For two weeks in a quiet pastoral Vologda, on the central streets, in squares, electric saws were buzzing and hammers were knocking. In the middle of the city, staircases, benches, loungers for rest were built, which were immediately mastered by the townspeople …
At the pedestrian Red Bridge, steps have appeared that run straight down to the water - an ideal place for romantic dates, the "Boulevard of Folding Cots" appeared on the Stone Bridge, and now rollers are resting on wooden benches, someone has settled down with a laptop.
Near the Drama Theater there is a street stage, parapets for skaters and cyclists, near the House of Books - flower beds and places for reading, and near the walls of Vologda University - the earth seemed to stand on end, sprouted with an amphitheater, wooden benches and desks - a real open-air audience was formed.
The “Activation” project, in which young Vologda architects transformed five places in the city center, is the culmination of the second “Days of Architecture in Vologda”, which took place from 16 to 22 May.
The initiators of "Activation" are young Vologda architects from the ABO group! (Vera Smirnova, Mikhail Priyomyshev, Lev Anisimov, Denis Pritchin, Nadezhda Snigireva and others).
The organizers of the festival are Muscovites Alexander Dudnev and Konstantin Gudkov. They have an indirect relationship to architecture, but they are young, well-educated, energetic and know how to inspire others. Vologda lacked such young, advanced people for the relations between the city and its inhabitants to enter a new phase.
How was the "Activation" project born?
Alexander Dudnev: After the first festival "Days of Architecture" young guys-architects from the Vologda University - recent graduates and undergraduates of the last courses - met us. They had a lot of ideas for a long time about how and what to do in the city - they are well acquainted with advanced international experience, they even taught abroad, and Vologda is very fond of and knows its architectural problems. They proposed to equip public spaces in the city with wooden objects that are conducive to communication. Everything came together perfectly at one point: the format of the festival architecture, and the traditions of architecture of the Russian North, and the fashion for "new wooden", and the research of social issues of urban studies, which were conducted at the department. And most importantly - the desire to do something pleasant for the hometown and beneficial for the authorities to reveal the brand of Vologda as the capital of wooden architecture.
Surprisingly, the guys who are ready to accept in America, Europe and China were ready to work for free - to study the types of social interactions, to design, to look for sponsors, in parallel - to teach students at workshops … But they needed access to the city authorities. There is such a paradox: when the initiative comes from local residents, they are not heard.
What happened this year at the festival besides "Activation"?
Konstantin Gudkov: This year, the Days of Architecture in Vologda were dedicated to the new possibilities of wood - as a material for new architecture and as an economically beneficial cultural heritage. Vologda hosted lectures by Totan Kuzembaev and the WOWHAUS bureau, Nikolai Malinin and Olga Sevan, excursions for everyone from Vologda ethnographers and restorer Alexander Popov, cinema lecture halls by Denis Romodin, round tables.
The most serious part of the program is the “Big Three” forum of wooden cities: Vologda, Tomsk and Irkutsk. The authorities and architects of these three cities met for the first time to exchange experiences in the preservation and use of wooden architectural heritage; and the mayors signed an agreement on the exchange of experience and cooperation in the development of a federal program for the preservation of the unique urban wooden architecture!
Days of Architecture.
How it all began and what came of it
So, how did you come to the format of the Days of Architecture?
HELL.: I was born in Vologda in a wooden house on Blagoveshchenskaya Street. Parents lived in this former apartment building, built at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, the house was in disrepair. My rolling bed was constantly rolling, huge rats were running around, and I had to go to the next block to get water. Cold toilet in the annex … The Soviet economy could not handle a huge amount of pre-revolutionary private housing - hence the myth of wooden buildings as a "dilapidated fund". Many Vologda residents still believe that wood is a short-lived material! I myself, only having been abroad, saw that whole wooden cities of the 18th century, for example, in Scandinavia, can live and flourish. And it became a shame that my native Vologda, an order of magnitude more interesting in architecture, is in such a catastrophic decline.
K. G.: I was born in Moscow, so for me the uniqueness and value of Vologda as a kind, quiet wooden city is especially felt. For some reason, everyone is surprised that I am a cardiologist-resuscitator by profession, but I am engaged in things that are so far from the profession. I have always been fascinated by art, architecture. After I left the hospital for a pharmaceutical company (I am engaged in clinical research), I began to travel a lot around the world and realized that there is nothing more interesting than Russia.
Several years ago we met the creators of the "Days of Architecture in Moscow" project, Alexander Zmeul and Natalia Alekseeva. Days of Architecture is an international format of festivals. They are regularly held in London, Singapore and other cities. Since 2006, the International Day of Architecture in Nizhny Novgorod has been held. Sasha and Natasha organized festivals in Moscow, in Rostov-on-Don, participated in the festival in Yekaterinburg. We realized that the format of the Days of Architecture will help draw attention to the wooden architecture of Vologda, will allow showing it to the townspeople and beyond. We offered the guys to make such a festival in Vologda. At that moment, we could not even think that we would do it ourselves - Sasha left Russia for a long time, Natasha remained, who helped a lot with advice and connections.
