House No. 25 in Bolshoy Kozikhinsky Lane was demolished on 9 August. The day before, employees of the security company severely beat local residents and city rights defenders who were trying to protect the building from demolition. This story was covered in detail by Vedomosti and Moskovskie Novosti. Arkhnadzor also made a rather tough statement. On August 15, the magazine "Kommersant-Vlast" published an article by Grigory Revzin "And the demolition is still there" - according to the architectural critic, this incident dispelled "the last illusions about Sobyanin's Moscow." “I think that on August 8, the city authorities, using an unidentified private security company, beat people in order to extract profit from the site at 25 Bolshoy Kozikhinsky Lane,” Revzin writes. - I think that people who, like me, believed that something else is possible in Moscow, not Luzhkov's, should bitterly repent. Alexander Kibovsky, the new Sobyaninsky head of the Moscow Heritage Committee, said that the demolished building was of no historical value. As a professional art critic, I agreed with him. Ordinary house of third-rate provincial eclecticism, artistic value - zero. Fine! Now we need to accept that the price of this statement is an indulgence for the bandits to beat women. Do you agree with this, Alexander Vladimirovich? Me not. We do not have a city where you can express independent professional judgment. We have a city where those who disagree with them are beaten for our judgments. " Nevertheless, activists continue to fight for the object of valuable historical buildings even after its demolition. As Izvestia reports, the other day the leadership of the Union of Architects of Russia appealed to the Department of Cultural Heritage of Moscow with a request to add the building to the list of architectural monuments.
Another legacy conflict is flaring up in the Taganka area. Near the walls of the Novospassky Monastery, one of the oldest in the capital, not so long ago "unexpectedly" appeared a pit 80x80 m. As a result of the inspection, Mosgosstroynadzor ordered to stop the work, and imposed a fine on the developer in the amount of 200 thousand rubles. However, this requirement remained unfulfilled, and the excavation continued. As a result, the wall of the north-western tower of the monastery began to crack. The developments were followed by Izvestia and IA Regnum.
Probably the most closed department of the country - the FSB of the Russian Federation - gave the heritage defenders a reason for serious unrest. On the roofs of the famous building on Lubyanka, incomprehensible construction work has been going on for quite a long time: as reported by Nezavisimaya Gazeta, “from the side of Malaya Lubyanka it can be seen that fresh brickwork has appeared on the roof with a height of one and two floors, below the window, reminiscent of attic, brickwork ends with a platform reminiscent of a helicopter. " "The seriousness of the institution probably prevents even the most daring defenders of the capital from asking if the respected federal service has permission to carry out the work," the newspaper concludes. Literally a day after the publication of this article, Interfax published the news that the city authorities demanded to suspend construction work on the roof of the building of the former KGB, and closer to the middle of the month, a comment from the Moscow Heritage Committee appeared in Izvestia that no project documentation was submitted for consideration and approval from the Lubyanka was not provided to this department. "As explained in the Moscow Heritage Committee, the roof of the object is not included in the subject of protection of the monument, however, according to the Federal Law "On objects of cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation", the project of the planned construction must still be agreed with the department.
Against the background of all these events, the 45th anniversary of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments passed almost imperceptibly. Materials about the anniversary of VOOPIiK appeared only on television, in particular, in "Vesti" and on the State TV and Radio Company "Kultura".
But during this period there was quite a lot of news about all sorts of large-scale projects, which Moscow is ready to undertake in the very near future. So, "Moskovsky Komsomolets" reported that next to the hotel "Pekin", on a patch bounded by the Garden Ring, Brestskaya and Gashek streets, it is planned to build more than 70 thousand square meters. m of new real estate, mainly residential apartments. RBC published the news that the Moscow government has revived the idea of creating a "Russian Disneyland" in the west of the capital. Let us remind you that ten years ago this megaproject was unsuccessfully launched by Yuri Luzhkov, who allowed Zurab Tsereteli to turn Nizhniye Mnevniki into a "Miracle Park". Later, the South Korean Lotte Group wanted to build an amusement park on this territory. Now the city authorities will define a new concept of the megaproject at an international competition to be held this year. And director Nikita Mikhalkov named possible locations for the Palace of Festivals, in which the Moscow International Film Festival and the Museum of Cinema should find a permanent home. According to Gazeta.ru, this is the Central Park of Culture and Leisure. Gorky and Luzhniki.
