarity, the participants were divided into nominations - completed objects of park architecture with an area of more than 1 hectare, small public spaces (less than a hectare), reconstruction of gardens, as well as conceptual projects. Nevertheless, within the same nomination, a variety of budgets can coexist: urban improvement projects are not comparable in cost to the exclusive "ruble" oases, which, of course, also complicates the selection of the jury.
The organizers accept this reproach and promise to improve the award. They do not keep the criteria for evaluating projects secret - they are aesthetics, functionality, novelty of the concept, environmental friendliness and presentation of the material. Each member of the jury, based on these points, will give the work marks on a five-point scale. Now, according to the results of the first round, very few have been eliminated, and now the jury will have to choose from the remaining prize projects. From tomorrow, the authors will present their work to experts. On October 13, a final meeting will be held with the announcement of the laureates, and the awards will be presented at the Zodchestvo festival.
