The results of the competition for the conclusion of the General Design Agreement for the Urban Planning Part of the Design Documentation of the Skolkovo Innovation Center were announced on October 25, 2011. Three teams were allowed to participate in the competition: LLC M + W Germania GmbH, SETEK ENGINEERING and LLC SPiCH. The tender committee evaluated the applicants according to 9 parameters, including: experience in designing the planning of territories with an area of at least 50 hectares and large-scale multifunctional complexes, as well as experience in taking into account the requirements for energy efficiency and energy saving, in accordance with the international LEED system. Based on the results of evaluating the applications of the applicants, the winner was determined. It was the Russian architectural studio SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov, which brought together an impressive consortium of reputable Russian and foreign specialized companies, such as Sweco (Sweden), Waterman (Great Britain), Metropolis, VTM Dorproekt (Russia), and others. …
Archi.ru: What does the urban planning part of the design documentation include?
Sergey Kuznetsov: In fact, the town-planning part is some general basic principles of the district structure. This is the basis of design documentation, which allows you to understand how many buildings can be built on this territory, what their functional zoning should be, how much resources will be consumed, in what volumes and how disposal should take place, how the transport and engineering systems are arranged on the territory, how there should be a percentage of landscaping.
Archi.ru: Ie. is it not about the development of a "beautiful ensemble", but about serious problems directly related to life?
SK: The beautiful ensemble has already been conceptually thought up in the project of the French bureau AREP Ville, and now it is being worked out in detail by the curators of individual districts. Our task is to systematize the entire proposed structure and substantiate it from the point of view of practical implementation. We check, make amendments, correlate one with the other. In order for everything invented by the curators to be built, it is necessary to check all components for compatibility with all infrastructural components of the future innovation center. Those. we must be sure that we will be able to deliver the required number of goods and people by transport (public and private), that technical and service services will function normally, that we have enough water, energy and heat to provide these buildings, that there will be enough treatment facilities and etc.
Archi.ru: This is a global task. Do SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov's portfolio include projects comparable in complexity and scale?
SK: From recent work, I can compare with Skolkovo the project of the microtown "In the Forest", where our bureau developed the concept of development, and now the stage of detailed design is underway and the construction of the first stage has begun. The microtown is quite close to Skolkovo in terms of territory and volumes, but the innovation city as a project is more ambitious and complex. First of all, due to the multifunctionality and complexity of the infrastructure: here, in addition to housing, large educational and scientific institutions, a technopark and office complexes will be located. Plus, the Skolkovo concept implies a high level of development of sustainable, environmental measures and technologies.
Archi.ru: What other difficulties, typical for the Skolkovo project, could you mention?
SK: There are many difficulties here due to the neighborhood with Moscow. If we designed from scratch, far from the capital, everything would be much easier. And so we are tied to oversaturated Moscow communications, with all the ensuing problems. To a certain extent, a specific feature of this work was the participation of a large number of foreign architects, with whom we conduct a constructive dialogue. These are bright personalities, world-famous masters, but they are not yet sufficiently familiar with Russian regulatory requirements. As a result, not all of what they offer can be implemented in our conditions. To bring everything to a common, realistic, denominator, we have to explain to them what will turn out, what will not, and how the Russian specifics will affect what they are designing. If we add tight deadlines to all of the above, we can say that this project and the work we are doing now are unprecedented for Russia.
Archi.ru: Probably, taking into account all the listed difficulties, few design organizations decided to participate in this competition?
SK: I don't know how many teams considered the possibility of participating in the competition. I know that 4 applications were submitted, of which only 3 passed the qualifying selection. Of these, only ours is purely Russian. The rest are Russian offices of large Western holdings. But that doesn't surprise me. The preparation of the application documentation for the competition alone could already be regarded as the first qualifying stage, as it was so voluminous and thorough. We handed over a total of more than 1400 sheets of documentation, which described in detail our vision for the development of the project and the proposed approach to work, as well as represented our bureau and partner companies in the consortium, right down to the list of employees and specialists who will be connected to the project. In particular, the organizers, realizing how high the risk is, very carefully approached the choice of the general designer. Our bureau has participated in many competitions and tenders, and I can say that this tender was unprecedented in terms of the thoroughness of preparation and thoroughness of the assessment.
