According to the organizers, a lot of young people took part in the competition this year. There are also many participants from the regions of Russia: St. Petersburg, Perm, Nizhny Novgorod, Pskov, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and even from neighboring countries - from Astana. The competition was held in two stages. The semi-finalists were named at the end of April at the international conference Glass in Architecture: Opportunities for Innovation. As a result, 4 projects and 8 realizations came to the second round.
The exposition of the works of the participants of the competition "Glass in Architecture" was located around the fountain, in the center of the "Forum" pavilion, where the annual exhibition "The World of Glass" was held from 13 to 16 June. Here, near the fountain, a solemn ceremony of awarding the winners took place.
The Grand Prix was awarded to the Diadema Club House residential complex by Zemtsov, Kondiain and Partners, which was recently commissioned. This is an example of an elite Petersburg development on Krestovsky Island. Located on the banks of the Srednyaya Nevka River, the complex is divided into several separate volumes, which gives it a scale commensurate with the environment. The views from the windows of the apartments explain the abundance of glass on the facades. But the most revealing example of the competent and at the same time spectacular use of glass is the huge translucent lantern of the atrium, about 100 m long, which unites all four towers of the complex. It has a winter garden.
The main criterion for evaluating the jury was the functional validity of the use of glass in architecture. According to jury member Vladimir Yudintsev, architects in their relationship with glass have finally survived a honeymoon of over 25 years and entered a phase of maturity. Today, the use of this material is becoming more and more meaningful. That is why the results of the awarding ceremony should not have surprised anyone. The brainchild of Yuri Zemtsov and Mikhail Kondiain demonstrates not only the validity of the use of glass, but also the architectural meaning, embodied in form and details, giving rise to the effect that cannot be achieved with other materials.
In the section "Buildings", a gold diploma was awarded to the architects of Studio 44 and Basis-Project LTD LLP for the Palace of Schoolchildren's Creativity in Astana. This work among the nominees looked, perhaps, the most advantageous. The building is completely made of glass, which here manifests itself in almost all forms: traditional transparent, decorative, glass with a colored substrate, bent, as well as high-strength glass with traditional Kazakh ornaments.
In addition to the main award, the Schoolchildren's Palace was awarded twice more with awards from the partners of the competition. Representatives of the Astarta company even came up with a name for this project - "Ecology of the Soul" and presented an embroidered panel in the Russian style, made by the hands of children.
Silver awards went to the St. Petersburg workshop PPF A. Len for the boiler room of the Zenit stadium and Totan Kuzembaev for his glass greenhouse in Pirogovo. According to the organizers, it is very significant that this year not only large-scale, but also very small buildings and even a seemingly completely utilitarian project, such as a boiler house, received prizes this year.
Other weight categories - for holders of bronze diplomas. The high-rise residential complex "Gate of Prikamya", built in Perm according to the project of "Saturn-R" bureau, distinguished itself here, and next to it the interior work - the office of "Aeroexpress" in Sheremetyevo.
As for the first bronze medalist, everything is transparent here: this is a multifunctional complex on the left bank of the Kama River with panoramic residential apartments behind a double ventilated facade made of high-strength glass.
But the interior of "Aeroexpress" attracted the jury with other qualities. Architects Mikhail Krymov and Alexey Goryainov were inspired by the dynamic red and gray symbols of the Aeroexpress company. And curved glass partitions without visible structural elements made the office space lightweight and holistic.
In the section "Projects", the children's entertainment center "Two Captains" in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (the authors of the project is the company "SEV. R. PROEKT") received a gold diploma, which surprised the jury with its diversity and color. Glass dominates here, and the color palette of glass surfaces, according to the authors, is based on the theory of Johannes Itten from The Art of Color.
The research building in Perm took second place in the competition. The facades of its geometrically correct volume are covered with glass, fixed on a honeycomb structure. The entrance portal is also made of glass and looks like a small hole in the whole volume of the building.
A bronze diploma was awarded to the architects of Pskovgrazhdanproekt, who presented a project for the reconstruction of an abandoned water tower of the late 19th century in Pechora. Having endowed the building with new functions (museum, observation decks, cafes, etc.), the authors have created a new image in which the traditional red brick and the glass volume of the staircase and elevator group coexist.
The victorious procession was completed by the architects of the "ITAKA-Architecture and Design" company, who were also awarded a bronze diploma in the "Projects" nomination. Their Armenian church, unlike other works submitted for the competition, is not replete with glass surfaces. However, glass has a sacred meaning here. Three tiers of windows are located on the conical body of the building in such a way as to provide year-round illumination of the altar zone. There is one more secret - glass triangular prisms that refract the sun's rays, painting the white walls of the temple with all the colors of the rainbow spectrum.
The Union of Architects of Russia did not ignore other competitive works as well. Participants' diplomas were awarded to all contestants without exception. There were also special prizes. Thus, for the original volumetric-spatial solution of the complex with a functionally justified use of glass, awards were given to the MFC "Atlantic City" by the Bureau "Studio 17" from St. Petersburg and the Business Center "Beloostrovskaya 6" from the "Architectural factory" December 32 "- both projects were included in the number of semifinalists of the competition.
Two more special diplomas were awarded to "NizhegorodgrazhdanNIIproekt" for the reconstruction of the Nizhny Novgorod Palace of Sports of Trade Unions and the project for the reconstruction of the terminal building of JSC "Airport Ulyanovsk", the authors of "Simbirskproekt".
Opening the award ceremony, Vyacheslav Osipov noted that 20 years ago, architecture was going through the “stone” age, since stone remained the main building material. Architects had to “jump over their heads” to create modern objects. Now glass - comfortable, safe, unpretentious in operation, plastic and aesthetic - has made life much easier for them, marking the beginning of the glass age: “We say glass - we mean new architecture, we say new architecture - we mean glass”.
