The current exhibition looks much more modest than previous years - there were times when tablets were hung closely and in several rows, which created an inevitable exhibition mess. Now stands are only at the edges of the hall, and some of the walls are generally empty. Commercial expositions are not crowded either. It seems that of everything that was shown before, only half remained, which for the exhibition, perhaps, is better. To be honest, it is almost impossible to build something decent from the uncomfortable space of the eternal unfinished House on Brestskaya. From time immemorial, the best place in the hall with the layout is occupied by commercial stands, the tablets of the nominees have to huddle in the hall unsuitable for exhibitions, where public councils used to be held (then Yuri Luzhkov was outraged by the unkempt building of the building and since then councils have been held in Moskomarkhitektura), as well as in a narrow corridor in front of him. Students from year to year are placed on the mezzanine.
Meanwhile, this year the festival has a competitor - a review competition, held recently in the Botanical Garden of Moscow State University by the Union of Architects and the Association of Landscape Architects of Russia. Unlike the predominantly Moscow festival on Brestskaya, this new one is conceived as an all-Russian one. Although so far there have been no more regional participants than at Brestskaya, and the new national show has not yet reached the scale of the festival with a ten-year history. Although some of the nominees for the two festivals already have to be divided between themselves: some of the participants in the exhibition in the Pharmaceutical Garden moved to Brestskaya - for example, the Olonkho Land project in Yakutia or the improvement of the Lyublino estate.
The most pleasant impression at the current exhibition "Roofs of a House" is made by urban improvement projects, since, firstly, they have ceased to get lost in the thinning rows of the exposition, and secondly, most of them came from Belarus, and there, with the landscape, apparently full order. For example, in the project for the reconstruction of the historical center of Grodno, the restoration of the lost historical environment occurs simultaneously with the maximum unloading of transport in favor of pedestrian traffic. And one of the old streets of the center turns into a magnificent boulevard with elegant parterres and lanterns. Another large-scale project is related to the reconstruction of the area around the railway station in Brest, where an extensive pedestrian zone with a new square and a fountain is being formed. Another beautiful fountain was designed for one of the picturesque places in Minsk, on the banks of the Svisloch River near Pobediteley Avenue.
The rest of the regional projects are mainly landscaping near modern residential complexes, such as the Kristall residential complex in Kazan, the building of which was remembered from the Quality Architecture 2010 catalog - its austere gray appearance, reminiscent of the Kharkov Derzhprom. The geometric landscape, by the way, is very supportive of this constructivist attitude.
"Mosprojects" this time practically were not presented, with the exception of the fourth, with a bright and curious work - the Museum and Memorial Complex of the 35th coastal battery in Sevastopol. Here, on the territory of Old Chersonesos, military fortifications have preserved their appearance, which the authors of the project propose to make as the key points of the new excursion route. A pantheon, a necropolis and a chapel appear next to them. Also, as part of the large works of "Mosproekt-4" on Tushinsky and Khodynsky parks, the exhibition presents nice "modules" of park portals, combined with kiosks, bus stops and public toilets.
Apparently, the crisis in the landscape industry has passed, since private objects - all kinds of gardens and orchards, again overshadowed everything else in their number. They are all pleasant and very similar to each other. Among them, the plan for the improvement of the boulevard in the village of Zhukovka 21 stands out, the authors of which have developed a public area of 1 hectare in the form of a chain of replacing "green rooms" for different social groups. Gardens in the middle of the forest look very unusual - there have been such projects, as well as a garden in the Mediterranean style of the gold laureate of the recent national review of Landscape Architecture Elena Makevnina.
The festival was complemented by traditional installations in the hall of the model, united by the theme "Time in the Garden". The students' creativity was presented by graduates of the Landscape Architecture Department of the Moscow Architectural Institute on the theme "Relax Park". Students unanimously presented this outlandish object of not entirely clear content in the form of something ultramodern, intricate and sharp - it is rather curious to look at their models. But it is even more interesting to present these objects in those places where the authors suggested placing them - on the square near the exit from the Taganskaya Koltsevaya metro station, Kolomenskoye park, Sukharevskaya square, Aptekarsky garden and even in the courtyard of the Moscow Architectural Institute itself.
Over the next four days, the festival will host a series of landscape design master classes, and on November 1 the results of the competition will be announced, which will surely not offend anyone - the Roof of the House encourages almost all of its participants year after year. So the competition is not so important here, more important is the opportunity to communicate in a festive atmosphere.