Archi.ru: How did you assemble the team?
SK: All the partners we invited to this project can be divided into two groups. The first is companies with experience in implementing international projects of a similar scale, and most importantly, using those innovative technologies in urban planning, transport and engineering that should be applied in Skolkovo. The second group consists of companies that are well aware of Russian specifics, work in the Moscow region and understand how all the declared know-how can be converted into Russian-format documentation, go through the necessary approvals with it and implement it. I will say right away that the list of companies that meet both parameters is not that long. Too specific requirements. But we have worked out all possible options and selected those whom we consider to be the most reliable and competent.
First of all, we must name the company Sweco - the leader of the Swedish engineering market. Close climatic conditions and a leading position in the world in the use of innovative green technologies make the Swedish experience strategically important for our country. Also included in our consortium is Waterman - a very strong international office based in the UK and having experience working in facilities of the highest level and responsibility, in addition, designed by the stars of world architecture. The Russian part of our team is represented by an extensive list of excellent companies, from which I would single out, as the main one, the Metropolis company. This is our partner, with whom we have already done several projects. I would also like to mention the company "VTM Dorproekt", which will develop transport infrastructure and interchanges leading to Skolkovo. She already had experience designing complex assemblies in the area.
Archi.ru: What criteria were the applications evaluated by? Usually in Russian tenders it all comes down to the lowest price …
SK: In this case, the price was not the determining factor. It must be said that all the participants proposed fairly close budgets - since the amount of work to be done, the timing and the need to attract foreign specialists of high qualifications and status, automatically predetermined the cost of this order. Fluctuations in price between bids were within 5%, which confirms the objectivity of the prices and the fact that the Skolkovo Foundation very accurately assessed this work. I think the qualification criteria were decisive. Our bureau has extensive experience in participating in various projects with a high level of complexity, as well as with the participation of foreign partners. It seems to me that this is what played a decisive role.
Archi.ru: And the fact that you are already participating in the project (SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov together with David Chipperfield Architects is the curator of the D1 district - E. P.) could somehow have a positive effect?
SK: The fact is that all the companies that took part in the tender, one way or another, participate in the Skolkovo project. Someone acts as a consultant, developer and designer, someone participates in preliminary studies, research, analysis, etc. Moreover, I am convinced that there was no point in participating in this tender for a company not familiar with the project. Only knowledge of the project could help to adequately assess the amount of work to be done, select the right team and collect application documentation. It seems to me that there would be no reason for the customer to take on a company that was not already involved in the project. Given the complexity of the tasks, a third-party company would have to spend most of the time allotted for the development of urban planning documentation, just to understand all the nuances.
Archi.ru: You mentioned time restrictions. How realistic is the term (one and a half months) for the development of such a volume of documentation?
SK: The deadlines are really tight, but quite real. They can be considered unreal based on the general practice in Russia and, especially, in Moscow. But since Skolkovo, according to federal law (Federal Law of the Russian Federation of September 28, 2010 N 244-FZ), is an independent entity, it has its own administration and its own expertise, capable of assessing documentation as quickly as possible, then compliance with this deadline is possible. The main goal of the Skolkovo administration is to implement the project, therefore all approvals are subordinated to this goal and this saves a lot of time. Of course, you shouldn't idealize everything so much. As in any other project, delays occur here, something has to be clarified and revised. But this is a normal workflow. I have no doubt that we will have to make some changes after the documents have been submitted, as a reflection of clarification of some fundamental points in the district planning or to remove expert comments, etc. But in February 2012, the documentation will be fully prepared and agreed.
