One of the main news of the outgoing week was the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Troitsk near Moscow, one of the supposed administrative centers of "Greater Moscow". At a two-hour meeting at the local art school, the head of state discussed the prospects and plans for the development of the Moscow agglomeration. In particular, Dmitry Medvedev proposed to consider the issue of a complete ban on the construction of faceless panel housing in the new territories of the capital using old technologies and asked to involve the world's leading architectural companies in its design, RIA Novosti reports. Mayor of the capital Sergei Sobyanin at the same meeting said that the annexed territories are planned to be divided into three zones. “This is the near belt, where urbanization will be appropriate, the middle belt, where it is necessary to implement projects for the creation of local urban planning complexes and social facilities in the natural environment, and a distant recreational belt, intended for the development of tourism, recreation, preservation of the existing natural environment," Interfax”words of the mayor. And the chief architect of Moscow, Alexander Kuzmin, promised that the jury of the competition for the concept of the development of the agglomeration will be finally formed in September 2012. Around the same time, the locations of the authorities in the new territories will become known for sure, and their construction is planned to begin in 2013. In the meantime, according to Izvestia's information, “tax synchronization” should be carried out on the annexed lands and urban planning activities should be simplified.
The past meeting was the occasion for a new round of criticism of the very idea of uneven expansion of the capital. “If the capital's authorities succeed in implementing plans to expand the capital, as the Russian president and the Moscow mayor promise, then real estate prices in the annexed territory will double, and the problem with transport infrastructure will reach its climax,” the BBC Russian Service observer is sure. And the famous animator Yuri Norshtein in an interview with the radio station "Echo of Moscow" called the agglomeration "a monstrous project." “Remembering the classics, I can say for sure: a rare bird will fly to the center of this city. And the wind rose is not strong enough to pump the air of this space,”the director is sure.
This week, the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation summed up the first results of the new urban planning policy of Moscow, proclaimed by the city administration in April 2011. Representatives of the Arkhnadzor public movement, the Union of Architects of Russia, Moscow Architectural Institute, the Ministry of Culture and other experts noted that, despite the obvious changes, the demolition of historical buildings continues in the city, and many important decisions are still made in private. The Moscow Perspective and the Rosbalt news agency tell more about the hearings. And in St. Petersburg, issues related to the future of the historical center of the city, it was decided to bring up for discussion by the general public. According to "BaltInfo", officials and city rights activists of St. Petersburg have not been able to decide whether the city needs a moratorium on the demolition of historical buildings, and now all the townspeople can express their opinion about this by participating in a poll of the Baltic media group or by voting on a special site. It is interesting that in just the first day of the hotline's work, more than 7000 people spoke about methods of preserving the historical center of St. Petersburg!
On April 10, a presentation of the Moscow School of Architecture (MARSH), founded by Evgeny Ass and Nikita Tokarev, took place in Moscow. The Afisha magazine and The Village portal wrote about the new educational institution, with the emergence of which the professional community pins hopes for the reform of architectural education in Russia. Evgeny Ass personally told Vedomosti about the concept and plans of MARSH. Famous designer Artemy Lebedev also plans to implement an educational project in the near future - he is going to open a modern design center in Omsk, where students can both study and work.
The focus of the press continues to be the competition for the concept of building the territory of the former hotel "Russia", extended until April 20. This time, Literaturnaya Gazeta and Moskovskie Novosti wrote about the projects submitted for the competition. A historical essay about Zaryadye was published by the Moscow Perspective newspaper. And Marina Khrustaleva in the Expert magazine discusses the oddities of the competition and its objectives. “Whatever this attraction of unprecedented generosity in giving land to the people, it cannot end in profanity. This competition cannot remain just an excuse for sarcasm. Experts who are able to formulate the meaning and image for 11 hectares of very important Moscow land should come to Zaryadye,”Khrustaleva is sure.
While the fate of the park in Zaryadye is only being determined, the main operating park of the capital is the TsPKiO im. Gorky is actively preparing for the new season. Olga Zakharova, director of the Central Park of Culture and Leisure, tells the Afisha magazine about what awaits visitors in the park starting from May 1, about the upcoming restoration of the main entrance and the construction of a multifunctional sports ground.
RBK daily informs about the unprecedentedly fast terms of approval of the project for the construction of the headquarters of Planet KVN on the site of the Havana cinema. The fact that in December last year the city authorities started construction without the approved volumes of the headquarters, and in March they allowed to increase the area of the reconstructed cinema by one and a half times, the publication is inclined to see a manifestation of the "specific" sense of humor of Moscow officials. And in Krasnodar this week, they chose the best project of a football stadium, which is planned to be built for the 2018 World Cup. As RIA Novosti reported today, the consortium "Mosproekt-4" and the American company IKS became the winner of the architectural competition.
In conclusion, the review - about a unique publication that has just been published in the capital. Album "Volumetric past", prepared by the project "Moscow, which does not exist", presents photographs of Moscow 100 years ago, which modern computer technology has allowed to transfer into 3D-format.
