The leader of the second stage of the competition for the concept of the development of the Moscow agglomeration was the Russian team led by the architectural and design studio of Andrey Chernikhov. In an interview with RIA Novosti, one of the team members, Anton Finogenov, expressed the opinion that the state of urbanism in modern Russia is quite deplorable: “not all Russian urbanists today are able to go beyond the traditional urban planning and“investment”design for the needs of a commercial customer. After all, it's one thing to work according to the terms of reference worked out over the years, and quite another - in the unusual conditions of the competition. " This, in his opinion, explains the participation in the competition of only three Russian teams out of ten. At the same time, Finogenov believes that the competition for the development of the agglomeration is extremely useful, as it forces the participants to approach the task creatively, to engage in research activities. The urbanist also shared the details of the workshop project, explaining his leadership by the fact that the team "managed to demonstrate the transition from speculative conceptual design to an attempt to project this concept into reality."
The Moscow News newspaper writes about the results of another competition for the concept of the Mnevnikovskaya floodplain development. Out of 28 projects submitted to the jury, 5 were announced as winners. Moreover, it remains unclear how the general concept will be developed on their basis. The two projects, which differ slightly, involve the construction of hotels, museum sites, attractions and shopping centers on the territory. Another one combines an ecological reserve with an amusement park. According to the Dutch project, it is proposed to create a nature park in the floodplain with zones for active events and walking trails. The Bureau of Sergei Nepomniachtchi has developed the concept of the Safari Park.
The current director of the park, Olga Zakharova, spoke about the history and development prospects of another Moscow territory, the Gorky Park, in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper. According to her, the revival and subsequent development of the park initially and still does not obey any specific concept, everything is controlled "manually" and often on a whim. And she stated one of the main principles of the park management as follows: “We have no goal to get money at any cost. The main goal is that the park should bring joy to people. They pay taxes for it. " We also touched upon the problem of a colossal influx of visitors, which the park can no longer cope with. Olga directly says that she cares, but at the same time objectively admits: “I cannot solve the problem of overloading the park systematically, it is global. There are many parks in Moscow, and if we "raise" them now, we will unload Gorky Park. No need to clone our park, each has its own story and audience. Each park needs to find its own face”.
RIA Novosti writes about the Russian pavilion at the upcoming XIII Venice Architecture Biennale. On Thursday, the pavilion commissioner Grigory Revzin told reporters that the Skolkovo project would be presented at the Biennale and called this exposition “exceptional”. In turn, the curator of the exposition Sergei Tchoban said that it will be divided into two parts, one of which will be devoted to the topic of science cities. According to him, “throughout the entire movement, the guests of the pavilion will be able to see, learn themselves, as scientists, all the information about Skolkovo, from the first stage of foundation to attracting architects and competitions. Since the Skolkovo project does not stand still, but is constantly evolving, the exposition will also be renewed like a living organism. You can learn more about the press lunch in the Archi.ru reportage.
Quite a lot of publications in the press have been devoted this week to the topic of heritage conservation. Thus, the Moscow City Heritage Agency reported that 4 estates and the building of the State Duma will be recognized as cultural monuments in Moscow. According to the same department, illegal work on the "Residential building of the USSR Ministry of Defense" has been suspended, during which the building facades have been distorted. The newspaper "Izvestia" writes about the danger, which, quite possibly, could threaten the hotel "Metropol" put up for sale. According to the head of the Moscow branch of VOOPIK Mikhail Malinin, in our country the loss of the entire monument or its individual elements very often occurs as a result of reconstruction or restoration with adaptation, when “the law is violated not when making fundamental decisions, but during intermediate examinations and approvals of project documentation.” The expert considers a similar situation possible in the case of Metropol.
Petersburg continues to discuss the program for the reconstruction of the historical center, which, by the way, no one has ever seen, despite repeated requests from the parliament. As a result, the deputy Boris Vishnevsky concluded that a seriously and well-developed program still, most likely, does not exist at all. “Perhaps this is what explains the persistence with which Smolny hides this process from the deputies. It is very difficult to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if it is not there,”he said. Another St. Petersburg expert, chairman of the St. Petersburg branch of VOOPIIK Alexander Margolis, believes that there is no need to speed up the development of the reconstruction program and adopt it in the fall. Firstly, because the idea itself is still immature, and secondly, its funding will no longer be included in the draft budget for 2013. In turn, Governor Georgy Poltavchenko told reporters that the townspeople will have the opportunity to make adjustments to the program, which will be posted on the Internet before being put into implementation.
And again, news of the destruction. In Tver, a famous architectural monument burned down - the wooden house of the Baker, which is one of the last monuments of the Zavolzhsky posad. 10% of the house is left - the basement and the foundation, but despite this, according to experts, it can still be restored. And in Nizhny Novgorod, a stone house was demolished, which had a unique architecture, examples of which in the city no longer exist. The demolition became possible after the building was stripped of its monument status last year on the basis of an expert examination carried out by uncertified experts.
