Perhaps the greatest controversy in the blogosphere was caused by the project for the construction of a new building for the Russian State Library on Vozdvizhenka. There is no doubt that the largest library in the country needs a new book depository, and there is no question that it should be built in close proximity to the complex of historical buildings of Leninka. But the public considered itself entitled to certain architectural expectations: the recent scandal associated with the construction of the depository of the Moscow Kremlin Museums on Borovitsky Hill has not yet been forgotten, and, it would seem, in this most important part of the historical center of the capital, truly high-quality architecture can and should be created. … Alas, these hopes were shattered by everyday life. Or rather, about the pompous pseudo-historical style adopted in Mosproekt, which is developing a project for a new book depository. First, Ilya Varlamov, and after him the blogger dedushkin1, analyzed in detail the construction site, the prospects for the demolition of neighboring residential buildings (in Krestovozdvizhensky Lane) and, of course, the project of the new building itself. According to network authors, it does not differ in taste or harmony of proportions. And this despite the fact that the new building will overlook Vozdvizhenka itself!
In the ru_architect community, in turn, there was a discussion about the project of the winner of the competition of draft designs for the appearance of the Novosibirsk Theater of Musical Comedy. The AMT-project company was recognized as the best in this competition. Another topic for the heated debate of bloggers in this community was a building that is already being built in Novosibirsk. We are talking about an extension in the shape of a bud - a three-storey shopping and public center on Krasny Prospekt. As the founder of the developer company said, “this building is a high relief, that is, the same as the bas-relief, only the bulge from the plane is more than half of the volume”.
Denis Galitsky in his blog examines in detail the advantages and disadvantages of new public transport stops, which the Perm Center for Design Development (PCDD) "made Perm happy". Unfortunately, according to the author, the presented architectural forms have few advantages, but there will be about a dozen shortcomings. “I have no doubt that the PCRD will try to blame all the disadvantages of the stops on their manufacturer. However, in this case it will not work: yes, it was not made perfectly, but mistakes of this kind could have been made only at the design (design) stage. " In particular, we are talking about the fact that at new stops it is extremely inconvenient to sit and it is even more difficult to get around them due to the non-standard length, as well as to clear snow from the winter. The designer of the buildings was none other than Artemy Lebedev.
Another possible architectural premiere of Perm in the near future is discussed in his blog by Alexander Rogozhnikov. This is a project of the Perm Art Gallery. Recall that the results of the competition for the best solution for this building were summed up in the spring of 2008 and the Moscow architect Boris Bernasconi won it, but later the implementation of his project was postponed and only now the city authorities returned to its consideration. In this regard, Alexander Rogozhnikov refreshed the project in his memory and formulated several key, in his opinion, moments of inconsistency between Bernasconi's plan of the task and the chosen place. “Architecture cannot be beautiful or bad by itself. It reflects the tasks and conditions for its emergence. We set absurd tasks and conditions - we got an absurd architecture. And the qualifications (undoubted) of Bernasconi have absolutely nothing to do with it,”the blogger emphasizes.
Most of the publications in the blogosphere are traditionally devoted to various pages in the history of Russian architecture and the state of monuments today. For example, the moscowwalks.ru blog has prepared a publication “Decapitated Churches” dedicated to buildings that in the 1920s and 1930s were deprived of all the architectural elements that betrayed their cult purpose. "Something was restored in the 1990s, but many very beautiful churches still stand decapitated, and sometimes they are not even churches, and for a simple pedestrian they look like simple administrative buildings." The publication is accompanied by interesting visualizations showing what some of the streets of Moscow might have looked like if the most beautiful parts of the churches had not been demolished.
The Moscow Regional Branch of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments VOOPIiK in its blog sounded the alarm about the illegal demolition of an architectural monument of the 19th century in Kolomna and, in general, disappearing right in front of the historical environment of this wonderful city near Moscow. And the blog of Arkhnadzor announces an article by Oleg Tulnov (St. Petersburg) "Hypothetical reconstruction of a medieval Russian fortress on the example of Izborsk", published in the new issue of the Fortoved magazine. The author of the article raises an important question: is everything done correctly in Izborsk? This issue is all the more relevant before the anniversary of Izborsk in 2012 and the planned large-scale reconstruction of the fortress.
Another publication by Arhnadzor is dedicated to the cubic and tiered churches of Russian wooden architecture. And the blog "Architectural Heritage" talks about the restoration of the Gonzago Gallery in the Pavlovsk Palace and the restoration of unique frescoes. At the time of the beginning of the restoration work, the safety of the frescoes was only 15 percent. When restoring them, the masters were guided by the entire legacy of Gonzago, which has come down to our time, as well as many photographs and iconographic materials. And although not all of the frescoes have yet been restored, the illusion of an architectural landscape created by Pietro di Gottardo Gonzago in 1807 has come to life again and is striking in its beauty.
