The Internet continues to discuss the work of the Chinese architect Wang Shu, who received this year's Pritzker Prize. So, the archblog Shu analyzes the buildings, Wang Shu: according to the author, they, on the one hand, fit into global trends, and on the other, are very Chinese in spirit and form. “All of its buildings are functional, archaically monumental, decorative without decor, perfectly fit into the environment and are completely different from each other,” says Natalya Shustrova.
Bloggers are actively discussing other high-profile foreign news. Last week, the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, spoke out sharply against the project of a Russian spiritual and cultural Orthodox center. It is reported by the newsru.com portal with reference to the Agence France-Presse. Mayor Delanoe is convinced that the project involving the construction of a temple topped with five golden domes and a glass canopy will disrupt the harmony of the UNESCO-protected historic district of Paris. ArtChronicle magazine clarifies: believing that the government of the country can issue a building permit, regardless of the opinion of the city authorities, Delanoe plans to apply directly to UNESCO in order to prevent any steps without the approval of international experts. The opinions of the network authors were divided: some believe that the Paris mayor's office has no right to revise the results of the international competition, others rejoice that justice has finally triumphed and the tasteless project will be rejected. It is planned to build a cultural and cultural center in the very center of Paris, on the Seine embankment, not far from the Eiffel Tower.
The Urbanurban blog kicks off its New Life column with a story about the transformation of New York's abandoned railroad into a luxurious park. The history of the park dates back to the decision of activists Joshua David and Robert Hammond to give a new "sound" to the railroad that has lost its relevance. Together with a team of specialists, they were able to prove the economic efficiency of the park, and the first section of The High Line complex was opened in 2009, becoming one of the main attractions of the city. And two years later, its second section was presented to the public. In January 2012, the authoritative Travel + Leisure magazine included the park in the top ten most popular attractions in the world. Inspired by the success of The High Line, Dan Baresh and James Ramsey went further than their colleagues: they proposed the creation of The Low Line, an underground park in a former New York trolleybus terminal. In the near future, the concept of the new park will be presented to the public, and a studio under the leadership of Jurgen Mayer and Mark Kushner will be created to study the project at the Columbia School of Architecture.
If in the USA the old railway "can hope" for a new life, then in Russia, unfortunately, even the status of an architectural monument does not guarantee anything to buildings. Thus, activists of the Arkhnadzor public movement discovered the disappearance of three identified objects of cultural heritage that were part of the ensemble of the Moscow District Railway. We are talking about the Travel Barracks, which was part of the buildings of the Lefortovo station, the residential building of the Andronovka station, and a part of the Likhobory fan locomotive depot. For all three facilities, Arkhnadzor sent a request to the Moscow prosecutor's office.
Last week, the fate of two Moscow "house-planes" was decided. The first is the main pavilion of the Construction Exhibition on Frunzenskaya Embankment, the second is a five-story residential building on Donskaya Street. Both buildings were built in the era of constructivism, when the functional "poetry" of aviation had a significant impact on the shaping in architecture. Marina Khrustaleva writes in her blog on the Snob portal that as a result, the Commission for Urban Development gave the pavilion on Frunzenskaya a protection status and postponed the question of demolishing a residential building.
Arkhnadzor coordinator Natalya Samover, having visited the exhibition of Diana Machulina "Praise of stupidity, or the architecture of Russian capitalism", reflects on the development of modern Moscow. She says about the capital city: “There is still a lot, a lot of soul and love in it. But he's sick. He is still alive, it is not so easy to kill him. But it is all the more painful to stumble upon dead scarecrows of once living buildings, to run fearfully through familiar neighborhoods, where there is nothing left - nothing! - from what would connect you, and indeed anyone in general, with the past."
The blog "My Moscow" published a post dedicated to the types of the capital's courtyards and what kind of relationships are established between the people living in them. So, the blog says that in the 1930-50s the system of "closed courtyards", the quarterly organization of urban space, prevailed, and at the end of 1950 came the era of free planning with an arbitrary arrangement of buildings. Currently, the adjacent territory is no longer a place for leisure and informal communication, rather, it is a parking lot, however, some developers and landscape designers are trying to return the tradition of creating comfortable courtyards.
The blog "Peace in a Tree" on the eve of the auction for land plots in the center of Arkhangelsk writes about wooden houses on this land, which are actually doomed to be demolished. The houses are not monuments of wooden architecture, but they are in good condition after major repairs. In their place, it is planned to build multi-storey buildings. Two more bloggers this week are sharing historical photographs of Russian cities: dkphoto posted materials from pre-war Khabarovsk, and daria_iz_orla - Oryol of the last century. Nikidel, in turn, talks about a trip to Armenia and a visit to the architectural monuments included in the UNESCO heritage - the monasteries of Sanahin and Haghpat, and the ru_architect community of architects discusses two modern buildings - a new dam in St. Petersburg and a residential complex on Stanislavsky Street in Moscow.
