Architectural critic Grigory Revzin discusses restrictions for motorists that need to be adopted in the near future to avoid a traffic collapse in Moscow. He supports the domineering initiative to create paid parking in the city center. The first paid parking lots appeared in Moscow on July 1. The critic is sure that the authorities should go further and eliminate all free parking lots in the center, since parked cars take up to a third of the roadway. In addition, if there are no parking lots, people will switch to public transport. In addition, he believes that the cost of owning a car should rise significantly. Revzin says these measures are necessary for "a 15 million city with a radial-concentric structure, in which 35 percent of jobs are concentrated in the center on five percent of the territory."
Another restriction for motorists, which will be introduced from July 10, is the parking bollards. The authorities plan to install about 30 thousand such obstacles in the center of Moscow, writes the Expert magazine. At the request of residents, the first limiting posts will be installed on the Boulevard Ring, Povarskaya Street, in 1st Samotechny, 2nd Syromyatnichesky and 2nd Schemilovsky lanes, on 3rd Frunzenskaya Street and Maroseyka.
Experts note that bike paths could partly relieve the roads. But for now, the city authorities plan that the bike paths will be used only for walking. The longest cycle path in the center of Moscow between Gorky Park and Fili Park will open in early September, according to the Moskovskiye Novosti newspaper. In the future, the bike path is planned to be extended to Kutuzovsky Prospekt.
A well-known specialist in the development of cycling, Danish urbanist Jan Gale explores the space of the Volkhonka district in the context of its impact on humans within the framework of the project "Public spaces in the public life of Moscow," writes RIA Novosti. During the analysis of the site, the number of pedestrians will be counted and the purpose for which they went out into the street will be analyzed - whether they walk, whether they go to work, what buildings they visit. The number of public gardens available for public visits will also be investigated. As a result of analyzing the data obtained, Gail will say that it is necessary to change at Volkhonka. The study will be completed in September, and in February it will be presented at a public hearing in the Volkhonka district.
Another foreigner - Dutch architect Erik van Egeraat - will develop the concept of a residential complex on the territory of "Red October". The project provides for the regeneration and new construction of a multifunctional housing, public and hotel complex on Bersenevskaya embankment, property 6. In addition, the architect must place underground and ground parking lots. “It is important for me to preserve the old and add some new functions to it - to breathe life into this place, to find new functions for it,” RBC daily reports the words of Erik van Egeraat.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced this week that the creation of the park in Zaryadye will begin in 2013. He clarified that the Moscow authorities expect to receive the project of the park by the end of the year. And the city authorities had to abandon the construction of a parliamentary center on Moskvoretskaya embankment, near the future park in Zaryadye. State Duma Deputy Vladimir Resin noted at the parliamentary hearings that the placement of a parliamentary center on this site would aggravate the transport situation. He stressed that it is necessary to hold an international competition for the concept of creating a parliamentary center.
Moscow authorities also announced the planned reconstruction of the Savelovsky, Rizhsky, Leningradsky and Paveletsky railway stations. The mayor promised that the work should be completed this year, writes Interfax. It is planned that helipads, panoramic elevators, winter gardens and cinemas will appear at the capital's train stations. So for now, the authorities will not move the railway stations outside the historic center of Moscow. Chernikhov's architectural and design studio, which participates in a competition for a concept for the development of the Moscow agglomeration, has proposed to move railway stations outside the capital. The architects proposed to place museums in the historical buildings of the railway stations. The workshop is one of the leaders of the competition.
The expansion of the capital this week was commented on by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, who presented his exhibition at the Hermitage last week. In an interview with the Ogonyok newspaper, he said that before expanding the borders, it was necessary to use territories within the city - former industrial zones and plots, which for one reason or another fell out of the city infrastructure. “Making them a part of the city is more economically profitable than starting a new city outside the existing borders. First of all, because the entire city infrastructure and communications are already close to such land,”said Calatrava.
Novaya Gazeta writes about the illegal construction on the territory of a federal monument - the Church of the Holy Trinity in St. Petersburg, better known as Easter cake and Easter. The building of the Sunday school, which is located in the protected area of the monument, has a second floor. As a result of the superstructure, the appearance depicted on the reverse side of the coin from the series "Architectural Monuments of Russia" was actually lost. KGIOP reported that the work was carried out without permission and in the absence of the necessary documents. The committee drew up an act on the unauthorized superstructure. It is curious that the superstructure took place during the 36th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in St. Petersburg.
The Plenipotentiary Representative of Russia to UNESCO Eleonora Mitrofanova explained to the Izvestia newspaper why international experts did not consider the St. Petersburg issue. She said this was done to make our country look favorably in the eyes of the world community. Now the report of the working group on St. Petersburg will take place at the next session of the Committee, which will be held in Cambodia. In particular, it will examine the boundaries of the historical center of St. Petersburg. But the project for the construction of a 500-meter skyscraper "Lakhta Center" in St. Petersburg will not be studied by UNESCO. Mitrofanova reported this to RIA Novosti. She said that experts visited the site of the proposed construction, on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, and concluded that the high-rise would be far enough away from the historical center of the city and would not pose a threat to it.
Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design has released a second course for young urbanists. Director of the educational program of the institute, architect Yuri Grigoryan told the Bolshoi Gorod magazine about the most interesting diplomas, whether Moscow needs changes and whether the authorities are ready for them. The Village magazine devoted an article to the final project of Alexander Novikov, who, while studying at Strelka, developed the theme of a mobile neighborhood for migrants.