Around this period, we began to fill Wikipedia with articles about Vologda. Sasha began to write a guide to wooden Vologda.
In 2010, we came up with the idea to organize "Days of Architecture" in the city administration, then we failed to implement the project for various reasons, which turned out to be only for the better. After all, at first we were poorly able to formulate what exactly we want to do. For a year, we studied everything that happens in Russia with wooden architecture. We formed the program of the first festival, which took place in April 2011.
HELL.: We were in Moscow, but we had no one in Vologda. In reality, it was a gamble, we came to Vologda - two Muscovites, and swung at something that we had never done before. The first goal was to enlighten the residents of Vologda! Telling them wood architecture is cool. The second goal is to tell the authorities about the successful experience in the preservation of wooden cities in Russia. The third goal is for modern wooden architecture to appear in Vologda. We wanted to open to people all those things that we discovered for ourselves: that a tree is relevant, that it can persist for hundreds of years, that wooden cities can attract tourists and a lot of money.
How many people have you covered with the "Days of Architecture in Vologda"?
HELL.: The 2011 events were attended by about 500 people. The population of Vologda is about 300,000 people. The advantage of a small town is that you can physically connect with the most important people yourself. After an amazing success for us (when notifying only via the Internet and word of mouth), the halls at the opening of "Parallels" by Will Price and Nikolai Malinin, and the lectures of Nikolai Belousov and ARCHPOLE were overcrowded! Since then, our greatest friends have been the architecture students. And most importantly, several people appeared who wanted to do something for the city with us. They were students, the local middle class, and the young intelligentsia. Throughout the year we kept in touch with them, tried to do some kind of event every month …
We have created
community "Vkontakte" and try to support it (a typical mistake - according to Moscow habit, at first we made a group on Facebook, but realized in time why no one was joining it - there was almost no one in Vologda). Now there are about 550 people in our group.
Then there was a powerful event - collection of signatures for the defense of wooden Vologda. Collected more than 3000 signatures - every hundredth resident of the city signed! This is a super result.
Were there any specific points of the program?
HELL.: During the year, we talked with different people, including officials, architects in Vologda, and tried to figure out why it is difficult to preserve wooden architecture. Over the past few years, every third official monument of wooden architecture has been lost. One of the main problems is that the owners of wooden houses are not interested in their preservation. Houses are most often set on fire or demolished by the owners themselves. As a result, they get a plot on which they can build a brick house, sheathed with wood, agreed with the Department of Culture. And this is a massive process. And the houses that are in municipal ownership are simply dying quietly.
We consulted with lawyers, Moscow urbanists, Arkhnadzor, and specialists from Tomsk and suggested making specific changes to the town planning regulations in order to prohibit building a brick building in several zones of historical wooden buildings on the site of a demolished wooden house. This will make arson unprofitable. And if, at least in place of the burnt wooden houses, new ones, also wooden in the image and likeness, are built, the spirit of the city will be preserved.
Is there a lot under construction in Vologda now?
HELL.: Before the crisis, the city was one of the leaders in housing construction. They built brick houses. Up to now, no modern wooden buildings have been built in Vologda. The latest projects were implemented in the 1980s - panel barracks were built in remote areas. At the local department of architecture, they don't teach to build with wood at all! And this despite the fact that almost all suburban construction is made of wood, mainly from "cylinder". What is being built is no different from the "birdhouses" near Moscow and has nothing to do with architecture. We have an idea to hold a competition for a "model project" of a modern wooden house for Vologda. The administration doesn't mind!
Scientific approach
How are roles in your work distributed?
K. G.: Sasha is more responsible for working with the authorities, and I am for educational and entertainment projects. The process also has a management side, I graduated from the MBA a year ago, which gave me an understanding of strategic management and the place of our activities in city management. Now together we are trying to understand the marketing of territories and the economy of cultural heritage. Sasha's dreams that Vologda can be opened as a tourist city, that wooden buildings can be integrated into the modern economy have received scientific confirmation. Our strong point is that we bring managerial ideas and competent PR from business to civic activism, combining the emotional and practical sides of the issue.
Are there examples in Russia when an initiative from below led to the fact that something really changed in the city?
K. G.: Of course, this is a necessary condition, but not sufficient. It is interesting that the key factor in the success of programs for the preservation and development of wooden architecture in Tomsk was the political will of the authorities, in Irkutsk - efficiency for business. In Vologda, civil society and young Vologda architects began to set the tone. It will be great if this versatile experience is mutually reinforced with the new alliance of wooden cities!
What exactly has already been done in Vologda is to approve the brand of the "wooden capital of Russia" among specialists and the general public and begin real interaction between architects, authorities, public activists and ordinary citizens for the sake of preserving and developing wooden architecture. Our festival is a networking platform. According to our estimates, we covered about 2,000 people with the events of 2012, and if we count those involved in Activation, then just the whole city!
The text was prepared with the participation of Maria Troshina.
