Recent events in the Moscow Architectural Institute, where the re-election of the head of the department of industrial architecture took place and the Academic Council, contrary to the results of the vote, did not approve the current head. Department of Oskar Mamleev, became the subject of discussion not only among students and teachers of this university. Recall that Professor Mamleev over the past few years headed the Department of Architecture of Industrial Structures at the Moscow Architectural Institute, during this time establishing close cooperation with his foreign fellow teachers and using the faculty as an experimental platform for various educational projects. At the end of October, the traditional re-election of the leadership of the department took place; Alexander Khrustalev, a representative of the older generation of the teaching staff, who adheres to more conservative views on student education, was nominated as an alternative candidate for this position. As a result of the many hours of dispute, by a majority of votes, Mamleev was left in his post, but the Academic Council of the Moscow Architectural Institute did not support this decision and after a secret ballot, Oskar Raulievich was dismissed. Now his many supporters are seriously thinking about leaving the walls of the university, and bloggers are trying to predict what the future of the institute will be after this open confrontation.
An article in defense of Mamleev, written by the senior lecturer of the Moscow Architectural Institute, Artem Chernikov, appeared on the Internet immediately after it became known about the decision of the Academic Council. “Several years ago, Oskar Mamleev, being elected to the post of head of the Department of Industrial Architecture, decided that it would not be so bad if good architects in Russia would become not despite the education received at the Moscow Architectural Institute, but thanks to him. To do this, he hired practicing specialists who, in fact, are the customers of the product produced by the Architectural Academy. He invited the heads of well-known architectural bureaus in Moscow to work, giving everyone greater freedom in terms of teaching methods and setting educational tasks. He formed a new sane SAC, inviting architects from Germany and Norway to participate in it. He achieved an increase in the number of study groups at the department in connection with the sudden influx of students. He created the conditions under which it became not only interesting to study and teach at PROM, but also, to a certain extent, prestigious,”writes Chernikov. And he makes disappointing forecasts: “Of course, it will become impossible to work at PROM“near Khrustalev”. At least I can say that about myself. It would not be bad at all if there was an opportunity to create a new progressive department at the Moscow Architectural Institute to continue the educational policy outlined by Mamleev, but taking into account the upcoming re-election of the rector and, again, the Academic Council, there are not many chances, to put it mildly. As for the Moscow Architectural Institute itself, it has a choice: to become a fully European university, allowing talented and energetic people to do their teaching almost free (salary of 3000 rubles a month), or to continue to calmly rot in the hands of offended old people tired of reality, dreaming of returning to the time when they were young, strong and full of bright plans for the future. One way or another, I am sure that the light did not converge at the Moscow Architectural Institute, and if we are not allowed to work at this university, then we will have to find a new platform for the implementation of our plans."
This expressive and emotional text caused a strong reaction from readers. “But what are the students to do? For example, I see no reason at all to stay at the institute if my teacher, Ass, Grigoryan, Lyzlov, etc. leave. What is there to do then in general? Draw huge technology parks with wavy lines? No, you need to somehow voice your opinion,”writes Masha Volkova. “There is a lot of pain and words. We sincerely sympathize with you and wish you not to lose hope and faith in your cause. In order not to procrastinate and not be unfounded, we propose to open a new institute: the Moscow School of Architecture & Design. Everything is there for him: there is a program and teachers, there are students, a place can also be found - Flacons, Artplay or even Polytech,”Anastasia Vishnevskaya-Grishchenko makes a constructive proposal. “It seems that the situation with architectural universities in Russia is close to a tragedy in its current state. Things are no better at the Novosibirsk Academy of Architecture and Art. Plus to everything - a new educational standard, indirectly adapted to our training conditions for an architect, designer. And in its existing form, it is no longer possible to teach. The morally outdated requirements cause one strong desire among students: to get a diploma as soon as possible and forget about the academy as a nightmare, and some even reject the profession,”comments Ksenia.
The same events were actively discussed in the blog of the Project Russia magazine on facebook. Judging by the statements of the participants in the discussion, the Moscow Architectural Institute has the potential to become a progressive university, but in the current situation it is rather difficult to predict the future of this institute. “I propose to establish an experimental department of PROM, headed by Mamleev, by analogy with the experimental workshop of Ass, after which all progressive initiatives of the Moscow Architectural Institute should be transferred to an experimental format. At that moment, when the number of experimental departments and workshops exceeds the number of others, the remaining ones should be renamed into "orthodox", naturally reducing the proportion to the opposite, "suggests the architect Nikita Asadov. And Yuri Ermakov explains the essence of possible claims of the Academic Council of the Institute against the discharged head of the department: “In recent years, leading architects have been invited to the department of PROM, the staff of the State Atomic Energy Commission for the defense of diplomas, heads of diploma projects are simply amazed by the starry names. Many thanks for this and should be said to Oskar Mamleev. He was able to attract leading experts practically on a charitable basis. But tell me, please, what does the Department of Industrial Buildings have to do with it? For the same reason, the projects themselves, presented for defense, are already far from the specialization of the Department of PROM”. “The fact is that architects are not needed at all to design modern industrial buildings. Enough competent engineers. Therefore, such a department is not needed. But, since it does exist, it is better to teach architecture to students, rather than design factories according to the norms of the fifties. Mamleev did this,”Yaroslav Kovalchuk opposes him. Elena Gonzalez agrees: “The question of the teacher (personality) always remains the main one. As for the design of factories, as far as I know, they continue to be designed there under Mamleev. Under Mamleev, for the first time in a long time, the department of PROM became prestigious. Attractive, interesting for students (if I'm wrong, let the students correct me). Yes, this was largely due to the fact that practicing architects were involved in teaching. Yes, competition arises - that's a fact. Yes, we see a completely administrative decision, this issue is also a fact”. “The Academic Council of the Moscow Architectural Institute very rarely goes against the opinion of the department, only in cases of almost equal voting, even when the administration presses. So everything has matured in the department itself, both voting and lobbying,”Vitaly Baryshnikov, in turn, tries to clarify the current situation.
