In total, 400 works were presented for the "Eurasian Prize" in 2011, of which 50 projects, including those from France, Germany, and Italy, entered the main competition. The jury, which included the president of the Union of Architects of Russia Andrei Bokov, the famous Italian architect Maximiliano Fuksas and his French colleague Jean Pistre, the chief architect of the Sverdlovsk region Vladimir Veniaminov and others, evaluated the works in eight nominations.
So, in the category "Architecture of residential buildings" the Grand Prix went to the "Active House" - the first completely "green" building in Russia. This house, designed by young architects of the Polygon experimental laboratory, is already well known in Moscow - in particular, the project became the main winner of the Green Project festival -2011 - and now the "wave" has reached Yekaterinburg. Its authors Alexander Leonov and Svetlana Vasilyeva note that the project is based on integrated solutions in the field of energy efficiency, innovative technologies and the use of environmentally friendly materials. The facade of the house is made of thermal wood, a material that reliably prevents the building from overheating. Due to the orientation of most of the roof to the south side, the authors managed to significantly reduce energy costs (up to 20%). In addition, the house uses hybrid ventilation, temperature and humidity sensors. All this makes it possible to reduce energy consumption indicators by 7-9 times.
The Grand Prix in the nomination "Public Interior Design" was awarded to the architectural studio Kovalenko architects from Perm for the design of the office of the bureau itself. Its director Igor Kovalenko says that this interior reflects the basic principles of the workshop: functionality, the use of natural materials, a minimum of decor. For all the minimalism of the solution, white walls and wood veneer create an interesting contrast and shape the business character of the office. There was a place here for a large table so necessary for an architect, for a meeting room, and for numerous shelves.
The first place in the nomination "Architecture of public buildings and structures" was awarded to the project of an office building of the "Generation" company in the city of Berezovsky, Sverdlovsk region. When designing it, its authors Timur Abdullaev and Alexander Voronov tried to preserve the existing landscape as much as possible - the forest in which the building is located - therefore they raised three horizontal volumes of the complex on supports, thereby forming an open public space.
The only completed building in Yekaterinburg that received a gold diploma was the Summit business center, designed by a team of architects led by Boris Demidov and Viktor Zolotarev. At the award ceremony, Boris Demidov said that the dynamic silhouette was formed due to the presence of restrictions on the height of the structure for different levels of the plan, since there are subway ventilation shafts nearby. On an extremely compact site, the authors managed to place an extraordinary building, which today plays the role of a dominant.
The festival fully justified its international status. Two awards of the "Eurasian Prize" this year were awarded to the architectural bureau from France Derti & Levi - for the project of a public building and for the restoration of a 16th century house in the city of Lyon. Workshops from Germany and Ukraine also received high marks from the jury. It is also worth noting that the student projects that participated in the competition this year were in no way inferior to the works of the "masters", on the contrary, they demonstrated freshness and boldness of ideas, even if only on paper. Among these works, in particular, the "Ice Palace" in Yekaterinburg by Olesya Fedorova (headed by prof. E. O. Trubetskov) and the theater in Barcelona of Tatiana Serebrennikova (headed by Prof. A. A. Raevsky).
Of course, a regional festival of architecture cannot fully reflect the state of modern architecture. But the main trends are obvious: firstly, architects strive to preserve the environment as much as possible, be it the natural landscape or the existing urban development, and secondly, when developing projects, they focus on energy efficiency and innovation.