One of the main architectural news that came in early August from St. Petersburg was the summing up of the results of the international competition for the reconstruction project of New Holland. The winner was the American bureau WORKac. In addition to the Architectural News Agency, Gazeta.ru, Kommersant-Vlast, Novaya Gazeta SPb, Fontanka.ru, Vedomosti and many other publications wrote about this. Let's remind, according to the WORKac project, the famous island should become a “city within a city”, focused on various cultural programs. The buildings of the former warehouses are supposed to house an arts center with a museum, a cinema and fashion center, as well as a gastronomic center with a market, restaurants and greenhouses on the roofs. Each of them will have its own school, where young artists, designers and culinary specialists will be able to study and improve in their art. American architects did not close the perimeter of the island's development with a new building on the side of the Kryukov Canal - instead, they propose to install a platform camouflaged by the landscape, in which parking and office premises can be hidden.
The Kommersant newspaper rightly notes that the jury's decision was unexpected for many experts who predicted a victory for the Dutch MVRDV or the St. Petersburg Studio 44. "Mr. Yavein called the winning architecture firm and its New Holland project" strange and unintelligible, "noting that" it is difficult to predict the development of the project, "the newspaper writes. - Vera Dementyeva, head of the Committee for State Use and Protection of Monuments (KGIOP) of St. Petersburg, agrees with this. Her department has already issued to investors a list of tough restrictions related to the protection regimes of the monument. In particular, KGIOP considers the intrusion of glass into the roofs of industrial architectural monuments unacceptable, the perception of the famous arch of Valen-Delamot, the waters of the Moika River and the Kryukov Canal should also remain “inviolable”.
The Lakhta Center project also remains in the spotlight of the press. On August 8, Yulia Kiseleva, Chairperson of the Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture, signed order No. 2163 on the 500-meter "high-altitude deviation" of the Lakhta Center skyscraper, Novaya Gazeta SPb reports. Kommersant also comments on the situation: “The unprecedented“deviation”from the town planning regulations was sanctioned on the eve of the early resignation of Governor Valentina Matvienko and the government she heads. This decision will be canceled not only by the court, where the opposition has already applied, but also by the new head of St. Petersburg. " However, the St. Petersburg branch of the Yabloko party has already challenged the committee's order in court. Another scandal around the project of a 500-meter Gazprom office erupted due to the fact that the city authorities refused to build the Central Water Rescue Station next to the gas scraper, which was supposed to control the Gulf of Finland within the borders of St. Petersburg, as well as all rivers and canals in the town. RIA "New Region" tells about this in more detail.
The new stage of the Mariinsky Theater again became the heroine of newspaper publications. According to Izvestia, the country's main long-term construction has finally reached the final stage of the project - it is promised to be completed in just a year. True, this will require another 3 billion rubles.
At the beginning of August, the professional community traditionally escapes from scandals, showdowns and unfulfilled promises of the authorities at the Archstoyanie festival - perhaps the most positive event of the architectural summer. Gazeta.ru, Izvestia and Moskovskiye Novosti talk about how the festival went this year. Every year more and more people visit Archstoyanie, though, as it turns out, not everyone likes it equally. In particular, the founder of the festival, the artist Nikolai Polissky, believes that such a mass character negates the very idea of "Archstoyanie". In an interview with Moskovskiye Novosti, he admits: “There is no point in attracting random people - you can't take money from them, just empty bottles. Nikola-Lenivets is a small place, it should be modest, quiet, natural and smart."