An equally critical and, unfortunately, recognizable situation has developed in the Yaroslavl region, where the Spasskoye estate is located, which once belonged to the Urusov princes. The building, which was a cultural heritage site, is now practically destroyed, the remains of wooden structures are being pulled apart by local residents for firewood. The decision to dismantle the "master's house" was made by the leadership of the Yaroslavl Regional Psychiatric Hospital, which is located on the territory of the former estate. The user av4 wrote more about this in his report posted on the blog "Architectural heritage". His post ends with the words: “The Yaroslavl VOOPIK has already been informed, they are ready to take some action. Public opinion, the governor, the prosecutor's office … For our part, in Moscow, we will also try to raise a fuss. But the monument cannot be returned. Another one is gone. Which one is next? " Bloggers suggest that the hospital's management, alas, is likely to remain unpunished for their actions: “And nobody will get anything for it. At most, the head physician will be threatened with a finger and fined 2-3 thousand rubles,”dinya_ss writes. "Well yes. Therefore, when making such decisions, no one even considers it necessary to find out whether it is a monument or not, and what norms exist when handling a heritage object. Although they could not help but know that the object is included in the list of monuments. They just wanted to spit on this insignificant detail,”the author of the article replies, who understands perfectly well that no administrative penalties and penalties can revive the disappeared architectural monument.
However, in the regions you can find examples of both negative and positive attitudes towards the architectural heritage. The writer Zakhar Prilepin talks about some of them in his blog on the website of the Afisha magazine. His material, dedicated to his native Nizhny Novgorod, has collected a lot of responses from readers. Prilepin in a concise manner outlines both the political and economic nuances of local life and sociocultural phenomena. “Instead of the capital's Arbat, we have our own Bolshaya Pokrovka, also like the Arbat, only a hundred times better. Remarkably beautiful street, lined with paving stones and all lined with various monuments: the gendarme, the young lady with the children, the photographer, the goat. I must say that at one time the great Russian writer Anatoly Mariengof lived on Pokrovka - but a monument to him has not yet been erected, and it is not known what he is in the queue for the monument after the goat. It makes sense to assume that local mayors probably know what a gendarme is and what a goat is, but they have heard a little less about Mariengof."
“When asked why I live in Nizhny, I cannot think of a convincing answer. I never ask this question. So I wondered and I answer: in Nizhny Novgorod there is everything for happiness”, - with this paragraph Prilepin draws a line under his reflections.
For many Internet users, especially for the residents of Nizhny Novgorod, Prilepin's opinion turned out to be very flattering: “I have always considered Nizhny Novgorod the third capital of Russia. It is very flattering when someone speaks of him the same way. Someone might argue. In terms of economic development, it is, of course, much inferior to Yekaterinburg, Kazan and Novosibirsk. They say “for”: transport links with Moscow and St. Petersburg, historical events (November 4), and, no doubt, beautiful old architecture. You can find a couple more "for". At the same time, he has some other metropolitanity. The lower one is cozy at home. You can literally walk on it “in slippers”. You can't say the same about the other two capitals,”writes Ivan Kuznetsov in his comments to the article.
A very interesting material was posted on the blog of the user cocomera. It is about a photograph taken eighty years ago on Moscow's Revolution Square. The image of a decorative blast furnace made by the RAPH brigade (Yu. P. Shchukin, Ya. D. Romas, A. S. Magidson, A. D. Kuznetsov) and exactly copying the Kuznetskstroy installation under construction at that time, attracted the attention of Internet users. Some of them analyze the inscription "Long live the coming world October!" and the construction apart from the historical context, others try to imagine exactly how this construction looked in color, based on the memoirs of the authors of the project. “As far as I could understand from Magidson’s memoirs, this installation was painted silver, which, combined with red canvases, gave the feeling of“austerity of metal with the solemnity of a holiday”. Well, plus there was a backlight. At night, this structure looked very futuristic …”, - writes the author of the original post. The user lobgott managed to find a photograph in which the decorative blast furnace was shot at night with the illumination on. Against the background of modern lighting techniques, the structure illuminated by bulbs looks rather modest, but at the time of its creation it clearly caused a sensation among contemporaries. “Great installation! - sums up Boris Vorobyov. - Thank you for being able to remind me of the enthusiasm and enthusiasm of that time. The scope is, of course, impressive. This is undoubtedly better than the portraits of the leader of the same size, which began to decorate the holidays on the same days a few years later."
